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Shares of cybersecurity firms CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks climbed by double-digit percentages on Monday. The rally came as tech industry figures voiced fresh worries about the pace and safety of AI development at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Nike will be removed from the S&P 100 index on September 21, ending an 18-year run, as its market capitalization has fallen from a 2021 peak of $264 billion to about $57 billion today. The sportswear giant remains in the broader S&P 500, but its removal from the top-100 index reflects a sustained decline, including a 36% drop in market cap in 2026 alone. Honeywell Aerospace, Simon Property Group and Colgate-Palmolive are also exiting the index the same day, replaced by tech firms like Dell, Palo Alto Networks, Arista Networks and Sandisk.
A closely watched investment portfolio cut positions in AI-linked names Palo Alto Networks and Corning last week after big run-ups, locking in gains of roughly 148% and 52% respectively. Proceeds were redirected into more defensive holdings such as BNY and Kimberly-Clark, as rising oil prices and Treasury yields pressured risk appetite even after Nvidia's strong earnings failed to lift the broader AI trade.
Threat group ShinyHunters publicly taunted security vendor ReliaQuest, posting screenshots suggesting a compromised employee account and listing the company on its data leak site. ReliaQuest confirmed an employee was tricked via a vishing attack into entering credentials on a fake single sign-on page, but said the attacker only gained view-only access and could not move laterally or reach internal applications.
Palo Alto Networks acquired Console, a two-year-old startup using AI agents to automate IT help desk tasks, for roughly $500 million in cash and stock, according to people familiar with the deal. The company had only raised $29 million and was last valued at $157 million, meaning investors—including Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, an early angel backer—saw a swift and substantial return. Neither company disclosed financial terms publicly.
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora said businesses worldwide are sitting on roughly $1 trillion worth of outdated cybersecurity systems that can't keep pace with AI-driven attacks. He made the comments after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a strong forecast, citing rising demand from firms racing to modernize their defenses.
Palo Alto Networks reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $3.41 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share, both above analyst expectations, with revenue up 34% year-over-year. The company posted a net loss of $282 million due to one-time charges, a reversal from the prior year's profit, even as CEO Nikesh Arora pointed to rising AI-related cyberattacks as a long-term growth driver. Despite the earnings beat, shares fell roughly 2% in after-hours trading following a 5% drop during the regular session.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on CNBC that artificial intelligence is accelerating cyberattacks faster than older security systems can respond, leaving even well-funded companies exposed. His comments came a day after CrowdStrike's strong earnings sent shares up more than 20% to a record close near $228. Kurtz cited incidents like Anthropic's Mythos model and an OpenAI agent that breached Hugging Face's systems as evidence of AI's growing offensive capabilities.
Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 team says its new Frontier AI Defense service, which pairs threat intelligence with AI models, compressed roughly one to two years of penetration testing into three weeks and found dozens of vulnerabilities in customer systems. The researchers warn that the same AI-driven speed and automation available to defenders could soon give low-skill attackers, known as script kiddies, capabilities once reserved for well-funded, state-sponsored hacking groups.
CrowdStrike and Okta both topped Wall Street's second-quarter estimates and raised their forecasts, pointing to rising AI-related cyberattacks as a driver of increased customer spending on security tools. CrowdStrike shares rose 15% and Okta jumped 20%, while Palo Alto Networks, SailPoint and Rubrik each gained roughly 9% as the sector rallied broadly.
Okta reported quarterly revenue up 11% to over $800 million and net income more than doubling to $116 million, beating Wall Street estimates and sending shares up 19%. The company said new products, including its Okta for AI Agents tool now available to all customers, drove 30% of total bookings, with dozens of new AI-related deals closed including a multi-million-dollar healthcare contract.