Palo Alto Networks: 2013 Is Company's Big Year

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Palo Alto Networks(PANW) , which made its debut as a public company in July, should be grabbing investors' attention in 2013.

The security specialist, which competes with Fortinet(FTNT) and Check Point(CHKP) in the next-generation firewall market, is positioned to grab market share, analysts say.

"We like Palo Alto Networks (PANW) as a way to gain exposure to Network Security, which we believe will be an IT category that outperforms in 2013," wrote Baird Equity Research, in a note released on Friday. "Importantly, the company is demonstrating an ability to broaden its footprint in Large Enterprise accounts (now the primary firewall in ~50% of deployments) and has noted good initial traction with subscription sales (additional features sold via SaaS)."

Baird rates Palo Alto "outperform."

Topeka Capital Markets on Friday initiated coverage of Palo Alto with a "buy" rating and a $65 price target.