Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZS)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $214.55, but opened at $224.00. Zscaler shares last traded at $224.0530, with a volume of 1,280,933 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ZS shares. Mizuho upgraded Zscaler from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Zscaler from $334.00 to $320.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 target price on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Zscaler in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Zscaler from $351.00 to $354.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.63.

Zscaler Trading Up 3.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $35.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -852.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3,445.24 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $235.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.16.

Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 25th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.11. Zscaler had a negative net margin of 1.45% and a negative return on equity of 0.12%. The business had revenue of $788.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $773.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Zscaler has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.780-3.820 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.890-0.900 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Zscaler, Inc. will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Zscaler

In other news, EVP Raj Judge sold 3,438 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total value of $793,559.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 70,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,248,343.08. This represents a 4.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jagtar Singh Chaudhry sold 2,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.82, for a total transaction of $656,221.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 347,857 shares in the company, valued at $80,292,352.74. This trade represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,350 shares of company stock valued at $4,471,509. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZS. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Zscaler by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Zscaler by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 85,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,398,000 after acquiring an additional 4,021 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. boosted its stake in Zscaler by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 33,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,566,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Zscaler by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Zscaler by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 79,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,982,000 after purchasing an additional 13,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 46.45% of the company’s stock.

Zscaler Company Profile

Zscaler is a cloud security company that delivers a cloud-native platform to protect users, applications and data as organizations move away from traditional, network-centric security architectures. The company focuses on a zero trust approach that assumes no implicit trust for users or devices, providing secure access to the internet, SaaS applications and private applications regardless of where users are located. Zscaler positions its services as an alternative to legacy appliances and site-centric VPNs, aiming to simplify security while enabling modern, distributed workforces.

Key offerings are built around the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, a multi-tenant cloud platform that enforces security and access policies in-line.