https://open.spotify.com/episode/1pMhtD3w48Pv0v8upDiHxk
Matthew Griffin, a Bloomberg equities reporter, previews the last three large earnings reports of the season with Bloomberg Radio's Nathan Hager: Palo Alto Networks on Tuesday, Broadcom on Wednesday and Lululemon on Thursday. He works through what analysts want from each, why cybersecurity stocks spent the first months of the year being sold as AI casualties and are now bought as AI beneficiaries, and what Broadcom would have to say about next year to settle the argument over AI infrastructure spending.
👤 Guest: Matthew Griffin, equities reporter at Bloomberg
🎙️ Host: Nathan Hager, Bloomberg Radio
📰 Published: 30 August 2026
🔴 YouTube | 🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 7 min
Key Takeaways
Palo Alto's bar is about 30% revenue growth, and the stock carries a multiple it has not carried in a decade
"The valuation has spiked above 90 times forward earnings. Those are levels not seen in more than a decade. So I am wondering what will be enough for investors here."
Cybersecurity stocks were sold as AI casualties in the first months of the year and are now bought as AI beneficiaries
Griffin gave Anthropic's decision to withhold a model from general release over its cyber capabilities as the kind of threat lifting security budgets
What Broadcom says about next year matters more than the quarter it is about to report
The quarter is roughly in line with the company's own $16 billion outlook for AI chip revenue
A disappointing outlook on that same revenue line took the stock down 13% in a day in June
Broadcom is reported to be in talks with lenders over more than $60 billion of debt for a deal that would benefit Anthropic
Confirmation of Nvidia's outlook would start to offset the worries building around the AI trade
The worries Griffin named are falling token prices and the public pushback to data centers
Lululemon has to grow revenue about 1% to clear consensus, and even that is not guaranteed
Tariff refunds the company has applied for were kept out of guidance, so they are possible upside
Palo Alto Networks Reports Into a Multiple It Has Not Carried in a Decade
Hager opened at what he called the tail end of the earnings parade, with Palo Alto Networks due Tuesday, and asked where the bar sits after the strong results from CrowdStrike. Griffin said it is high, and that the harder question is what the buy side is actually looking for.
On what analysts want from the quarter: "the bar is pretty high. I was looking at analysts' expectations for Palo Alto, that's ticker P-A-N-W, and they're looking for about 30% year-over-year revenue growth."
The re-rating happened inside eight months: "The first couple months of this year, these were considered AI disruption candidates. They were SaaSpocalypse names, and they all traded down as a result. Now they have rallied."
What changed is that the cyber names are now counted as AI beneficiaries rather than AI victims, because companies are spending more on security Griffin's example of the threat was "Anthropic's decision not to even release the Claude Mythos 5 model to the general public because of its cyber capabilities"
The valuation is what he is watching, not the growth rate: "The valuation has spiked above 90 times forward earnings. Those are levels not seen in more than a decade. So I am wondering what will be enough for investors here."
Whether the Cyber Rally Has Anything Left
Hager said the stock has already nearly doubled this year and asked whether there is further upside from here. Griffin would not rule it out, but pointed at what has happened to a comparable group.
The host's framing: "we've already seen just Palo Alto alone nearly double its stock market value" since the start of the year
On why he will not call the top: "with AI, you look at what's happened to a lot of the AI winners, you can never discount it."
The warning sign is in a neighboring group: "we have seen some of the names, for example, some of the chip names moderating their own share growth in recent months."
"the question, I guess, would be, when will that happen for the cyber names?"
Broadcom's Quarter Is In Line; Next Year Is the Number Investors Are Underwriting
Hager turned to Broadcom, due after Wednesday's close, and asked whether it can follow Nvidia's blowout outlook. Griffin reframed it: the quarter itself is not where the risk is.
"the real question here is what is Broadcom going to say about whether they see blowout revenue in the future?"
On the AI chip revenue line, the bar for the quarter is the company's own number: "It's about in line with their $16 billion outlook for the quarter. But for next year, analysts are expecting revenue from AI chips of about $120 billion." "That would imply six-fold growth over two years compared to the last full year we have numbers for."
Citi's view, as Griffin relayed it, is that whatever the company says about 2027 is going to be the important part of the report
There is a recent precedent for getting the outlook wrong: "The quarterly outlook for that revenue stream really disappointed investors when they gave it in June. The stock fell 13% in a day."
The other thing that could come out of the report is the financing. Griffin said Bloomberg colleagues have reported "the company's in talks with lenders to raise more than $60 billion in debt for a deal that would benefit Anthropic and other companies" Sales deals with major AI players could also be updated, and he said investors are eager for developments there
Broadcom Against Nvidia, and the Worries Building Around the AI Trade
Hager asked whether AI demand is a rising tide that lifts Broadcom along with Nvidia, and whether that is what analysts expect. Griffin drew the line between hope and position.
"It's what Wall Street is hoping."
"Broadcom has positioned itself as a key competitor to Nvidia, but Nvidia is still the market leader."
What a confirmation would buy the whole complex: "So anything that confirms that bullish outlook from Nvidia, which was for about 70% revenue growth in the next fiscal year, that would be a positive and it would start offsetting some of the concerns about the AI trade that are growing"
The concerns he named were specific. One is pricing: "we're seeing falling token prices that complicates the return on investment question"
The other is his own beat: "these regulatory concerns, the public pushback to data centers and what that can mean for AI infrastructure spending"
Lululemon Has a One Percent Bar and a New Chief Executive Arriving Next Month
Hager introduced the retailer with the line that the turnaround "just keeps waiting for Lululemon". Griffin said expectations have come down far enough that the risk is now about clearing a very low bar.
"it really is a case of low expectations this quarter. Analysts are expecting revenue to just barely grow to be up about 1%. But even clearing that bar is not guaranteed."
The headwinds he listed were competition and product launch problems, including the criticism of see-through leggings that came from the company's own founder
How much credit investors give any of it is complicated by the handover. Heidi O'Neill takes over as chief executive next month "That could change the narrative. It could change the strategy. Maybe it will finally put that turnaround into effect."
The line he is watching is tariff refunds. Tariffs have been a key cost bucket for the company, and it has applied for refunds without putting them in guidance "They've said they're applying for refunds, but that they didn't factor that into guidance, so that could be a source of upside to consensus here if those refunds come through." "Maybe not high quality durable upside, but something that would help investors as they wait for a broader rebound in their sales."
Griffin's bottom line is that the three reports are being judged against completely different bars — a security company priced above 90 times forward earnings, a chip supplier whose next-year AI revenue is what investors are actually underwriting, and a retailer that has to grow at all — and that Broadcom's commentary on next year is the only one of the three that reaches beyond its own stock.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Palo Alto Networks, ticker PANW (Reports Tuesday against about 30% expected revenue growth, on a valuation Griffin said has spiked above 90 times forward earnings, levels not seen in more than a decade)
Broadcom, ticker AVGO (Reports Wednesday after the close; the quarter is in line with its own $16 billion AI chip revenue outlook, and what it says about next year and 2027 is the part that matters)
Nvidia (The bellwether whose blowout outlook set the tone, guiding for about 70% revenue growth in the next fiscal year; still the market leader Broadcom is positioned against)
Lululemon, ticker LULU (Reports Thursday needing about 1% revenue growth to clear consensus, with a new chief executive arriving next month and tariff refunds excluded from guidance)
Anthropic (Withheld the Claude Mythos 5 model from general release over its cyber capabilities, which Griffin gave as the kind of risk lifting security budgets; also the beneficiary of the debt deal Broadcom is reported to be arranging)
CrowdStrike (Its strong results are the comparison Hager used to set the bar for Palo Alto)
Citi (Said Broadcom's commentary on 2027 will be the important part of the report)
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