The Broadcom post-earnings dip headlined a rough session for AVGO shareholders last week, but the underlying numbers suggest the selloff is a setup rather than a signal to exit — and two other names, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) and Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), are building their own cases heading into the July 4 lull.
| Ticker | Key Metric | Consensus Rating | Price Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| AVGO | Q2 AI rev $10.8B, +143% YoY | Moderate Buy | $490.13 |
| PANW | NGS ARR $8.13B, +60% YoY | Moderate Buy | $306.59 |
| PL | +25% past 3 months | Hold | $35.11 |
The Broadcom Post-Earnings Dip in Numbers
Broadcom’s fiscal Q2 2026 results were, on most measures, exceptional. Total revenue hit a record $22.2 billion, up 48% year-over-year, with AI semiconductor revenue of $10.8 billion, representing 143% growth. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $15.2 billion, or 69% of revenue. Free cash flow was $10.3 billion, equal to 46% of revenue.
The 8-K filing shows GAAP net income of $9.3 billion and non-GAAP net income of $12.1 billion. Shares still dropped roughly 12% on the day. The complaint: Broadcom did not raise its AI revenue outlook.
That reaction looks thin when you line up the actual guidance. CEO Hock Tan put Q3 FY2026 revenue at approximately $29.4 billion, with adjusted EBITDA guided at roughly 68% of that figure. Full-year AI semiconductor revenue is still on track for $56 billion, with a $100 billion target for fiscal 2027 left intact. The Broadcom post-earnings dip essentially punished the company for not overdelivering on top of a record quarter.
The AI customer list keeps expanding. Broadcom named Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta as XPU partners, plus two unnamed hyperscalers. Anthropic’s TPU agreements alone cover more than one gigawatt of compute in 2026 and five additional gigawatts beginning in 2027. The Broadcom post-earnings dip, viewed against that backlog, looks more like a reset than a reversal.
Palo Alto Networks: ARR Growth With an Acquisition Asterisk
Palo Alto Networks reported fiscal Q3 2026 total revenue of approximately $3.05 billion, up 31% year-over-year, according to Tickeron’s earnings recap. Next Generation Security ARR hit $8.13 billion, up 60%. One detail worth watching: roughly $1.6 billion of that ARR figure came from the acquisitions of CyberArk and Chronosphere rather than organic growth.
That is not disqualifying. Acquired ARR that retains and expands still counts. PANW’s net retention rate of 120% across 2,280 platformized customers says existing accounts are spending more. CEO Nikesh Arora pushed back hard on the “SaaSpocalypse” narrative, pointing to 1,200 customer inquiries following the Mythos threat and 800 meetings over six weeks as evidence that AI is raising the urgency of cybersecurity, not shrinking it.
Management raised full-year guidance across all key metrics, citing accelerated CyberArk and Chronosphere integration. PANW is up more than 40% year-to-date against a consensus price target of $306.59, roughly 15% above the June 8 close of $266.33. That gap narrows if the organic ARR contribution grows in Q4.
Planet Labs: Sovereign Contracts Are Stacking Up
Planet Labs does not move markets the way Broadcom does, but its government contract pipeline is broadening faster than the headline numbers suggest. The snippet covered the two-year, seven-figure deal with Greece. What it left out: Planet also secured an ESA-backed, multi-year contract with the Czech Republic, adding a second sovereign European client to the backlog.
On the hardware side, Pelican-11, the first satellite of Planet’s second-generation high-resolution fleet, has shipped to a launch site for an upcoming SpaceX mission. The Swedish Army is a named government customer for the Pelican program. Planet’s May launch of three earlier Pelican satellites already produced first-light imagery that included Sweden’s first sovereign satellite imagery, with additional Pelican launches scheduled for 2026.
PL trades near $32.71 against a consensus target of $35.11. The Hold rating reflects the path-to-profitability question more than a hardware or contract problem. A subscription model anchored to sovereign clients is defensible revenue. The stock’s 52-week low of $4.90 versus its current price shows how much the story has already re-rated.
For all three names, the next hard test comes after the summer pause ends. Broadcom reports fiscal Q3 in early September. PANW’s fiscal Q4 lands around the same window. For PL, Pelican-11’s launch date and first-contract disclosure tied to that satellite will be the trigger to watch.
