What happened Palo Alto (NYSE: PANW) shareholders beat a surging market in November as their stock rose 33% compared to the 11% increase in the S&P 500, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The rally pushed the cybersecurity specialist back into positive territory for the year, up over 20% through early December. Image source: Getty Images. So what Investors cheered the company's fiscal first-quarter results, which were released in the middle of the month. That report showed a 23% sales boost and strong adjusted cash flow, which management said was tied to Palo Alto's popular new releases. "Both our firewall transformation and our next-generation security services continue to make great progress," CEO Nikesh Arora said in a press release that also included an upgraded forecast for the rest of the year. Now what Palo Alto now sees sales rising by between 20% and 21% this year as enterprises continue to spend freely on software-as-a-service products. But the latest earnings results demonstrate that the business performs at its best while maintaining a steady stream of innovative software launches. Assuming it continues that streak -- and that global economic conditions don't worsen over the next few months -- Palo Alto looks set to keep expanding its sales base through into 2021. 10 stocks we like better than Palo Alto NetworksWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Palo Alto Networks wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 20, 2020 Demitri Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source