Zscaler’s Q4 Earnings Beat On Every Line. The FY27 Guide Didn’t Follow Through.

Gian Estrada5 minute read
Reviewed by: David Hanson
Last updated Sep 4, 2026

rvlsoft from Getty Images and nicodemos from Getty Images Signature

Key Takeaways for Zscaler Stock as of September 2026

  • Across-the-Board Beat: Revenue hit $898M, up 25% YoY, as EBITDA, EBIT, net income, and adjusted EPS of $1.19 versus the Street’s $1.09 all topped estimates.
  • ARR Reacceleration: Net new ARR ex-Red Canary hit 17% in Q4, up from 7% in fiscal 2025.
  • FY27 Guide Cools: Zscaler guided fiscal 2027 ARR to $4.4B and revenue to $3.9B, both pointing to ~17% growth at the midpoint, a step down from Q4’s 25% pace.
  • Patching Race Warning: CEO Jay Chaudhry cautioned that “you cannot win a patching race against AI,” previewing next week’s Agentic SecOps launch built on Red Canary’s threat-detection technology.

Zscaler’s Q4 numbers were about as clean as they come, but FY27 guidance tests how much of that momentum keeps flowing to Zscaler stock’s valuation. See how the numbers stack up on TIKR for free →

A Record Quarter for Zscaler Sets Up a Cooler FY27 Guide

zscaler stock q4 2026 earnings in usd
ZS Stock Q4 2026 Earnings in USD (TIKR)

Zscaler (ZS) closed fiscal 2026 with a fourth-quarter print, reported September 3, that beat Street estimates on revenue, EBITDA, EBIT, net income and earnings per share all at once. Revenue reached $898 million, up 25% year over year and 6% sequentially, clearing the high end of management’s own guidance. Adjusted EPS came in at $1.19 against the Street’s $1.09, a 9% beat that pushed EPS up 34% from a year earlier. That kind of breadth doesn’t happen by accident on a single product cycle.

Behind the print sits an acceleration story. Net new annual recurring revenue, excluding the Red Canary acquisition, grew 17% in Q4, up from 10% in the first half of fiscal 2026 and just 7% in fiscal 2025. Total ARR reached $3.8 billion, up 25% year over year, with more than 950 customers now buying across users, branches and cloud workloads at once, what Zscaler calls Zero Trust Everywhere, versus 700 in the prior quarter. Non-GAAP operating margin hit a record 24.3%, up 220 basis points from a year ago, even as the company kept spending to chase the AI security opportunity.

That opportunity is the through-line management kept returning to on the call. CEO Jay Chaudhry described how autonomous AI agents can now find and exploit vulnerabilities faster than security teams can patch them, telling investors on Zscaler’s Q4 earnings call: “The time between vulnerability is being discovered and exploited is also shrinking. You cannot win a patching race against AI.” That urgency is already showing up in the bookings, security for AI revenue rose more than 50% sequentially in Q4, and the company launches an Agentic SecOps product next week built on Red Canary’s threat-detection expertise.

But the fiscal 2027 guide tempers that momentum. Zscaler guided ARR to $4.4 billion and revenue to $3.9 billion, both pointing to roughly 17% growth at the midpoint, a sharp step down from the 25% just posted in Q4. CFO Kevin Rubin flagged that capital expenditures will stay elevated in fiscal 2027 on tighter memory and processor pricing, after CapEx already ran at 8% of revenue in fiscal 2026 and pulled free cash flow margin down to 23% from 27% a year earlier. Management also disclosed a restructuring affecting 3% of staff, redirecting resources toward AI investment.

Security for AI bookings jumped over 50% sequentially last quarter, and Zscaler’s Agentic SecOps launch is next. Track the AI security shift on TIKR for free →

TIKR Values Zscaler Stock at $357, Pricing In AI Security Momentum

TIKR’s mid-case model values Zscaler at $357 by July 2031, implying 101% total return from the current price of $178, or 15% annualized over 4.9 years.

zscaler stock valuation model result
ZS Stock Valuation Model Results (TIKR)

That 15% annualized path places Zscaler stock among the more demanding long-duration bets in enterprise software, one that assumes today’s AI-driven acceleration outlasts the more modest growth path management just guided to for fiscal 2027.

The model’s return is reachable because net new ARR is already reaccelerating: the 17% Q4 growth rate ex-Red Canary sits well ahead of the 7% pace Zscaler posted a year earlier. Zero Trust Everywhere enterprises grew past 950 in the quarter, and the AI security pipeline sitting inside that installed base gives Zscaler stock more than one lever to reach TIKR’s target.

TIKR’s model puts Zscaler stock’s target at $357, a 101% total return by 2031. Run the numbers yourself on TIKR for free →

Should You Invest in Zscaler, Inc.?

The only way to really know is to look at the numbers yourself. TIKR gives you free access to the same institutional-quality financial data that professional analysts use to answer exactly that question.

Pull up Zscaler, Inc. stock and you’ll see years of historical financials, what Wall Street analysts expect for revenue and earnings in the quarters ahead, how valuation multiples have moved over time, and whether price targets are trending up or down.

You can build a free watchlist to track Zscaler, Inc. alongside every other stock on your radar. No credit card required. Just the data you need to decide for yourself.

Access Professional Tools to Analyze ZS stock on TIKR for Free →

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Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!

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