Cybersecurity equities have staged a strong rebound after apocalyptic AI scenarios triggered market panic earlier this month, and Société Générale believes the upward momentum can persist.
The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) climbed 10% last week, while industry heavyweights such as Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and CrowdStrike (CRWD) advanced 10% and 15%, respectively, over the same stretch. Those gains build on robust year-to-date performance.
Manish Kabra, chief U.S. equity strategist at Société Générale, noted in a Thursday client note that despite the recent appreciation, the trade’s fundamentals are improving and point to further upside.
“EPS growth has compounded at roughly 16% per annum since 2020, versus 10% in the previous decade,” Kabra wrote, referring to earnings-per-share expansion. “Importantly, valuations remain broadly in line with historical averages despite the rally.”
He added: “As governments and industry align on AI safety, spending is expanding beyond compute into the infrastructure needed to secure and govern AI systems.”
Société Générale maintains a basket of stocks providing exposure to the cybersecurity theme. The basket trades at a 12-month forward P/E of around 25, well below its 30.2 average since 2018.
It also offers diversification away from the traditional AI trade, having shown a low — and at times negative — correlation with semiconductor shares in 2026.
While the bank did not publish the full list of holdings, it shared with Themoneytimes the top nine names in its cybersecurity basket.
The stocks are listed below:
Palo Alto Networks
Ticker: PANW
Year-to-date returns: 101.6%
CrowdStrike
Ticker: CRWD
Year-to-date returns: 107.3%
Cloudflare
Ticker: NET
Year-to-date returns: 67.2%
Fortinet
Ticker: FTNT
Year-to-date returns: 116%
Zscaler
Ticker: ZS
Year-to-date returns: -13.3%
Check Point Software Technologies
Ticker: CHKP
Year-to-date returns: -27.6%
Okta
Ticker: OKTA
Year-to-date returns: 120.2%
Gen Digital
Ticker: GEN
Year-to-date returns: 11.4%
Akamai Technologies
Ticker: AKAM
Year-to-date returns: 22.1%