Cybersecurity stocks are back with a vengeance. Here are three in Josh Brown's list

Cnbc · May 18, 2026 · 2194 words · By Josh Brown; Sean Russo; Joshua Brown

AI as a Growth Catalyst Cybersecurity Market Bull Case Technical Analysis of Software Stocks

headphones Listen to the eFinder podcast briefing

Generate a natural audio summary of this story

Daily briefing

What to know about AI as a Growth Catalyst

(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — Of all the horrendous nonsense we were forced to entertain this spring, none of it was more horrendously nonsensical than the idea of…

Claims checked 20

Techniques found 3

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

I was sitting in the office with Batnick one afternoon and we noticed CrowdStrike and Palo Alto dropping double-digits intra-day.

Common ground

He's like "they're saying cyber stocks are the next AI disruption group." I remember saying "Get the **** outta here" and wishing I didn't already have a full position in CRWD with a cost basis in the 100's.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Exaggeration / Hyperbole, Oversimplification: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this AI as a Growth Catalyst story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that As of May 18 , there are 184 names on The Best Stocks in the Market list?
How does this story connect AI as a Growth Catalyst with Cybersecurity Market Bull Case over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/18/cybersecurity-stocks-are-back-with-a-vengeance-h…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 3 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 90% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 80% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Oversimplification 70% confidence

Reducing a complex issue to a simplistic framing that distorts understanding.

Why it matters: Recognizing oversimplification helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 20 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 10

check_circle Corroborated 6

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

info Single Source 1

verified

Claim 1: “As of May 18 , there are 184 names on The Best Stocks in the Market list.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence contains general information about the month of May and the S&P 500, but no mention of a specific list called 'The Best Stocks in the Market' or a count of 184 names.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — This article is a summary of the closing milestones of the S&P 500 Index, a United States stock market index.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closing_milestones_of_the_S&P_…

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — In finance, a stock market index or stock index is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels wit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market_index

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The May 6, 2010, flash crash, also known as the crash of 2:45 or simply the flash crash, was a United States trillion-dollar flash crash (a type of stock market crash) which started at 2:32 p.m. EDT a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_flash_crash

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 2: “the price compressed into the $83 to $88 range... Then came the Q1 earnings print on May 6, and FTNT exploded out of the prior range. The stock is now at $124”

SINGLE SOURCE

While evidence confirms Fortinet is a cybersecurity company, there is no specific data in the provided evidence regarding the stock price range of $83-$88 or the current price of $124.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Fortinet, Inc. is an American cybersecurity company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It develops and sells security products including firewalls, endpoint security and intrusion detection syste…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortinet

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Fortinet delivers cybersecurity everywhere you need it. We secure the entire digital attack surface from devices, data, and apps and from data center to home office.
https://www.fortinet.com/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Fortinet is a platform-based cybersecurity vendor with product offerings covering network security, cloud security, zero-trust access, and security operations.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/FTNT/?fr=sycsrp_catchall

check_circle

Claim 3: “Their cybersecurity networking segment (66% of billings) was up 32% year over year, AI-driven security operations were up 23%”

CORROBORATED

A search result explicitly states that total billings were led by 32% growth in secure networking and 23% growth in AI-driven security operations.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Phishing is a form of social engineering and a scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware such as viruses, worms, adware, or ransomware. Phishing at…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Arista Networks, Inc. is an American provider of client to cloud networking services for large data center/AI, campus and routing environments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arista_Networks

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Fortinet, Inc. is an American cybersecurity company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It develops and sells security products including firewalls, endpoint security and intrusion detection syste…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortinet

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 4: “The stock was down 37% in February while its forward multiple on earnings was down 52% from highs.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 5: “it created something called Project Glasswing to address the problem”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the launch of Project Glasswing as a cybersecurity initiative by Anthropic to address vulnerabilities identified by AI.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Claude is a series of large language models developed by American software company Anthropic. Claude was released as a AI chatbot in March 2023. It is also used in AI-assisted software development. Cl…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_(language_model)

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Anthropic is committing up to $100M in usage credits for Mythos Preview across these efforts, as well as $4M in direct donations to open-source security organizations. Project Glasswing is a starting …
https://www.anthropic.com/glasswing

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mythos Preview is a general-purpose frontier model—not a specialized security tool. Anthropic didn't train it to hack. The cybersecurity capabilities, as Anthropic puts it, "emerged as a downstream co…
https://particula.tech/blog/anthropic-mythos-project-glasswi…

+ 1 more evidence source

schedule

Claim 6: “Revenue is up 23%, they just crossed $5.25 billion in recurring revenue”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 7: “The multiple... nearly doubled from 72x in February to 122x today.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 8: “are targeting $20 billion in subscription revenue by 2030.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 9: “$820M of stock was repurchased for the quarter and $500M in debt was paid.”

CORROBORATED

SiliconANGLE reports that Fortinet repurchased $823 million of stock (close to the claimed $820M) and repaid $500 million in senior notes.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The quarter also saw Fortinet repurchasing $823 million of stock and repaying $500 million in senior notes that came due. Cash and short-term investments stood at $3.29 billion as of the end of March.
https://siliconangle.com/2026/05/06/fortinet-shares-surge-fi…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — $347.95 Million in Sales Expected for IPG Photonics Co. (NASDAQ:IPGP)...
https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDAQ/IPGP/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Investing.com-- Most Asian stock markets fell on Monday, with technology shares leading losses ahead of earnings from AI heavyweight Nvidia later this week, while rising oil prices and escalating Midd…
https://www.investing.com/

check_circle

Claim 10: “The list of partner companies named in the Glasswing press release included Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorgan Chase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Nvidia and Palo Alto Networks.”

CORROBORATED

The list of partners (AWS, Anthropic, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Palo Alto Networks) is explicitly mentioned across multiple search results regarding the Project Glasswing announcement.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Project Glasswing unites Apple, Google, Anthropic to secure systems from AI threats. After discovering thousands of serious software flaws, Anthropic’s new AI model has pushed major tech firms to unit…
https://interestingengineering.com/ai-robotics/project-glass…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Anthropic committing $100M with AWS, Microsoft, Google, CrowdStrike, Cisco, Apple, Broadcom, Palo Alto Networks, and JPMorganChase says everything about where the industry is heading.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pvarughese_project-glasswing-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Introduction. Today we’re announcing Project Glasswing1, a new initiative that brings together Amazon Web Services, Anthropic, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorganChase, the Linux Fou…
https://www.anthropic.com/glasswing

help

Claim 11: “PANW... was down 36% from highs through late February”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim.

check_circle

Claim 12: “Anthropic was forced to disclose a highly disturbing development involving its Mythos model detecting hundreds of security flaws at some of the largest corporate entities in the world”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web sources confirm that Anthropic's Mythos model has sophisticated hacking/security research capabilities and has been used to expose security flaws, including in macOS.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Anthropic holds Mythos model due to hacking risks.Threat level: Mythos Preview is "extremely autonomous" and has sophisticated reasoning capabilities that give it the skills of an advanced security re…
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/07/anthropic-mythos-preview-cy…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — With Mythos, Anthropic appears to have made two significant leaps compared to previous models. One is that Mythos can find bugs with little guidance—it doesn’t need to be pointed at particular code an…
https://thelogic.co/news/the-big-read/anthropic-mythos-recog…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Anthropic’s Mythos AI Exposes Security Flaws in Apple’s (AAPL) Uncrackable macOS.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…

schedule

Claim 13: “PANW is now at $245”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 14: “Their flexible subscription model (Falcon Flex) has been a huge hit, growing 120% year over year”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 15: “buying CyberArk (identity security) and Chronosphere (cloud monitoring)”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “CRWD is now at $607”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 17: “FTNT beat on top and bottom lines, growing revenue 20% year over year and EPS up 41% year over year.”

CORROBORATED

Web results confirm Fortinet (FTNT) had strong growth, with one source specifically mentioning 20% year-over-year top-line growth and another mentioning revenue increases of ~20% in specific quarters.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Total billings increased 31% year over year to $2.09 billion, led by 32% growth in secure networking, more than 70% growth in OT, 31% growth in Unified SASE and 23% growth in AI-driven security operat…
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/fortinet-q…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Product revenue increased ~20% year-over-year to $691 million in Q4, with both hardware and software each growing ~20%.When does Fortinet (FTNT) report earnings?
https://www.tipranks.com/stocks/ftnt/earnings

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +3.5%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $1.13 billion, up 20.1% from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for Atlassian has be…
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/fortinet-ftnt-reports-next-w…

schedule

Claim 18: “CRWD is also gearing up for earnings in early June, with expectations of 24% top line revenue growth, 54% EBIT growth, and 46% EPS growth, all year over year.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 19: “they now have 1,550 customers fully on their platform, those customers are spending 19% more year over year, and the subscription business is growing 33%”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim.

schedule

Claim 20: “their standout AI-powered security operations tool and their cloud security suite both surpassing $500M+ in recurring revenue.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.