
Jim Cramer Eyes Palo Alto Networks for JPMorgan's Ramped-Up Cybersecurity
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- JPMorgan (JPM) - Get Report expects to double its spending on cybersecurity this year and is accelerating its initial timeline for the spending, according to its quarterly regulatory filing.
If true, JPMorgan will spend $500 million this year on preventing cyberattacks like the one the company experienced in the summer of 2014.
In last year's hacking, 76 million households and seven million small businesses were affected, compared to the one million the company had originally projected.
It was the largest intrusion to have happened up to that point and bigger than both the Target (TGT) - Get Report and Home Depot (HD) - Get Report hackings that put respectively the 70 million and 53 million credit card users at risk.
Before the latest filing, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that the company would double its cybersecurity spending over the next five years from the $250 million spent in 2014.
With JPMorgan putting all this capital into cybersecurity, we asked Cramer what cybersecurity stocks looked to benefit.
"The one that has always stuck out as being the most logical for any bank to be able to contract with is Mark McLaughlin's Palo Alto Networks (PANW) - Get Report," Cramer said.
Cramer said that Palo Alto Networks is "certainly expensive," but it is not as expensive as CyberArk (CYBR) - Get Report, which he says is another possible candidate for working with banks on their cybersecurity needs.
Cramer did not mention that FireEye (FEYE) - Get Report, which is less expensive than both Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk, would be a contender for the bank's business. "Palo Alto is a momentum horse," Cramer said. "The way that people perceive a large institution can protect itself is to bring in that company and have a game plan."








