Aug 21 (Reuters) - Palo Alto Networks (PANW.O) surged 12% on Monday after its dominant position in the cybersecurity market helped power a strong forecast, cheering investors worried about possible weakness after it chose a rare summer Friday for its earnings. Palo Alto Networks had declined nearly 17% ahead of earnings this month. Palo Alto's shares outperform cybersecurity peersBut as enterprise budgets tighten and threats of cyber attacks intensify, more businesses are turning to larger players like Palo Alto Networks that serve as one-stop shops for a variety of cybersecurity solutions. "We walk away confident about the company's ability to consolidate enterprise security spend and outgrow peers with strong profitability," RBC Capital Markets analysts said. Palo Alto trades at more than 41 times the consensus earnings for the next 12 months, compared with 52.56 for CrowdStrike and 34.19 for Fortinet.

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Persons: billings, Akash Sriram, Pooja Desai Organizations: Palo Alto Networks, Rivals CrowdStrike Holdings, Wedbush Securities, RBC Capital Markets, Fortinet, Thomson Locations: Alto, Palo, CrowdStrike, Bengaluru