Palo Alto Networks Said to Be Readying Secondary Stock Offering

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW), the network security provider that held its initial public offering in July, is preparing a secondary sale of its shares, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

ServiceNow Inc. (NOW), a business software maker that went public the previous month, is likely to sell additional stock before year-end, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the offerings haven’t been disclosed. Palo Alto’s offering may be announced as soon as today, one person said.

Shares of Palo Alto and ServiceNow have soared since their debuts, while consumer Internet companies Facebook Inc., Zynga Inc. and Groupon Inc. have plunged on the public markets. ServiceNow was the first technology IPO after Facebook Inc. (FB)’s botched offering in May and opened the gates for more IPOs, including Palo Alto, Eloqua Inc. and Qualys Inc.

Representatives for Palo Alto and ServiceNow declined to comment.

Both IPOs were led by Morgan Stanley (MS) and backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital.

Companies typically hold follow-on offerings to raise additional capital and to allow early investors opportunities to sell their holdings.

Palo Alto has jumped 57 percent since going public on July 18, and fell less than 1 percent to $65.76 yesterday. ServiceNow, whose Web-based software automates services such as financial management and human resources, has more than doubled in value since selling shares on June 28. The stock rose less than 1 percent to $37.15.

To contact the reporters on this story: Serena Saitto in New York at ssaitto@bloomberg.net; Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey McCracken at jmccracken3@bloomberg.net; Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net