Stifel Q2 cybersecurity survey: Macro dynamics weighing on near-term results

Investing.com -- Stifel’s latest cybersecurity VAR survey suggests stabilization in growth and spending trends, though near-term performance continues to be affected by macroeconomic pressures, especially in Europe.

In its second-quarter 2025 survey of 39 value-added resellers (VARs), Stifel said results “point to a continuation of recent trends across net growth and outperformance levels,” while “feedback from larger Tier 1 VAR/SI conversations were mixed, with macro dynamics weighing on near-term results for several contacts in EMEA.”

Data security was the top spending priority for a second straight quarter, with identity, cloud, and endpoint security also ranking highly.

Vulnerability management was deprioritized. Stifel noted a modest rebound in firewall demand, with the “highest outperformance level over the prior seven quarters,” and added that “VARs continue to see share gains by PANW (and FTNT to a lesser extent), whereas CHKP/CSCO continue to be perceived as losing share.”

Despite the near-term uncertainty, the survey found partners were more positive on the medium-term outlook.

“VARs increase their C3Q25 and CY25 growth expectations and now expect to grow a blended 11.7% Y/Y in C3Q25 and 12.1% Y/Y in CY25,” Stifel wrote.

Customer preferences are said to be shifting slightly back toward Best-of-Breed models, though identity convergence is a focus area.

“While PANW continues to screen well as a being well-positioned as a platform vendor... it appears that there is a modest pendulum shift back towards Best of Breed vs. Platform,” the firm said.

Stifel expects “at least in-line results/guides across much of the group” into earnings season and highlighted CYBR and NET as top ideas.

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