Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Okta (OKTA), and SailPoint (SAIL) are well positioned to benefit from an anticipated move by enterprises toward new identity-security architectures and platforms as security risks emerge from the growth of autonomous AI agents, Morgan Stanley said in a Thursday note.

The agentic identity market represents an opportunity of more than $60 billion in the coming years, Morgan Stanley analysts said. Identity-security offerings will need to expand their capabilities to make access and governance decisions in real time and at a much larger scale to handle AI agents.

This architectural shift will move identity security toward platforms, as fragmented tools may not keep pace with modern attacks, according to the note.

Despite Palo Alto and SailPoint having an advantage in performing real-time behavioral analysis through Palo Alto's privileged-access-management capabilities and SailPoint's identity-governance-and-administration offerings, Okta is seen as first to market with a more comprehensive platform, the analysts said.

However, Palo Alto's CyberArk business gives it the strongest positioning in terms of data and client reach, the analysts said.

SailPoint is also viewed favorably due to the importance of identity governance in agentic identity security, but its share-ownership overhang poses an obstacle to bringing its stock valuation closer to peer valuations, according to the note.

Morgan Stanley maintained overweight ratings on the three companies and raised Okta's price target to $180 from $115 and SailPoint's to $22 from $18.

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