Underscoring this, in his final days in office, former President Biden signed an executive order focused on improving U.S. cybersecurity, stating that "adversarial countries and criminals continue to conduct cyber campaigns targeting the United States and Americans.

Palo Alto Networks ( PANW -0.20%) is one of the top names in the cybersecurity industry, and its stock has turned out to be a fruitful investment over the past two years. Share prices are up 157% during this period, beating the 78% gains registered by the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector index.

SoundHound saw its shares climb 836% in 2024 while Palo Alto returned a more pedestrian 23%. But Wall Street only expects one to repeat its performance while the other could be in for a down year.