SentinelOne's shares climbed about 1% on Tuesday after research firm Citron Research issued a positive report focused on the company's prospects in securing autonomous AI agents.
Citron centered its analysis on SentinelOne's purchase of Prompt Security, arguing the acquisition gives the company tools to confront vulnerabilities created by agentic AI tools such as Clawdbot. The report contended that conventional antivirus solutions are not equipped to detect threats that occur within AI-driven conversations, leaving a security gap that Prompt Security's technology can address.
According to Citron, Prompt Security adds a governance layer for AI agents by inspecting commands before they are executed in real time. That inspection, the report said, could stop sensitive data from being exfiltrated and prevent credential theft by intercepting malicious or risky instructions prior to execution. Citron described this capability explicitly as "the governance layer for the agentic ecosystem" rather than as traditional antivirus protection.
The research note also highlighted what it views as a disconnect in market valuation. Citron pointed out that SentinelOne trades at roughly 4.9 times price-to-sales, whereas Cloudflare trades at about an 18 times multiple, despite SentinelOne’s strategic positioning in agent security. The firm used that disparity to characterize SentinelOne as a "coiled spring," implying potential upside if the market re-rates the company.
Citron framed its bullish stance against a broader backdrop in which the cybersecurity sector is adjusting to new threats introduced by autonomous AI agents. These agents can carry out commands and access files without being subject to conventional security supervision, the report said, and SentinelOne’s Prompt Security technology is positioned to monitor agent behavior where interactions occur.
The report from Citron portrayed SentinelOne's technology as focused on the point of interaction with AI agents, enabling oversight and intervention in real time. That, according to the note, is the principal mechanism by which the company could mitigate the novel risks posed by agentic AI.
Context note: The details above reflect Citron Research's assessment and the market's immediate reaction as reported.