Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Releases FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) updated its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 3.540-3.580 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 3.380. The company issued revenue guidance of $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $8.1 billion. Fortinet also updated its Q4 2026 guidance to 0.930-0.950 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FTNT. Zacks Research upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley restated a “positive” rating and issued a $136.00 target price (up from $133.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.19.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT stock traded down $4.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $134.66. The company had a trading volume of 3,019,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,832,226. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $197.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $171.64 and its 200 day moving average is $127.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.87, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 182.65% and a net margin of 28.96%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet will post 3.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 in the last quarter. 17.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year, while adjusted EPS of $0.91 exceeded the $0.86 consensus estimate. Product revenue increased 37% to $765 million, billings rose 29% to $2.34 billion, and adjusted operating margin reached a record 38%. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised fiscal 2026 EPS guidance to $3.54-$3.58, above the $3.38 analyst consensus, and expects revenue of $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion. Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $0.93-$0.95 also exceeds consensus of $0.86. The company added $1.2 billion to its share-repurchase authorization, leaving approximately $2 billion available. Fortinet Raises Guidance Again
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Zacks said the stock is technically oversold after a sharp four-week decline, while upward earnings-estimate revisions could support a near-term rebound. Fortinet May See a Trend Reversal
• Neutral Sentiment: Cybersecurity demand tied to AI infrastructure and potential PHP vulnerabilities could create additional demand for Fortinet’s network-security products. However, the article offers a broad industry thesis rather than a new company-specific contract or forecast. PHP2Shell Puts Fortinet in Focus
• Negative Sentiment: The main concern is the mix of growth: service revenue rose only 13% to $1.31 billion, well below product growth. Investors fear customers are buying hardware for AI data centers before activating recurring services, creating uncertainty around service attach rates and future revenue visibility.
• Negative Sentiment: Fortinet’s fourth-quarter revenue outlook implies roughly 15% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, below the latest quarter’s 20.5%. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs and longer component lead times also raised concerns about margins and execution.
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms lowered price targets after the report, including Susquehanna to $145 and Scotiabank to $140; Bank of America downgraded the shares to neutral. Jim Cramer additionally favored Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike over Fortinet, adding to competitive and valuation pressure. Analysts Cut Fortinet Price Targets

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments and operational technology systems. The company’s portfolio includes next-generation firewalls, secure networking products, endpoint security, web application security, email security, identity and access solutions, and security information and event management tools.

Its product offerings include FortiGate network security appliances and cloud-based firewalls, along with FortiSwitch, FortiAP and FortiExtender solutions for secure connectivity.