Cantor Fitzgerald Increases Earnings Estimates for Fortinet

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald has increased its earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Fortinet for FY2025 to $2.19, up from a previous forecast of $2.14.
• Fortinet reported $0.64 EPS for the recent quarter, exceeding consensus estimates by $0.05, with a 30.60% net margin.
• Several research firms adjusted their price targets for Fortinet, with Cantor Fitzgerald maintaining a "Neutral" rating and a target price of $110.00.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) - Cantor Fitzgerald raised their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Fortinet in a note issued to investors on Thursday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst J. Ruykhaver now expects that the software maker will post earnings per share of $2.19 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.14. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a "Neutral" rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortinet's current full-year earnings is $2.09 per share. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Fortinet's FY2026 earnings at $2.44 EPS.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 123.05% and a net margin of 30.60%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Fortinet's revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

FTNT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price target (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $74.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.32, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $67.97 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,473,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 646,736 shares of the software maker's stock worth $61,104,000 after purchasing an additional 57,422 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $542,000. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,440,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. It offers secure networking solutions focus on the convergence of networking and security; network firewall solutions that consist of FortiGate data centers, hyperscale, and distributed firewalls, as well as encrypted applications; wireless LAN solutions; and secure connectivity solutions, including FortiSwitch secure ethernet switches, FortiAP wireless local area network access points, FortiExtender 5G connectivity gateways, and other products.

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