What is Scotiabank's Estimate for Fortinet FY2027 Earnings?

Key Points

• Scotiabank raised its FY2027 EPS forecast for Fortinet to $3.50 from $3.42. It maintained a “Sector Perform” rating and a $140 price target.
• Fortinet beat latest-quarter expectations, reporting EPS of $0.91 versus the $0.86 consensus and revenue of $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: MarketBeat reports a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $150.44, while Fortinet shares were down 5.3% in the article.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Scotiabank raised their FY2027 earnings per share estimates for Fortinet in a research note issued on Monday, November 2nd. Scotiabank analyst P. Colville now forecasts that the software maker will post earnings per share of $3.50 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $3.42. Scotiabank currently has a "Sector Perform" rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortinet's current full-year earnings is $3.21 per share.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $102.00 to $107.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Arete Research downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $117.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $160.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 30th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $185.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $160.00 to $145.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $150.44.

Fortinet Stock Down 5.3%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $122.51 on Friday. Fortinet has a 52 week low of $73.55 and a 52 week high of $197.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $169.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $129.28. The firm has a market cap of $90.01 billion, a PE ratio of 39.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.04.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth $979,062,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker's stock worth $940,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker's stock worth $788,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total transaction of $8,911,425.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,045,529.28. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.49, for a total transaction of $404,138.29. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,284,328,436.40. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 221,304 shares of company stock worth $30,675,309. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet launched FortiGuard Inline AI Security Service, which adds inspection and safeguards for enterprise generative-AI use, and FortiLink SASE Service, a cloud-delivered option for distributed sites. The offerings expand its addressable security portfolio. Fortinet unveiled two new security services
• Positive Sentiment: FortiAIGate is now available on the Equinix Distributed AI Hub, giving customers a validated architecture to govern and protect AI across hybrid and multicloud environments. This could support Fortinet’s positioning as companies scale AI deployment. Fortinet and Equinix secure distributed AI at scale
• Positive Sentiment: Daiwa upgraded Fortinet to “outperform” with a $150 target, and Scotiabank raised its 2026 EPS estimate to $3.21 from $3.10, though it kept a “Sector Perform” rating. Daiwa rating information
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views are mixed: Zacks Research cut its rating to “hold,” while the recent Daiwa upgrade offers a counterpoint. Mixed recommendations may leave investors focused on execution and forward guidance.
• Negative Sentiment: The main overhang remains the services outlook. Coverage of Fortinet’s Q3 call points to delayed service revenue, alongside slower product-growth expectations and rising component costs, despite a higher 2026 outlook and strong AI demand. Investors appear to be prioritizing those growth and margin concerns over the earnings beat. Q3 earnings call highlights services outlook and AI demand
• Negative Sentiment: ETFs were net sellers of $15.7 million in Fortinet shares on Nov. 3, while CEO Ken Xie’s reported sale of 161,483 shares may also draw attention to insider activity. ETF selling in Fortinet Ken Xie share sale

Fortinet Company Profile

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.

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