Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Releases Q4 2026 Earnings Guidance

Key Points

• Fortinet raised its earnings outlook: Q4 2026 EPS guidance is $0.93–$0.95, above the $0.86 consensus, while full-year EPS guidance increased to $3.54–$3.58. Revenue guidance of approximately $2.2 billion is in line with expectations.
• Fortinet’s latest quarter exceeded estimates, with revenue rising 20.5% year over year to $2.08 billion and EPS reaching $0.91. The company also generated $865 million in free cash flow and expanded its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion.
• Investor concerns remain: Service revenue growth lagged product growth, analysts have generally lowered price targets, and the stock trades with a consensus “Hold” rating and average target of $149.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) updated its fourth quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 0.930-0.950 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 0.860. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.2 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.2 billion. Fortinet also updated its FY 2026 guidance to 3.540-3.580 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $186.00 price objective (down from $203.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $210.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stephens upped their price objective on Fortinet from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $149.19.

Fortinet Stock Down 0.5%

FTNT stock opened at $138.47 on Friday. Fortinet has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $197.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.96, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 182.65%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet will post 3.10 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total transaction of $478,377.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 in the last quarter. Insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding the roughly $2.06 billion revenue and $0.86 EPS consensus estimates. Product revenue rose 37% to $765 million, billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion, and operating margins reached record levels. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its outlook. Fourth-quarter adjusted EPS is projected at $0.93-$0.95, above the $0.86 consensus, while full-year 2026 EPS guidance of $3.54-$3.58 exceeds the $3.38 estimate. Full-year revenue guidance of $8.1-$8.2 billion is approximately in line with expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Strong cash generation remains a potential support: Fortinet produced $865 million of free cash flow in the quarter and expanded its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, leaving approximately $2 billion available. Fortinet adds $1.2 billion to its buyback program
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have reduced price targets but remain divided. TD Cowen maintained a “buy” rating with a $190 target, while Barclays, Truist, Citigroup, Stifel, Scotiabank and others lowered targets or retained neutral-to-hold ratings.
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13% to $1.31 billion, far below product growth. Management also lowered its service-revenue outlook, raising concerns that customers are buying security hardware for AI infrastructure but delaying related recurring-service activations. Software stocks slide after Fortinet results
• Negative Sentiment: Fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies slower growth than in the latest quarter, while pricing benefits and lower-cost inventory are expected to normalize. Investors worry about margin pressure and weaker growth at Fortinet’s premium earnings multiple.
• Negative Sentiment: The selloff has intensified broader cybersecurity-sector weakness, with commentary from Jim Cramer favoring Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike over Fortinet. Jim Cramer Says Sell Fortinet

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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