Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. Fortinet's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet updated its Q2 guidance to $0.39-0.41 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $1.73 to $1.79 EPS.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Fortinet stock traded up $1.67 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $65.20. 8,264,011 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,760,447. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24. The firm has a market cap of $49.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.81, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.74 and a 200 day moving average of $61.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on FTNT. Capital One Financial cut Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,849 shares of company stock valued at $10,571,176 in the last quarter. Insiders own 17.54% of the company's stock.

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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