Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Announces Q4 2026 Earnings Guidance

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) issued an update on its fourth quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 0.930-0.950 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share 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

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Bank of America lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday. Stephens upped their target price on Fortinet from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $210.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.19.

Fortinet Stock Down 0.5%

FTNT stock opened at $138.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $101.60 billion, a PE ratio of 44.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $197.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.99.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 182.65%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 3.10 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

More Fortinet News

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

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.