Why did Fortinet stock jump up today? Strong Q4, guidance
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Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) jumped almost 11% on Wednesday as the cyber security firm reported strong fourth-quarter results and guidance for 2023. 
Late Tuesday, Fortinet (FTNT) said fourth-quarter earnings excluding one-time items came in at 44 cents a share, on $1.28B in sales, while analysts had forecast the company to earn 39 cents a share on revenue of $1.3B.
Looking ahead, Fortinet (FTNT) said it expects adjusted first-quarter earnings to be between 27 cents and 29 cents a share, with revenue in a range of $1.18B to $1.22B. The company also forecast billings for the quarter to be between $1.43B and $1.47B.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who has an outperform rating on Fortinet (FTNT), said the results were "generally solid," even if there was a slight miss in revenue compared to expectations, but that other metrics were well above Wall Street expectations.
"Although, Fortinet is held to a higher standard by the Street given the company's history of large beats stacking against its competitors, we believe this performance and outlook were bullish not just for Fortinet but as a barometer on overall cyber security spending with many bears waiting for a huge stumble out of the gates," Ives wrote in a note to clients.
Ives added billings growth, strong free cash flow performance and a "formidable" business model make Fortinet (FTNT) "attractive" at these levels.
He boosted his per-share price target to $70 from $64 following the results.

Last month, Mizuho Securities downgraded Fortinet (FTNT), citing "elevated challenges."