Fortinet stock surges as Q1 results, outlook gets Wall Street praise
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Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) shares surged more than 6% on Friday after the cybersecurity company posted first-quarter results and guidance that impressed Wall Street analysts.
Citi analyst Fatima Boolani reiterated her buy rating on Fortinet (FTNT) shares, while raising her per-share price target to $73 from $67, noting the strength in billings and revenue, especially in the face of an uncertain economy.
"Billings, revenue, and product each not only met/exceeded 30% growth thresholds, but landed comfortably above buyside expectations, as FTNT executes well in a macro that has caught many flat-footed," Boolani wrote in an investor note.
During the period, Fortinet (FTNT) earned an adjusted 34 cents per share on $1.26B, topping estimates of 29 cents and $1.2B.
Billings rose 30% year-over-year to $1.5B, while service revenue rose 30% year-over-year to $761.6M.
Looking to the second-quarter, Fortinet (FTNT) expects revenue to be between $1.28B and $1.32B, with billings between $1.56B and $1.6B.
For the full-year, Fortinet (FTNT) expects revenue between $5.425B and $5.485B, with billings between $6.75B and $6.81B.
Morgan Stanley analyst Hamza Fodderwala reiterated the firm's overweight rating on Fortinet (FTNT), noting that not only were the first-quarter results "strong," but that the 30% free cash flow yield is "underpriced in the shares."
Several other cybersecurity stocks rose on back of the results, including Palo Alto Networks (PANW), CyberArk Software (CYBR) and Zscaler (ZS).
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