Scotiabank Has Bullish Forecast for Fortinet FY2026 Earnings

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) – Scotiabank upped their FY2026 earnings estimates for Fortinet in a note issued to investors on Thursday, October 1st. Scotiabank analyst P. Colville now forecasts that the software maker will earn $3.10 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $2.77. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $163.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortinet’s current full-year earnings is $3.10 per share.

FTNT has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 price objective on Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $135.00 target price on Fortinet and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.79.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $189.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $138.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $138.07. Fortinet has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $192.41.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were 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 owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 53,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,045,529.28. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $492,000. Westerkirk Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. now owns 52,500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,169,000 after purchasing an additional 15,500 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 75,491 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,169,000 after buying an additional 13,294 shares in the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 53.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 49,058 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,537,000 after buying an additional 17,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 340,939 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $27,074,000 after buying an additional 7,385 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher earnings forecasts: Scotiabank raised its Fortinet FY2026 EPS estimate to $3.10 from $2.77 and its FY2027 estimate to $3.42 from $2.95. The firm maintained a “Sector Perform” rating and a $163 price target. Scotiabank Has Strong Forecast for Fortinet FY2027 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Potential earnings beat: Zacks included FTNT among five highly ranked stocks considered likely to exceed consensus earnings estimates in their upcoming reports, supporting expectations for continued operating momentum. Looking for Earnings Beat? Buy These 5 Top-Ranked Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Industrial cybersecurity expansion: Rockwell Automation is adding managed services supporting Fortinet firewalls, potentially expanding Fortinet’s reach among manufacturing and operational-technology customers. Rockwell Automation Expands SecureOT Managed Services
• Neutral Sentiment: Relative investment appeal: A comparison with CrowdStrike highlights that both cybersecurity stocks are near 52-week highs, with valuation and earnings-estimate trends likely to determine which has greater upside. CrowdStrike vs. Fortinet: Which Cybersecurity Stock Is Poised for Higher Highs?
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation concerns: Analysts question whether Fortinet’s future cash generation can support a multiyear share-price surge. With a price-to-earnings ratio near 67 and Scotiabank’s $163 target below the market price, profit-taking and caution may be weighing on FTNT. Can Fortinet Stay Fully Priced on Future Cash Flow?

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops and provides cybersecurity products and services for businesses, governments, and service providers. The company’s portfolio is designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments, and operational technology from cyber threats.

Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiSASE secure access service edge solutions. Fortinet also provides centralized management and analytics through products such as FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, along with security operations, threat intelligence, and other subscription-based services through its FortiGuard portfolio.

Founded in 2000, Fortinet serves customers globally through direct sales, channel partners, and managed security service providers.