Fortinet (FTNT) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Fortinet (FTNT) closed at $80.15 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.25% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.59% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.35%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.88%.
Heading into today, shares of the network security company had lost 11.1% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.44% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.1% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from FTNT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be November 1, 2018. On that day, FTNT is projected to report earnings of $0.42 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 50%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $451.02 million, up 20.52% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.67 per share and revenue of $1.78 billion, which would represent changes of +60.58% and +19.2%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for FTNT. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. FTNT is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note FTNT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 48. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 52.52, so we one might conclude that FTNT is trading at a discount comparatively.
Also, we should mention that FTNT has a PEG ratio of 2.87. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Security was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.91 at yesterday's closing price.
The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 29, which puts it in the top 11% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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