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Fortinet (FTNT) Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick: What Investors Need to Know

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Fortinet (FTNT - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $63.13, demonstrating a -0.43% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.87%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.67%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.11%.

The network security company's shares have seen a decrease of 7.17% over the last month, not keeping up with the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.98% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.97%.

The upcoming earnings release of Fortinet will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on May 2, 2024. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.38, marking a 11.76% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.33 billion, up 5.73% from the year-ago period.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $1.69 per share and a revenue of $5.77 billion, indicating changes of +3.68% and +8.77%, respectively, from the former year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Fortinet. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. At present, Fortinet boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Fortinet has a Forward P/E ratio of 37.54 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 27.89, which means Fortinet is trading at a premium to the group.

It's also important to note that FTNT currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.32. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Internet - Software industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.75 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 54, putting it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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