Fortinet (FTNT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Fortinet (FTNT) closed at $128.16, marking a -1.4% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.52% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.54%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.19%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the network security company had gained 12.76% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 7.19% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.79% in that time.
FTNT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 29, 2020. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.78, up 16.42% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $638.82 million, up 16.68% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.04 per share and revenue of $2.53 billion, which would represent changes of +23.08% and +17.5%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for FTNT. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% higher within the past month. FTNT currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that FTNT has a Forward P/E ratio of 42.71 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 42.38, so we one might conclude that FTNT is trading at a premium comparatively.
We can also see that FTNT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.05. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. FTNT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.55 as of yesterday's close.
The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 178, putting it in the bottom 30% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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