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Fortinet (FTNT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Fortinet (FTNT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $66.91, moving -0.98% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 3.43% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 3.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 4.26%.

Heading into today, shares of the network security company had lost 10.43% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 12.03% and the S&P 500's loss of 12.15% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from FTNT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 6, 2019. In that report, analysts expect FTNT to post earnings of $0.51 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 59.38%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $495.54 million, up 18.93% from the year-ago period.

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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. FTNT is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, FTNT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 33.99. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 37.41.

It is also worth noting that FTNT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.03. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Security stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.03 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Security industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 71, which puts it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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