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Is a Beat Likely for Fortinet (FTNT) This Earnings Season?

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Fortinet (FTNT - Free Report) is likely to beat expectations when it reports third-quarter 2022 results after market close on Nov 2.

The cybersecurity firm projects revenues between $1.105 billion and $1.135 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $1.12 billion, suggesting year-over-year growth of 29.5%.

The company forecasts third-quarter non-GAAP earnings in the range of 26-28 cents per share. The consensus mark stands at 27 cents per share, suggesting growth of 35% from the year-ago figure of 20 cents.

The company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 10.3%.

Fortinet, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise Fortinet, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Fortinet, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Fortinet, Inc. Quote

Factors to Note Ahead of Q3 Results

For the July-September quarter, Fortinet anticipates billings in the band of $1.385 billion-$1.415 billion. The heightened demand for its security and networking products amid the post-pandemic reality of remote working and the accelerated emergence of digital technologies might have benefited the to-be-reported quarter’s performance.

The rapid adoption of FortiGate-based secure Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) offerings is likely to have supported Fortinet’s Product segment. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Product revenues in the September-end quarter stands at $442 million, suggesting year-over-year growth of 31.2%.

FortiGuard security subscriptions and FortiCare technical support services are likely to have gained solid traction, favoring the company’s Services segment. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly Services revenues is pegged at $681 million, indicating a year-over-year improvement of 28.5%.

As one of the broadest security service providers globally, Fortinet’s FortiTrust, a unified solution with a single user-based licensing model for flexible consumption across networks, endpoints and clouds, has been witnessing solid traction. This might have driven the company’s private and public cloud billings.

Fortinet’s third-quarter performance is likely to have gained from higher global cybersecurity spending. The growing adoption of SD-WAN solutions might have acted as a tailwind. Per Future Market Insights, the market size for SD-WAN solutions is likely to reach $53.8 billion by 2032 from an expected $3.4 billion in 2022, witnessing a CAGR of 31.6% during the 2022-2032 period.

However, worldwide supply-chain constraints, including the backlog in Fabric products, may have hurt FTNT’s overall third-quarter performance.

Earnings Whisper

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for FTNT this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat, which is the case here.

Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is +4.66% for Fortinet. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Fortinet carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Other Stocks With the Favorable Combination

Per our model, Baidu (BIDU - Free Report) , Analog Devices (ADI - Free Report) and CDW Corporation (CDW - Free Report) also have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

Baidu currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has an Earnings ESP of +0.82%. The company is expected to report its third-quarter 2022 results on Nov 16. Baidu’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 58.1%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Baidu’s third-quarter earnings stands at $2.44 per share, indicating a year-over-year improvement of 7%. BIDU is estimated to report revenues of $4.74 billion, which suggests a decline of 4.3% from the year-ago quarter.

Analog Devices is anticipated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 results on Nov 22. The company carries a Zacks Rank #3 and has an Earnings ESP of +0.32% at present. Analog Devices’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 6.9%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly earnings is pegged at $2.58 per share, suggesting a year-over-year increase of 49.1%. ADI’s quarterly revenues are estimated to increase 35.2% year over year to $3.16 billion.

CDW carries a Zacks Rank #3 and has an Earnings ESP of +0.31%. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter 2022 results on Nov 2. CDW’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 6.8%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CDW’s third-quarter earnings is pegged at $2.52 per share, indicating a year-over-year increase of 18.3%. The consensus mark for revenues stands at $6.21 billion, suggesting a year-over-year increase of 17.2%.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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