Fortinet: Color on Qtr (42.30)Shares of FTNT are trading up approx 11%.
- FBR notes FTNT delivered eye-popping June quarter results as the company handily beat the Street on the top line, bottom line, and billings fronts with major strength from the enterprise, and on the heels of a string of robust quarterly performances, with the company showing no signs of slowing its increasing product/service proliferation in the fast-growing next-generation cybersecurity arena. Fortinet also gave September and FY15 top-line/billings guidance that were above expectations, as its sales force ramp (coupled with a "white-hot" cybersecurity spending environment) is leading Fortinet to capitalize on penetrating further at existing customers and adding new ones. Firm is maintaining Outperform and raising its tgt to $52 from $44.
- Wunderlich Securities notes it is increasing tgt to $56 from $48 following a strong 2Q print in which the company outperformed across all major metrics including: revenue, billings, EPS, cash flow, and operating margin. Most notably, FTNT produced 40% billings growth, which outpaced revenue growth at 30%. This is a strong positive indicator of future growth and visibility.
- Topeka Research notes, while FTNT is certainly on a roll as the decision to bite the bullet on margin expansion is paying off, it maintains Hold rating and raise tgt to $46 from $39. The question is whether 2016 is another "investment" year.
- Needham Research reiterates Buy rating following a strong revenue "beat" in JuneQ and a material increase in CY15 guidance. Firm believes the franchise is benefiting from overall strong secular IT spending on network security, which also benefits other coverage names PANW, CHKP, and IMPV. Firms recent upgrade was focused on the "change in perception" of FTNT that we detect in the field, going from UTM "well rounded player" to a high-end, high-performance firewall in the Corporate Datacenter. Needham reiterates its Buy rating and raises tgt to $54 from $48.