Fortinet stock climbed on Friday amid fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates while 2025 sales guidance came in well above views.
The cybersecurity firm reported earnings after the market close on Thursday.
"Fortinet reported a solid quarter across the board, helped by an improving firewall market and an early start to large customers' refresh activity," said Keith Bachman, analyst BMO Capital Markets in a report. "In addition, operating margins exceeded consensus by over 500 basis points. However, management's 2025 organic billings guide of 10% year-over-year is lackluster, in our judgment, given expectations of significant second half refresh activity."
Fortinet earnings in the December quarter rose 33% to 68 cents on an adjusted basis. Including acquisitions, revenue climbed 17% to $1.66 billion.
Analysts expected Fortinet earnings of 61 cents a share on sales of $1.595 billion.
Additionally, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm said billings, a sales growth metric, rose 7% to $2 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $1.96 billion.
Fortinet Stock: Revenue, Billings Guidance
For 2025, Fortinet forecast revenue in a range of $6.65 billion to $6.85 billion versus estimates of $6.62 billion.
Fortinet expects billings of $7.3 billion, in line with estimates.
On the stock market today, Fortinet stock climbed over 5% to 110.40 in early trading.
Heading into the Fortinet earnings report, the cybersecurity stock was up 11% in 2025.
Fortinet Stock: Firewall Growth Slows
The company competes in the firewall network security market versus Palo Alto Networks, Check Point Software Technologies and others. Firewalls block online intrusions and monitor web-based apps.
Fortinet and many other cybersecurity firms are focused on a new growth market: Secure Access Service Edge. SASE offers a fast and cost-effective way of securing an organization's branch offices and remote workers.
"Our customers are increasingly recognizing the benefits of a single-vendor approach to SASE, and we expect to emerge as a leader in this space," said CEO Ken Xie in the news release.
Fortinet stock holds a Relative Strength Rating of 93 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup.
The Computer Software-Security group ranks No. 28 out of 197 industry groups that IBD tracks.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
