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Last week, you might have seen that Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) released its first-quarter result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 6.2% to US$97.74 in the past week. Revenues were US$1.5b, approximately in line with whatthe analysts expected, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) crushed expectations, coming in at US$0.56, an impressive 21% ahead of estimates. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Fortinet after the latest results.
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Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from Fortinet's 43 analysts is for revenues of US$6.76b in 2025. This reflects a notable 10% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to decrease 9.9% to US$2.21 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$6.76b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.20 in 2025. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.
View our latest analysis for Fortinet
There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$109, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. There are some variant perceptions on Fortinet, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$135 and the most bearish at US$83.00 per share. There are definitely some different views on the stock, but the range of estimates is not wide enough as to imply that the situation is unforecastable, in our view.
One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. We would highlight that Fortinet's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 14% annualised growth rate until the end of 2025 being well below the historical 20% p.a. growth over the last five years. Juxtapose this against the other companies in the industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenues (in aggregate) 12% annually. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it looks like Fortinet is forecast to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry.