Fortinet stock rallies as strong first quarter prompts BTIG to upgrade ratings
Investing.com -- Cybersecurity firm Fortinet shares rallied 16% in premarket on Thursday as investors cheered strong first quarter.
The company delivered a stronger-than-expected first quarter, prompting investment bank BTIG to upgrade the company’s stock rating to “Buy” and introduce a new price target of $125.
Fortinet reported Q1 billings of $2.09 billion, up 30.6% year-over-year, significantly ahead of analyst expectations of roughly $1.82 billion. Revenue climbed 20.1% to $1.85 billion, while non-GAAP earnings per share reached $0.82, beating Wall Street forecasts by more than 30%.
BTIG analysts described the quarter as a “blow out” performance, citing accelerating demand across several of Fortinet’s growth areas, including Unified SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), operational technology (OT) security, and AI data center infrastructure. The firm also raised its fiscal 2026 revenue and earnings forecasts following the results.
A major highlight was Fortinet’s Unified SASE business, where billings grew 31% year-over-year. Management said adoption among large enterprise customers continued to rise, helped by its Sovereign SASE offering, which allows private and on-premise deployments — a feature analysts say differentiates Fortinet from competitors.
The company’s OT security segment also emerged as a strong growth driver, with billings increasing more than 70% during the quarter. Executives attributed the surge to rising ransomware and nation-state cyber threats, along with growing AI-related infrastructure investments in sectors such as energy and industrial systems.
Fortinet additionally pointed to early momentum in AI data center security, revealing several seven-figure contract wins tied to GPU cloud providers and generative AI projects. Management said the market remains in its early stages but could become a significant long-term growth opportunity.
Despite the strong performance, some analysts questioned whether customers accelerated purchases ahead of anticipated appliance price increases. Fortinet pushed back on concerns about demand pull-forward, arguing that current growth is being driven by structural trends such as AI infrastructure expansion and increasing cybersecurity requirements rather than temporary spending spikes.