Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Soars at it Exceeds Expectations in Several Categories

The share price of Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was rocking today, as the company beat expectations in a number of categories for the quarter.

Needham says, "The Fortinet DecQ results were better than expected, beating on billings, revenue and EPS. Guidance for both MarQ and CY11 was above consensus, and demonstrated how Fortinet is gaining momentum in its key markets of large enterprise and telco service providers. We believe Fortinet is increasingly viewed as a “safe” solution, as potential customers become aware of the growing market presence and strong financial results of FTNT, a relative newcomer in security and UTM software appliances. Looking into CY11, we believe the secular trends which favor Fortinet should continue, including: increased enterprise adoption of “all in one” security appliances; increasing appetite among telcos for FTNT equipment to enable “hosted cloud services”; overall growth of spending on network security in enterprises. CY11 guidance is above consensus, and reflects FTNT’s confidence in accelerating traction among enterprise and telco customers.

"MarQ guidance was above consensus revenue and bracketed EPS. CY11 outlook of $370-385m and $0.62-0.64 EPS is above consensus $371m and $0.59. We are raising our CY11 to $383m and $0.64 EPS; introducing CY12 of $446m revenue and $0.77 EPS."

Needham & Company maintains a "Buy" rating on Fortinet (FTNT), which was trading at $38.92, gaining $5.00, or 14.74 percent, as of 1:59 PM EST. Needham raised their price target on Fortinet from $38 to $44.