Fortinet Beats Earnings and Then Some

By Chris Lange Published Jul 22, 4:50PM EDT

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Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) reported its second-quarter financial results Wednesday after the markets closed as $0.11 in earnings per share (EPS) on $239.8 million in revenue, compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.09 in EPS on $227.74 million in revenue. The same quarter from the previous year had $0.11 in EPS on $184.10 million in revenue.

During this quarter, total billings were $297.2 million, an increase of 40% compared to $213.0 million in the same quarter last year. At the same time, total deferred revenue was $657.6 million, up from $600.2 million at the end of March 2015.

At the close of this quarter, cash, cash equivalents and investments were $1.15 billion, compared to $1.07 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Cash flow from operations was $84.3 million this quarter, versus $43.8 million in the same quarter of 2014.

Free cash flow was $73.5 million during the second quarter of 2015 compared to $34.1 million in the same quarter of 2014.

Ken Xie, founder, Chairman and CEO of Fortinet, commented on earnings:

Fortinet’s record billings growth and better-than-expected revenue, profitability and cash flow during the second quarter reflect that our investment strategy continues to pay off. Our over-performance was driven by the combination of our customer focus and strong competitive technology position, return on our sales and marketing investments, momentum with our partners, the robust security market, and our ability to land new customers as well as expand within our existing accounts. Looking forward, Fortinet is well positioned to maintain momentum and gain market share globally due to our best-in-class integrated end-to-end network security platform.

Shares of Fortinet closed Wednesday down 1.5% at $42.30. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were up 8.3% at $45.80 in the after-hours trading session. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $44.41 and a 52-week trading range of $23.08 to $44.12.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.