Fortinet Inc. FTNT reported strong third-quarter 2024 results, wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved year over year.
Fortinet reported third-quarter 2024 non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of 63 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 23.53%. The bottom line climbed 53.7% from the year-ago quarter’s earnings of 41 cents.
Total revenues of $1.51 billion beat the consensus mark by 2.1% and improved 13% year over year, driven by strong growth in services revenues and product revenues return to growth.
In the third quarter, Fortinet added more than 6,000 new logos, driven by the resilience of small enterprise customers and the strength of a robust channel partner ecosystem.
RPO grew 15% to $6.1 billion and total billings rose 6% to $1.58 billion, driven by robust growth in Security Operations at 32% and Unified SASE at 14%.
Fortinet, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Fortinet, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Fortinet, Inc. Quote
Quarter in Detail
Segment-wise, Product revenues returned to growth for the first time in five quarters, increasing 2% year over year to $474 million.
Software license revenues continued the double-digit growth, driven by SecOps solutions, and represented a mid-to-high teens percentage of total product revenues. Combined revenues from software licenses and software services, such as cloud and SaaS security solutions, increased 33%, accelerating from 32% in the second quarter, and providing an annual revenue run rate of more than $900 million.
Service revenues of $1.034 billion grew 19%, accounting for 69% of total revenues. Service revenue growth was driven by a rise in its SaaS solutions, including 50% services growth in SecOps and 27% services growth in Unified SASE.
In the third quarter, Unified SASE billings were 23% of the company’s business, up one and a half points, driven by security service edge (SSE) billings growth of 220% with pipeline up 130%. SSE and related cloud technologies were again the fastest growers in Unified SASE, benefiting from the large SD-WAN customer base.
Unified SASE and Security Operations gained considerable traction, with more than 90% of its billings coming from the Secure Networking install base and combining to drive SaaS solution organic ARR growth rate of 74% in the reported quarter.
Including all elements of Unified SASE, pipeline growth was more than 30%, while the SSE technologies are seeing pipeline and ARR growth of over 130% and 500%, respectively.
Larger enterprises continued to drive expansion into Unified SASE and SecOps markets, with large and mid-enterprises representing 91% and 76% of SASE and SecOps billings, respectively.
Fortinet is the only vendor offering all SASE functions in a single operating system and providing a unified networking and security stack on-premise and in the cloud. This allows FortiSASE to be deployed within minutes for our SD-WAN customers.
AI-driven Security Operations was the fastest growing pillar in the third quarter, outpacing the overall market with 32% billings growth, accounting for 10.5% of the company’s total business, up 2 points.
Fortinet expanded the Security Operations portfolio with the launch of Lacework FortiCNAPP and FortiDLP, which together represent a new $20 billion market opportunity. FTNT expects to cross-sell both solutions to its large installed base of customers.
Total deferred revenues were $6.01 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, representing an increase of 13.7% compared with $5.29 billion as of Sept. 30, 2023.
Margins
Total gross margin increased 630 basis points (bps) to a quarterly record of 83.2% and exceeded the high end of the guidance range by 320 bps. Gross margins benefited from higher product and services gross margins as well as a 4-point mix shift to higher margin service revenues.
Product gross margin of 71.6% was also a quarterly record and increased 1,370 bps, which includes a 320 bps benefit related to the renegotiation of supplier contractual commitments.
Excluding this one-time benefit, the product gross margin would have been 68.4%. Services gross margin of 88.5% increased 130 bps as services revenue growth outpaced labor cost increases and benefited from the mix shift toward higher margin FortiGuard security subscription services.
Non-GAAP operating income was $544.7 million for the third quarter of 2024, representing a non-GAAP operating margin of 36.1%. Non-GAAP operating income was $371.4 million for the same quarter of 2023, representing a non-GAAP operating margin of 27.8%.
The operating margin increased 830 bps to a quarterly record of 36.1% and was 460 bps above the high end of the guided range. Excluding the one-time benefit to product gross margins, operating margins would have been 35.1%.
Balance Sheet & Cash Flow
Fortinet exited the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of $3.6 billion, up from the $3.3 billion reported at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
Cash flow from operations was $608.1 million for the third quarter of 2024 compared with $551.2 million for the same quarter of 2023.
Free cash flow was $571.8 million for the third quarter of 2024 compared with $481.1 million for the same quarter of 2023.
In October 2024, Fortinet’s board of directors authorized a $1.0 billion increase in the authorized stock repurchase under the share repurchase program. As of Nov. 7, 2024, approximately $2.03 billion remained available for future share repurchases.
Guidance
Fortinet estimates fourth-quarter revenues in the range of $1.56-$1.62 billion. Billings are estimated in the band of $1.9-$2 billion.
The non-GAAP gross margin is expected in the range of 79.5-80.5%, while the non-GAAP operating margin is anticipated between 33% and 34%. Non-GAAP EPS is projected in the band of 58-62 cents. The company expects a non-GAAP effective tax rate of 17% for the third quarter and diluted shares outstanding between 768 million and 778 million.
For fiscal 2024, FTNT predicts revenues in the range of $5.856-$5.916 billion. Services revenues are projected in the range of $4.015-$4.045 billion. Billings are expected in the band of $6.43-$6.53 billion.
The non-GAAP gross margin and operating margin are expected in the range of 80.3-81.3% and 32.9-33.9%, respectively. Non-GAAP EPS is anticipated between $2.2 and $2.28. It forecasts a non-GAAP effective tax rate of 17% and a diluted share count between 766 million and 776 million.
Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider
Currently, Fortinet carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Shopify SHOP, BiliBili BILI and NVIDIA NVDA are some other top-ranked stocks that investors can consider in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector. While SHOP sports Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), BILI and NVIDIA carry Zacks Rank #2 each at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shopify shares have risen 4.9% year to date. SHOP is set to report its third-quarter 2024 results on Nov. 12.
Bilibili shares have surged 82% year to date. BILI is set to report its third-quarter 2024 results on Nov. 14.
NVIDIA shares have skyrocketed 194% year to date. NVDA is set to report its third-quarter fiscal 2025 results on Nov. 20.
Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
This company targets millennial and Gen Z audiences, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue last quarter alone. A recent pullback makes now an ideal time to jump aboard. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.
Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpNVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Shopify Inc. (SHOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Bilibili Inc. Sponsored ADR (BILI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
