Why Fortinet Stock Is Plummeting Today

Shares of leading cybersecurity juggernaut Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) were down 8% as of 1:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The next-gen firewall specialist reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday and delivered 14% sales growth alongside record-setting free cash flow (FCF).

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However, with the company trading at 44 times FCF prior to earnings, the market expected perfection from Fortinet, and management's guidance didn't live up to these hopes.

90 days' worth of information doesn't erase Fortinet's dominance

While Fortinet met analysts' expectations for Q1, its guidance for 13% sales growth and a mere 4% increase in adjusted earnings per share in the upcoming quarter spooked the market.

In my opinion, this is a classic case of a market-beating stock priced for perfection delivering "adequate" earnings. Nothing was really "wrong" with earnings or guidance, but it wasn't perfect.

Image source: Getty Images.

As always, it's crucial to look beyond what Fortinet's potential numbers could be over the next 90 days and focus on its long-term investment thesis. Fortinet is:

• No. 1 in firewalls deployed globally
• Ranked No. 7 on Forbes' list of most trustworthy companies
• Used by 80% of the Fortune 100 and 72% of the Global 2000
• A Gartner Magic Quadrant leader in firewalls, SD-WAN, and wired and wireless LAN
• A Gartner Magic Quadrant challenger in its nascent Secure Access Security Edge (SASE) and Security Service Edge (SSE) business lines

Founder and CEO Ken Xie summed up Fortinet's moat during the earnings call, saying, "We remain the only vendor to have organically developed all of the core SASE capabilities within a single operating system, FortiOS."

With its up-and-coming SSE and Unified SASE solutions growing billings by 110% and 18% in Q1, Fortinet's growth story should have many chapters remaining.

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Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in Fortinet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Fortinet. The Motley Fool recommends Gartner. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.