Fortinet stock rallies on earnings, outlook beat

Fortinet Inc. shares rose in the extended session Wednesday after the cybersecurity company's results and outlook topped Wall Street estimates, benefiting from COVID-19-related work-from-home trends. Fortinet shares rose 7.5% after hours, following a 2.7% rise in the regular session to close at $111.46. The company reported first-quarter net income of $104 million, or 60 cents a share, compared with $58.8 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 50 cents a share on revenue of $556.7 million. Fortinet expects adjusted earnings of 64 cents to 66 cents a share on revenue of $590 million to $605 million, while analysts had forecast 60 cents a share on revenue of $598.2 million. "Our proprietary FortiASIC security processing unit (SPU) can deliver 10 times the VPN throughput capacity of comparable competitor solutions to support teleworkers," said Ken Xie, Fortinet chairman and chief executive, in a statement. "This significant competitive advantage is one reason we believe we will continue to gain market share during a period of tougher economic conditions."

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