Fortinet (FTNT) Upgraded to Buy by TD Cowen, Shares Surge 7%

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

FTNT+5.2%

Source: seekingalpha

Updated: 1h ago

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Source: seekingalpha

Rating Upgrade: TD Cowen upgraded Fortinet from Hold to Buy based on solid checks indicating stability as FY26 approaches, with expected 4Q25 billings and revenue growth of 11.6% and 13.3%, respectively, showcasing the company's robust performance in cybersecurity.
Stock Surge: Following the upgrade, Fortinet's shares jumped 7% in late morning trading on Friday, reflecting market optimism about its future growth potential, particularly driven by advancements in AI technology.
Strong Market Demand: Analysts highlighted a positive demand backdrop for Fortinet's core markets, with network security remaining a top budget priority for most respondents, indicating significant budget expansions in firewall and SASE sectors as customers adapt to hybrid platforms.
Optimistic Outlook: Despite challenges from rising memory prices and lukewarm sentiment in the broader software sector, analysts believe Fortinet's valuation is reasonable, with expectations of low to mid-teen growth in FY26, underscoring the company's competitive strength in the industry.

FTNT

$81.33+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on FTNT

Wall Street analysts forecast FTNT stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FTNT is 84.18 USD with a low forecast of 70.00 USD and a high forecast of 100.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

24 Analyst Rating

3 Buy

18 Hold

3 Sell

Hold

Current: 77.620

Low

70.00

Averages

84.18

High

100.00

Current: 77.620

Low

70.00

Averages

84.18

High

100.00

TD Cowen

Shaul Eyal

Hold

Buy

upgrade

$100

2026-01-23

New

Reason

TD Cowen

Shaul Eyal

Price Target

$100

AI Analysis

2026-01-23

New

upgrade

Hold

Buy

Reason

TD Cowen analyst Shaul Eyal upgraded Fortinet to Buy from Hold with an unchanged price target of $100. The firm says its channel checks on Fortinet suggest stability throughout fiscal 2026. The firm sees upside to Q4 billings and revenue estimates and believes its fiscal 2026 billings estimate of 11.6% will be revised higher. Artificial intelligence is "not eating security software but rather augmenting it," the analyst tells investors in a research note. TD views Fortinet's valuation as "reasonable" at current share levels.

Truist

Buy

downgrade

$95 -> $88

2026-01-20

New

Reason

Truist

Price Target

$95 -> $88

2026-01-20

New

downgrade

Buy

Reason

Truist lowered the firm's price target on Fortinet to $88 from $95 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares as part of a broader research note previewing Q4 for Cybersecurity names. Companies in the firm's coverage should report a strong calendar Q4 and take a conservative posture for guidance, so that model setups could drive a continued beat-and-raise cadence for 2026, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Conversations with IT budget holders and software sellers indicate demand and the macro environment remains unchanged, with continued momentum in Security & AI initiatives, the firm added. Truist notes however that software equities have entered 2026 under pronounced pressure as investors rotate toward AI hardware, also pointing to concerns about AI-driven competitive disruption, slow monetization of AI features, higher-for-longer interest rates, and acute geopolitical shocks converge across the sector driving the IGV - iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF - down about 7% just in the first couple of weeks of trading.

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Piper Sandler

Rob Owens

Neutral

maintain

$85 -> $90

2026-01-05

Reason

Piper Sandler

Rob Owens

Price Target

$85 -> $90

2026-01-05

maintain

Neutral

Reason

Piper Sandler analyst Rob Owens raised the firm's price target on Fortinet to $90 from $85 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm says 2025 proved to be a tough year for its Security & Infrastructure Software coverage, with the average name showing negative performance and only four names outperforming the NASDAQ. Piper is cautiously optimistic for a better year in 2026, with many names entering the year at interesting valuation levels setup well to be longer-term GenAI winners, despite monetization at the software layer not yet occurring at scale.

Morgan Stanley

Underweight

maintain

$66 -> $70

2025-12-18

Reason

Morgan Stanley

Price Target

$66 -> $70

2025-12-18

maintain

Underweight

Reason

Morgan Stanley raised the firm's price target on Fortinet to $70 from $66 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares. Cybersecurity names were largely flat on the year, with platforms being up about 30%, on average, and the rest of the space being down about 12%, the analyst tells investors. The firm continues to see platforms as the "easiest way to play cyber" and expects them to continue to outperform, but believes other opportunities remain, the analyst tells investors in a year-ahead note for the group.

About FTNT

Fortinet, Inc. is engaged in cybersecurity, driving the convergence of networking and security. The Company’s integrated platform, Fortinet Security Fabric, spans secure networking, unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven security operations (SecOps). Its products and services include FortiOS, FortiASIC, FortiCloud, FortiAI, FortiEndpoint, and OT Security. The FortiGuard Labs is a cybersecurity threat intelligence and research organization comprised of experienced threat hunters, researchers, analysts, engineers and data scientists who develop and utilize machine learning and AI technologies. FortiGuard and Other Security Services are a suite of AI-powered security capabilities that are integrated as part of the Fortinet Security Fabric to deliver coordinated detection and enforcement across the entire attack surface. FortiCare Technical Support Service is a per-device technical support service. It also operates Fortinet Training Institute.

About the author

Emily J. Thompson

Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.