Fortinet earnings: third quarter 2026

Fortinet, which sells network security hardware and the subscriptions that run on it, grew sales about 20% from a year ago to $2.08 billion in its third quarter of 2026. Hardware sales grew much faster than services. Profit grew faster than sales, cash came in well ahead of profit, and the company raised its forecasts for the year. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Fortinet earned $0.91 per share on its own adjusted basis and $0.86 on standard accounting. Both figures are above the $0.77 average of 12 analysts' forecasts compiled by Nasdaq's earnings calendar. ¹²

The strong points

• Sales rose about 20% from a year ago to $2.08 billion, led by hardware, which grew far faster than subscriptions and support. ¹
• Profit grew faster than sales, with operating profit (the profit from running the business) up about 29%. ¹
• Free cash flow, the cash left after running the business and investing in it, rose to $864.8 million, well above the quarter's net income. ¹

The weak points

• Gross margin, what is left of each dollar of sales after the direct cost of making what was sold, slipped by 1.8 percentage points. ¹
• Unsold stock built up to $591.2 million from $399.5 million at the end of 2025. ¹

What the company expects

• Fortinet raised its forecast for 2026 sales and now expects $8.125 billion to $8.215 billion, about 20% growth, though the release does not give the earlier range. ¹
• It also raised its forecast for 2026 billings, the value of what it invoices customers, to $9.568 billion to $9.718 billion, which the chief executive calls the third raise this year. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A very strong report. Sales grew about 20%, profit and cash grew faster, earnings came in well above what analysts expected, and the company raised its forecasts for the year, with only a small dip in gross margin to set against that.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)

Notes

1. Fortinet's results release, 28 October 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 28 October 2026. ↩