Fortinet (FTNT)

Fortinet is the incumbent firewall vendor that turned an AI-disruption scare into an AI-era refresh cycle. Run by founder-CEO Ken Xie on a single FortiOS platform with in-house FortiASIC silicon, the business is built on three pillars: Secure Networking, Unified SASE, and AI-driven Security Operations. Product revenue bottomed in Q1 2024 at -18% year on year, then began an inflection on 7 November 2024, reaching +41% growth by the 6 May 2026 Q1 2026 print. The most recent quarter, reported 29 July 2026, was a further step up: revenue rose 26% to $2.05 billion, product revenue rose 52% to $773 million, billings rose 33% to $2.37 billion, OT billings rose 55%, FortiSASE billings rose over 100%, non-GAAP EPS was $0.90 (an 18.25% surprise), operating margin reached a record 38%, and free cash flow was $966 million, roughly three times the prior year. FY2026 guidance was raised again, to revenue of $8.02 billion to $8.18 billion and EPS of $3.41 to $3.47, up from a prior range of $3.10 to $3.16. Xie also unveiled a new "SASE Firewall" category with an addressable market he sized at roughly $2 trillion. The shares closed at $163.21 on 3 August 2026, valuing the company at approximately $120 billion, or roughly 47 times forward earnings, near their all-time high of $170.35. The post-print pop of 11.9% in after-hours trading had already been digested by the time Altai Capital made its call.