What happened
Shares of Fortinet (FTNT +0.78%), a network security company, rose 13.3% in February, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as investors slowly pushed the company's stock price up after solid fourth-quarter results.
So what
Investors were happy to see that Fortinet's revenue jumped 22% year over year, to $507 million, and that its GAAP earnings per share popped to $1.04, up from a loss of $0.17 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company also increased its billings from $534 million in the fourth quarter 2017 to $649.2 million.
Check out the latest earnings call transcript for Fortinet.
Image source: Getty Images.
While other companies in the tech industry have been hurt by an economic slowdown in China and fears of other political uncertainties such as Brexit, Fortinet's management said those issues didn't affect the company in the fourth quarter.
Investors may have also noticed several price target increases (and one upgrade) made by analysts following the company's quarterly earnings report, which may have added to the positive sentiment for Fortinet's stock.
Management expects more growth through 2019 and said revenue for the full year would be $465 million to $475 million, an increase of about 13% at the midpoint.
Now what
Fortinet's share price is down about 5% since the beginning of this month, but that slight movement shouldn't worry investors all that much. Shares are up more than 50% over the past year, and with the latest results, Fortinet continues to be a strong cybersecurity play.
