Fortinet Inc. plummeted as much as 26% to $56.10, marking its biggest intraday drop on record, after a pullback in tech spending forced the cybersecurity provider to cut its annual forecast.
(Bloomberg) — Fortinet Inc. plummeted as much as 26% to $56.10, marking its biggest intraday drop on record, after a pullback in tech spending forced the cybersecurity provider to cut its annual forecast.
The company now expects revenue of $5.35 billion to $5.45 billion this year, down from as much as $5.49 billion. Fortinet’s third-quarter forecast, released in its earnings report Thursday, also fell short of analysts’ estimates.
Fortinet blamed a slowdown in customers’ information-technology spending as they cope with a shaky economy. That’s resulted in an “unusually large volume of deals” being delayed, the company said.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company offers cybersecurity products, including network security software, physical firewall devices and consulting. Despite the gloomy outlook, Fortinet topped analysts’ earnings estimates in the latest quarter and was in line with revenue projections.
At the same time, hackers have been focused on breaching Fortinet products. In a report released Thursday, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that a vulnerability affecting Fortinet virtual private network products was one of the most routinely exploited.
“The continued exploitation indicates that many organizations failed to patch software in a timely manner and remain vulnerable to malicious cyber actors,” CISA said of the Fortinet vulnerability.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.