Look, I was going to write a decent analysis of Fortinet today. I had the data pulled up, the multiples, the sector comparison. But you know what happened? The original source — Yahoo Finance — served me a full page of cookie policy instead of actual journalism.
That's right. You click on an article that promises to tell you whether FTNT is outperforming the tech sector, and what you get is a wall of text about "privacy choices," "IAB Transparency & Consent Framework," and 246 partners wanting to track everything down to the brand of underwear you're wearing.
Welcome to financial journalism in 2025, my friend.
The Empty Information Circus
Before I talk about Fortinet itself — because I actually will, unlike Yahoo — I need to flag something that deeply pisses me off: the sheer amount of garbage dressed up as analysis floating around out there.
Provocative titles. Headlines that promise insight. You click, and you fall into a data-tracking pit, a paywall, or an article so shallow it reads like it was written by an intern using ChatGPT between coffee breaks.
Nassim Taleb would say: these people have no skin in the game. No money on the line. They suffer zero consequences when you lose money following their "analysis." They get paid per click, not per correct call.
Damn, it's the financial equivalent of a movie trailer that shows all the best scenes — and the actual movie is garbage.
Now Then: What's Going On with Fortinet?
Let's get to what matters, because unlike those portals, I respect your time.
Fortinet (FTNT) has, in fact, been outperforming the tech sector average over the past few months. And there are real reasons for it:
1. Cybersecurity isn't a luxury — it's oxygen. In a world where even your toaster has an IP address, companies need to protect their networks. Fortinet is one of the leaders in next-gen firewalls and integrated security. While companies slash spending on "nice to have" software, security is the last line item they cut.
2. Recurring revenue on the rise. The business model has shifted hard toward subscription services. That gives revenue predictability — which the market loves. And when the market loves something, it pays a premium multiple.
3. Fat margins. Fortinet operates with gross margins that would make a lot of SaaS companies weep with envy. Operational efficiency is a real differentiator, not some investment bank pitch deck fluff.
But Watch Out for the Euphoria
This is where the "just buy it, it's going up" crowd stops reading — and it's exactly where you should be paying the most attention.
FTNT trades at stretched multiples. We're talking about a forward P/E that already prices in a whole lot of good news. If growth decelerates — and in tech, it decelerates fast — the correction can be brutal.
Remember what happened with CrowdStrike after that global outage in 2024? An excellent company that took a beating on price because of one operational event. Price is not value. Benjamin Graham was saying that when your grandpa wasn't even born yet.
On top of that, the cybersecurity space is getting crowded. Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Zscaler, SentinelOne — everyone wants a piece of that pie. Competition squeezes margins over the long run. That's basic economics that nobody wants to discuss when a stock is climbing.
So What Do You Do With This?
If you already have Fortinet in your portfolio, congrats. Hold it with discipline, set your stop-loss, and don't let greed blind you.
If you're thinking about getting in now, the question you need to answer is: am I buying the business or am I buying the hype?
Because buying a solid business at any price isn't investing. It's cheerleading. And cheerleaders lose money — the ones who win are the stadium owners.
Yahoo served you cookies. I served you the reflection that actually matters. Now tell me: do you know the difference between information and noise — or are you just clicking on pretty headlines hoping someone else will do the thinking for you?
