Fortinet's sales fizz as it flaunts faster firewalls

Network security vendor claims it is outpacing competitors as Q4 revenues hike by over a fifth

Fresh from unveiling the "world's first" terabit firewall, Fortinet claims it has scored another point over its competitors as it unveiled a Q4 sales surge.

The NASDAQ-listed vendor's shares shot up by over 10 per cent in after-hours trading last night as it revealed its billings were up 22 per cent year on year to $464m for the three months ending 31 December 2016, topping its guidance range.

Total revenue was also up 22 per cent to $363m, with EMEA revenue rising at the same rate to $140m.

It cited strong traction of its ‘Fabric' architecture as one factor behind the overperformance.

"We're one of the few network security vendors that continue to outpace the market," CEO Ken Xie said on a Q4 earnings call, a transcript of which can be found here.

Xie also used the call to talk up an expansion of Fortinet's top-tier enterprise firewall line up, which includes the launch of the FortiGate 3980E, which Fortinet bills as the world's first terabit per second network security appliance.

"It is ideal for enterprises that need very high network throughput and a deep inspection delivered in a compact appliance," he said.

The vendor also launched the FortiGate 7060E, which it lauded as the world's fastest next-generation firewall.

Looking at Fortinet's closest competitors, Check Point is bigger but grew revenues at a more modest six per cent to $487m in its Q4. Palo Alto Networks is set to announce its fiscal Q2 results at the end of February, but for Q1 revenues jumped 34 per cent to $398.1.m

Fortinet claims it added 10,000 customers during its Q4, propelling the total tally to over 300,000.

On the call, Fortinet CFO Drew Del Matto said Fortinet had a "strong end" to 2016, with billings, revenue, margin, and non-GAAP earnings all outstripping the high end of its guidance ranges.

"The outperformance in top line growth was driven by seasonal demand, improvements in sales productivity, and success in selling multiple product deployments, demonstrating adoption of the Fortinet's Security Fabric architecture," he said.