Fortinet Q3 2026 results: revenue up 20% and a higher outlook

Why people are searching today

Fortinet reported its third-quarter 2026 results on October 28, and the headline is a higher outlook. The company raised its 2026 revenue guidance to 20% year-over-year growth [1]. Revenue for the quarter ended September 30 reached $2,078.4 million, up 20% from $1,724.9 million [1]. Billings came in at $2,336.3 million, up 29% from $1,807.7 million [1]. The same release also ran as a paid syndication on Yahoo Finance [3].

The quarter in numbers

Product revenue grew fastest, up 37% to $765.0 million from $559.3 million. Service revenue rose to $1,313.4 million from $1,165.6 million [1]. Services still made up most of the top line, at $1,313.4 million of the $2,078.4 million total.

Profit figures are split between GAAP and non-GAAP measures. The GAAP operating margin was 33.9%, on operating income of $704.3 million. The non-GAAP operating margin was 38.2%, on non-GAAP operating income of $793.8 million [1]. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.86, against $0.62 a year earlier, and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.91 [3] [1].

Cash generation was strong. Operating cash flow was $946.0 million and free cash flow was $864.8 million [1]. The board raised the share repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, which leaves $2 billion remaining. Fortinet repurchased and retired $972.8 million of stock in the first nine months of the year [1]. The results were furnished to the SEC in a Form 8-K dated October 28, under Item 2.02 [2].

What Fortinet expects next

For the fourth quarter, Fortinet guided revenue to $2.155 billion to $2.245 billion, billings to $2.775 billion to $2.925 billion, and non-GAAP EPS to $0.93 to $0.95. The non-GAAP operating margin is guided to 35.5% to 37.5% [1].

For the full year, revenue is guided to $8.125 billion to $8.215 billion, with service revenue of $5.150 billion to $5.170 billion. Billings are guided to $9.568 billion to $9.718 billion, and non-GAAP EPS to $3.54 to $3.58 [1].

The low end of the fourth-quarter revenue range is above the $2.078 billion reported for the third quarter, and the billings range sits well above the third-quarter billings of $2.336 billion [1]. Chief Executive Ken Xie said the company had raised its billings guidance for the third time this year [3].

What the market is watching next

The next test is whether fourth-quarter billings land inside the $2.775 billion to $2.925 billion range [1]. The full-year service revenue guidance of $5.150 billion to $5.170 billion is the other figure to track, since services are the larger part of revenue [1].

Xie's statement on the quarter was short: "We are very pleased with our excellent third quarter results" [1]. He also said "Network Security remains the critical foundation of AI Security" [1]. That framing ties the outlook to AI-related products. The release lists the FortiGuard Inline AI Security Service and a partnership with Oracle that combines OCI Enterprise AI with FortiAIGate [1].

The release lists NVIDIA, Oracle and Microsoft among its partners. It describes NVIDIA's selection of Fortinet as a top OpenShell Reference Architecture Partner to Secure AI, and says Fortinet was selected to join Microsoft's Sovereign Partner Ecosystem [1]. Gartner named Fortinet a Leader in its 2026 Magic Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewall, in a report dated September 7, 2026 [1].