Is Fortinet (FTNT) A Great Long-Term Investment?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “SMID Cap Growth Strategy” third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. During the third quarter, the ClearBridge SMID Cap Growth Strategy outperformed the benchmark Russell 2500 Growth Index. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains across five of the 10 sectors in which it was invested during the quarter (out of 11 sectors total), with the health care sector the leading contributor and the consumer discretionary sector being the main detractor. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

ClearBridge SMID Cap Growth Strategy, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) and discussed its stance on the firm. Fortinet, Inc. is a Sunnyvale, California-based cybersecurity company with a $59.8 billion market capitalization. FTNT delivered a 146.41% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 148.09%. The stock closed at $366.00 per share on December 28, 2021.

Here is what ClearBridge SMID Cap Growth Strategy has to say about Fortinet, Inc.  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Performance among our cohort of IT and Internet companies was mixed, with enterprise software makers thriving while more consumer-oriented stocks faced headwinds. Cyber security software maker Fortinet benefited from a heightened awareness of the need to protect against sophisticated attacks. We are attracted to the recurring revenue nature of these software companies that are increasingly delivering their products on a subscription basis through the cloud. Software business models also tend to avoid many of the inflationary issues facing companies with a physical product or
service.”

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Based on our calculations, Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. FTNT was in 38 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 32 funds in the previous quarter. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ: FTNT) delivered a 27.14% return in the past 3 months.

You can find more than 100 investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q3 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.