Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) is one of the worst stocks on the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) today, last seen down 25.9% to trade at $71.61. The cybersecurity giant earlier announced a second-quarter earnings win and matched revenue forecasts, but a dismal fiscal third-quarter outlook is weighing on the shares. The disappointing guidance is also dragging sector peers Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) and SentinelOne Inc (NYSE:S).
Digging deeper into FTNT, Morgan Stanley issued a downgrade to "equal-weight" from "overweight" this morning, and trimmed its price target to $78 from $110. Should today's losses hold, the security could mark its worst one-day decline ever, and sink into red ink for the year. Now trading at their lowest in nearly 12 months, shares are also slipping below a familiar floor at $95.
Meanwhile, CRWD is down 6.1% to trade at $423.97, amid news that Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) divested of its stake in the company. The stock has been trending lower since a July 3, record high of $517.98, but still sports a healthy 23.4% year-to-date lead.
S is down 5.2% to trade at $16.42 at last check. Longer term, however, shares carry a 41.5% nine-month deficit, and are now on track for their first close below $17 since April 22 after running into a ceiling at the $21 region.
FTNT and CRWD are both attracting unusual options activity today. The former is seeing 10 times the usual intraday average volume, while the latter is seeing double the put usual put volume. The most active FTNT contract is the weekly 8/8 70-strike put --where new positions are being opened -- while for CRWD the September 420 put is leading the charge.
