Can Unified SASE Adoption Strengthen FTNT's Growth Trajectory in 2026?

Fortinet FTNT is positioning Unified SASE (secure access service edge) as a cornerstone of its growth strategy through architectural advantages that differentiate it in an increasingly competitive security market. The company has built its SASE platform on FortiOS, a single operating system that natively integrates next-generation firewall, software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and SASE capabilities. This unified approach enables customers to deploy SASE functionality in minutes, eliminating the complexity inherent in multi-vendor solutions that require integrating separate networking and security components.

FTNT’s differentiation extends to deployment flexibility through its Sovereign SASE offering, which allows government entities and large enterprises to host SASE infrastructure within their own data centers for data privacy and regulatory compliance. This capability addresses a market segment that has not been fully tapped by cloud-only competitors. It leverages Fortinet's substantial installed base of firewall and SD-WAN deployments. The company's proprietary FortiCloud infrastructure further strengthens its value proposition by reducing the total cost of ownership by approximately one-third compared to peers. As of the third quarter of 2025, 15% of large enterprise customers utilized FortiSASE, representing 55% growth. The company's Unified SASE business accounted for 26% of total billings, with FortiSASE specifically delivering billings growth exceeding 100%, indicating accelerating momentum in enterprise adoption.

For 2026, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fortinet's revenues is pegged at $7.48 billion, indicating 10.8% year-over-year growth. The company's installed base of nearly one million customers represents substantial upsell potential. However, converting firewall and SD-WAN deployments to SASE requires navigating longer enterprise sales cycles and budget allocation dynamics. Whether Unified SASE adoption can strengthen Fortinet's 2026 growth trajectory hinges on maintaining current conversion momentum while scaling deployment capabilities across diverse enterprise environments and use cases.

FTNT Faces Intense Competition

Fortinet faces intense competition in the SASE market from established players like Cisco CSCO and Zscaler ZS. Cisco has built its SASE offering through acquisitions, including SD-WAN provider Viptela, creating a multi-product approach that differs from Fortinet's single FortiOS platform, integrating firewall, SD-WAN and SASE natively. Zscaler operates as a pure cloud-native provider delivering SASE exclusively through cloud infrastructure. Zscaler's cloud-only model contrasts with Fortinet's hybrid deployment flexibility, enabling both cloud-delivered and on-premise Sovereign SASE implementations. Fortinet targets enterprises seeking unified management, while Cisco leverages its networking footprint and Zscaler appeals to cloud-first enterprises.

FTNT’s Share Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Fortinet shares have plunged 21.2% in the past six-month period, underperforming the Zacks Security industry’s 9.1% decline and the broader Computer and Technology sector’s 21.3% growth.

FTNT’s 6-Month Price Performance

From a valuation standpoint, FTNT appears overvalued, trading at a price-to-book ratio of 84.25, higher than the sector's average of 10.79. The company carries a Value Score of D.

FTNT’s Valuation

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Fortinet’s earnings is pegged at $2.89 per share for 2026. The consensus estimate has risen by a penny over the past 30 days and indicates year-over-year growth of 7.3%.

Fortinet, Inc. Price and Consensus

Fortinet, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Fortinet, Inc. Quote

Fortinet currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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