Fortinet Surges Following Q4 Report, New Buyback Announcement

Shares of Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ: FTNT) were trading higher by 7 percent an hour after Friday's opening bell.

Fortinet reported its fourth quarter results after Thursday's market close. The company earned $0.18 per share in the quarter on revenue of $296.5 million.

Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.18 per share on revenue of $296.2 million.

Fortinet noted its billings rose 35 percent year-over-year to $380.9 million. Total deferred revenue rose to $791.3 million as of December 31, 2015, an increase of $84.4 million from the end of September 30, 2015.

For the full fiscal year, Fortinet earned $0.51 per share on revenue of $1.01 billion, marking an increase from the $0.48 per share the company earned in the full fiscal year 2014 on revenue of $$770.4 million.

"Fortinet's solid fourth quarter results help close a strong year, highlighted by our ability to achieve, for the full year, 37% billings growth and reach more than $1 billion in billings and revenue," said Ken Xie, founder, chairman and chief executive officer. "Very few companies have achieved this type of growth at Fortinet's scale and it is due to our strong technology advantage and early returns on our customer acquisition and expansion strategy. With cyber security remaining at the forefront of enterprise IT priorities, Fortinet is well-positioned to grow and gain global market share in 2016 and beyond."

Fortinet announced in a separate press release that its Board of Directors has authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $200 million. The new authorization is valid through December 31, 2017.

A previous share buyback program was completed on December 31, 2015 in which the company acquired 5.5 million shares of its own stock for $137.5 million.