Shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) once again gave back recent gains as investors digested another muted outlook from the cybersecurity company's management team. After several years of accelerated growth due to pandemic lockdowns and organizations upgrading their IT infrastructure as a result, Fortinet's historically hardware-based business is going through a cyclical downturn.

Ultimately, this has led to lackluster stock performance for going on three years now. Does this mean Fortinet stock is now dead money? Or is there more to the story?

Fortinet actually had a decent first quarter of 2024. Revenue came in at $1.35 billion, up a modest 7% year over year and near the high end of guidance management provided three months prior. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings per share (EPS) were up 26% year over year to $0.39. On an adjusted basis, EPS was also up 26% from last year to $0.43, topping the high end of adjusted EPS guidance of $0.39.

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Source Fool.com