BUZZ-Raymond James downgrades Fortinet to 'market perform'; shares fall

** Shares of cybersecurity firm Fortinet FTNT.O fall 1.43% to $92.5 premarket

** Raymond James cuts co to "market perform" from "outperform"

** Brokerage says it's too early for a firewall "supercycle", a period of product upgrades and replacements that could drive significant growth in network security

** Firewall refresh to be more heavily weighted to H2 2025 and into 2026, adds Raymond

** "We would anticipate significant stocking at the distributor level, and pipeline growth at the reseller level ahead of an imminent cycle like this, but have heard neither of those occurring at present" - Raymond

** In November, FTNT's quarterly revenue forecast failed to impress investors, amid stiff competition from bigger players such as Palo Alto Networks PANW.O

** Eighteen of 44 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 25 "hold" and one "sell" or lower; median PT is $100 - LSEG

** FTNT stock had risen ~61.5% in 2024

(Reporting by Akriti Shah in Bengaluru)

((akriti.shah@thomsonreuters.com))