Fundsmith Equity Takes Stake In Cybersecurity Firm Fortinet

Fortinet is a California-based developer of security solutions, including firewalls, endpoint security and intrusion detection systems, with a market capitalisation of $45.2bn, according to Morningstar Direct.

On Thursday (2 November), the firm's shares fell almost 20% in what Morningstar analyst Malik Ahmed Khan described as a "knee-jerk reaction" to its financial results, which revealed that the company had come short with its fourth-quarter revenue forecast.  

Income funds knock Scottish Mortgage and Fundsmith Equity off most bought spots

Despite this, Khan said the cybersecurity firm's "breadth and quality" of solutions will allow it to deliver shareholder value in the long term.

Run by manager Terry Smith, the £22.3bn fund posted negative performance in October, down 1.9%, but it was up 4.5% year-to-date, according to the factsheet. Since inception, the fund has returned 504.1% to investors, which translates to a 14.8% annualised return.

Terry Smith lands £36m payout despite turbulent year for Fundsmith Equity

Over the course of October, the biggest performance contributors to the portfolio were Microsoft, Novo Nordisk, Nike, L'Oréal and Procter & Gamble; whereas the biggest detractors were McCormick, Automatic Data Processing, Waters, IDEXX and Mattler-Toledo.

Last month, the fund also lost its long-held top spot as the most bought fund on interactive investor's platform, as it was overtaken by the Royal London Short Term Money Market fund.

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