Shares of
Cloudflare
were spiking Friday after the internet security company posted quarterly earnings that beat expectations.
The stock jumped 25% to $112.95 in premarket trading. Coming into Friday, the stock has risen 43% over the past three months.
Cloudflare
reported adjusted earnings of 15 cents a share, exceeding analysts’ consensus of 12 cents. Revenue rose 32% to $363 million and also beat expectations. Guidance for the first quarter also was ahead of estimates.
Cloudflare offers secure cloud services to companies and governments. It also supplies software developers with graphics processors used for artificial intelligence.
“The machine that underlies Cloudflare is firing efficiently on all cylinders,” said Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare. “While the macro environment remains challenging to predict, customers continue to turn to us to connect, protect, and optimize their systems so they can gain the control they need to accelerate their businesses.”
Analysts at Oppenheimer led by Timothy Horan raised their price target on the stock to $122 from $85 and give it an Outperform rating. The “breadth and depth of AI use cases are extraordinary,” they wrote in a note.
Shares of Cloudflare’s peers were rising in premarket trading.
Zscaler
rose 1.5%,
CrowdStrike Holdings
gained 1.9%, and
Fortinet
was up 1%. Futures for the
S&P 500
rose 0.1%.
Write to Brian Swint at brian.swint@barrons.com
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