The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who not so much). Let’s take a look at how content delivery stocks fared in Q2, starting with Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM).
The amount of content on the internet is exploding, whether it is music, movies and or e-commerce stores. Consumer demand for this content creates network congestion, much like a digital traffic jam which drives demand for specialized content delivery networks (CDN) services that alleviate potential network bottlenecks.
The 4 content delivery stocks we track reported an exceptional Q2. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2.7% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.
Luckily, content delivery stocks have performed well with share prices up 14% on average since the latest earnings results.
Weakest Q2: Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM)
With a massive distributed network spanning 4,100+ points of presence in nearly 130 countries, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) provides a global distributed cloud platform that helps businesses deliver, secure, and optimize their digital experiences online.
Akamai Technologies reported revenues of $1.04 billion, up 6.5% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 2.2%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter for the company with EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.
"Akamai reported excellent results in the second quarter, highlighted by outperformance in both revenue and profitability. Building on our solid momentum from the first two quarters, we are increasing our guidance for revenue and earnings for the remainder of the year, while continuing to invest in key growth areas of security and cloud computing. These investments are paying off — our Cloud Infrastructure Services grew 30% year-over-year — and we expect that rate to accelerate through the remainder of the year," said Dr. Tom Leighton, Akamai's Chief Executive Officer.
Akamai Technologies delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth of the whole group. Interestingly, the stock is up 2.8% since reporting and currently trades at $77.04.
Is now the time to buy Akamai Technologies? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free for active Edge members.
Best Q2: Fastly (NYSE: FSLY)
Taking its name from the core advantage it delivers to customers, Fastly (NYSE: FSLY) operates an edge cloud platform that processes, secures, and delivers web content as close to end users as possible, enabling faster digital experiences.
Fastly reported revenues of $148.7 million, up 12.3% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.7%. The business had an exceptional quarter with EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations and a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.
The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 32.7% since reporting. It currently trades at $8.64.
Is now the time to buy Fastly? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free for active Edge members.
F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV)
Originally named after the F5 tornado, the most powerful on the meteorological scale, F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) provides security and delivery solutions that protect applications across cloud, data center, and edge environments for large organizations.
F5 reported revenues of $780.4 million, up 12.2% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 3.6%. It may have had the worst quarter among its peers, but its results were still good as it also locked in a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year revenue guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.
Interestingly, the stock is up 14.2% since the results and currently trades at $342.
Read our full analysis of F5’s results here.
Cloudflare (NYSE: NET)
With a massive network spanning more than 310 cities in over 120 countries, Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) provides a global network that delivers security, performance and reliability services to protect websites, applications, and corporate networks.
Cloudflare reported revenues of $512.3 million, up 27.8% year on year. This result surpassed analysts’ expectations by 2.3%. Overall, it was an exceptional quarter as it also logged a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations.
Cloudflare achieved the fastest revenue growth but had the weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is up 6.2% since reporting and currently trades at $220.52.
Read our full, actionable report on Cloudflare here, it’s free for active Edge members.
Market Update
Thanks to the Fed’s series of rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has cooled significantly from its post-pandemic highs, drawing closer to the 2% goal. This disinflation has occurred without severely impacting economic growth, suggesting the success of a soft landing. The stock market thrived in 2024, spurred by recent rate cuts (0.5% in September and 0.25% in November), and a notable surge followed Donald Trump’s presidential election win in November, propelling indices to historic highs. Nonetheless, the outlook for 2025 remains clouded by potential trade policy changes and corporate tax discussions, which could impact business confidence and growth. The path forward holds both optimism and caution as new policies take shape.
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