Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Issues Earnings Results

by · The Markets Daily

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET – Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.04, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $782.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $737.16 million. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 3.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Cloudflare’s conference call:

  • Cloudflare reported Q3 revenue of $782.5 million, up 39% year over year, its fastest growth in nearly four years. Large-customer momentum remained strong, with dollar-based net retention rising to 122% and more than 5,000 customers now spending over $100,000 annually.
  • Profitability improved alongside growth: adjusted operating income rose 60% to $137.1 million, and operating margin expanded to a record 17.5%. Management also expects to reach GAAP profitability in Q4, earlier than previously anticipated.
  • Demand indicators were robust, including a record 158,000 net new paying customers, record additions across large-customer cohorts, and RPO growth of 34% year over year. Management said consumption-based revenue and customers drawing down pool-of-funds contracts faster helped drive the quarter’s upside.
  • Q4 guidance calls for revenue of $845 million–$846 million, up 38% year over year; full-year 2026 revenue is expected to grow 37%. Management attributed momentum to broad demand across industries, including for security and its Workers developer platform.
  • Gross margin fell 290 basis points year over year to 72.4%, which management linked in part to strong growth in the Workers platform; free-cash-flow margin also declined to 10% from 13% a year earlier. Management expects full-year network capital expenditure to remain elevated at 14%–15% of revenue.

Cloudflare Stock Performance

NYSE:NET traded down $22.79 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $243.79. 8,454,470 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,293,286. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company’s 50 day moving average is $319.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $249.31. Cloudflare has a twelve month low of $158.83 and a twelve month high of $370.35.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 33,003 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.29, for a total transaction of $11,494,614.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 69,775 shares in the company, valued at $24,301,934.75. The trade was a 32.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.40, for a total value of $1,522,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 868,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,241,421.20. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 259,057 shares of company stock valued at $79,516,905. Company insiders own 10.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NET has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Thursday, October 15th. TD Cowen lowered Cloudflare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BTIG Research raised their price target on Cloudflare from $382.00 to $413.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Raymond James Financial cut Cloudflare from a “strong-buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Cloudflare from $290.00 to $346.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Twenty-four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $333.21.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Cloudflare

Cloudflare News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: Cloudflare reported quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share, above analyst estimates, while revenue rose 39.2% year over year to $782.51 million and also topped expectations. Zacks earnings article
  • Positive Sentiment: The company raised its full-year revenue outlook to about $2.96 billion, up from its prior range of $2.86 billion to $2.87 billion, signaling confidence in continued growth. Wall Street Journal outlook article
  • Neutral Sentiment: Cloudflare appointed Christian Smith as President of Revenue to lead its worldwide go-to-market organization and support its growth ambitions. Appointment announcement
  • Negative Sentiment: Cloudflare fell alongside other cybersecurity stocks amid a broader pullback in AI-related shares, suggesting sector-wide selling contributed to the decline. TIKR market article
  • Negative Sentiment: Valuation concerns and recent share-price weakness had weighed on sentiment ahead of earnings. This may help explain why strong results and guidance did not prevent a pullback. Invezz article

Cloudflare Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Cloudflare, Inc (NYSE: NET) provides cloud connectivity, security and performance services for websites, applications, corporate networks and other internet-connected resources. Its global network is designed to help organizations improve the reliability, speed and security of digital services while reducing the complexity of managing internet infrastructure.

The company’s offerings include content delivery and authoritative domain name system services, distributed denial-of-service protection, web application and application programming interface security, bot management, and network security tools.

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