Susquehanna Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Stock Price

Key Points

• Susquehanna cut its price target on Akamai from $140 to $90 but maintained a positive rating; the new target implies 15.62% upside from the share price cited in the report.
• Akamai’s third-quarter EPS of $1.77 beat the $1.67 consensus, while revenue of $1.12 billion was in line and grew 6.4% year over year.
• Weak fourth-quarter guidance weighed on the outlook: the company forecast revenue of $1.1 billion–$1.2 billion, below the $1.2 billion consensus. Analysts’ average rating remained “Moderate Buy,” with a consensus price target of $143.81.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Susquehanna from $140.00 to $90.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "positive" rating on the technology infrastructure company's stock. Susquehanna's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.62% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. HSBC downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $171.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $158.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $165.00 to $149.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Akamai Technologies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $143.81.

Akamai Technologies Trading Down 9.4%

NASDAQ:AKAM opened at $77.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Akamai Technologies has a 12 month low of $71.93 and a 12 month high of $165.45. The company has a market cap of $11.19 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.27.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 11.32%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.86 EPS. Akamai Technologies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.470-6.680 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.700 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kim Salem-Jackson sold 2,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.00, for a total transaction of $257,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 57,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,321,216. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Mani Sundaram sold 7,022 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.62, for a total transaction of $882,103.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,837,192.50. This trade represents a 32.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 12,135 shares of company stock valued at $1,467,221 in the last 90 days. 2.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. raised its position in Akamai Technologies by 9,801.8% in the third quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. now owns 162,687 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock valued at $16,770,000 after purchasing an additional 161,044 shares during the period. Gagnon Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 41.6% during the third quarter. Gagnon Securities LLC now owns 4,480 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 119.7% during the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 15,705 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $1,670,000 after acquiring an additional 8,557 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 167.6% during the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 19,910 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 12,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 71,944 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $7,651,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.28% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Akamai Technologies

Here are the key news stories impacting Akamai Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter EPS was $1.77, topping the $1.67 consensus estimate, while revenue of $1.12 billion was broadly in line with expectations and rose 6.4% year over year. Akamai Q3 earnings and revenues surpass estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Full-year 2026 EPS guidance of $6.47–$6.68 is above the $6.03 analyst consensus, providing a favorable counterpoint to the softer near-term outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Akamai expects its cloud infrastructure services business to generate $1.1 billion–$1.3 billion in 2027. However, the timing of its Anthropic deal shifts about $30 million of revenue into 2027, indicating that some expected revenue is delayed rather than lost. Akamai 2027 cloud infrastructure outlook and Anthropic deal timing
• Negative Sentiment: Fourth-quarter guidance came in below expectations: revenue is forecast at $1.1 billion–$1.2 billion versus $1.2 billion consensus, and EPS at $1.50–$1.70 versus $1.63 consensus. The cautious outlook appears to have outweighed the quarterly EPS beat. Akamai Q3 results and weak guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Despite revenue growth, EPS declined from $1.86 a year earlier, reinforcing concerns about profitability trends. Akamai profit drops in Q3

Akamai Technologies Company Profile

Akamai Technologies, Inc provides cloud, cybersecurity and content-delivery services that help organizations operate and protect applications, websites and digital media over the internet. Its distributed edge platform is designed to deliver online content closer to end users while improving performance, availability and resilience.

The company's services include content delivery and application performance solutions, cloud computing capabilities, web and application security, distributed denial-of-service protection, bot management and zero-trust security tools.

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