Fastly (NYSE:FSLY) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Key Points

• Fastly shares rose significantly after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with an earnings per share of ($0.03), surpassing the consensus estimate of ($0.05).
• Wall Street analysts have positively revised their ratings and target prices for Fastly, with an average price target of $8.50 and nine analysts rating the stock as a hold.
• Insider selling activity has been noted, with CEO Todd Nightingale selling over 12,500 shares while still holding around 1.9 million shares valued at approximately $13.7 million.

Fastly, Inc. (NYSE:FSLY - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $6.52, but opened at $7.53. Fastly shares last traded at $7.75, with a volume of 2,945,035 shares changing hands.

The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $148.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.86 million. Fastly had a negative net margin of 27.73% and a negative return on equity of 12.29%. The company's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.07) EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Fastly from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp raised shares of Fastly to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Fastly from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Craig Hallum raised shares of Fastly from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Fastly from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fastly news, CEO Todd Nightingale sold 12,547 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.19, for a total transaction of $90,212.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,904,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,692,549.72. The trade was a 0.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CRO Scott R. Lovett sold 127,608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.95, for a total transaction of $886,875.60. Following the sale, the executive owned 1,287,145 shares in the company, valued at $8,945,657.75. This trade represents a 9.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 162,124 shares of company stock worth $1,138,628. 6.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fastly

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FSLY. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in shares of Fastly in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fastly by 451.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,261 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fastly in the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fastly during the first quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Fastly during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. 79.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fastly Price Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average price is $7.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.02 and a beta of 1.19.

Fastly Company Profile

Fastly, Inc operates an edge cloud platform for processing, serving, and securing its customer's applications in the United States, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and internationally. The edge cloud is a category of Infrastructure as a Service that enables developers to build, secure, and deliver digital experiences at the edge of the internet.

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