Fastly (NASDAQ:FSLY) Shares Up 8.9% on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Fastly shares jumped 8.9% after DA Davidson raised its price target from $21 to $23, though it maintained a neutral rating. The broader analyst consensus remains “Hold,” with an average target of $25.70.
• Fastly reported strong recent operating results, including record quarterly revenue of $183.3 million and non-GAAP EPS of $0.15, while its new AI security products could expand its edge-cloud market opportunity.
• Insiders sold shares worth approximately $18.8 million over the past 90 days under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, while institutional investors own nearly 80% of the company.

Fastly, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLY - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 8.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $21.00 to $23.00. DA Davidson currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Fastly traded as high as $27.26 and last traded at $28.4090. 7,594,062 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 9,230,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.08.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Fastly in a report on Friday, September 18th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Fastly to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Fastly in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fastly from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on shares of Fastly in a report on Friday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Artur Bergman sold 2,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total transaction of $55,660.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 1,595,006 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,353,651.80. This trade represents a 0.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Charles Compton, III sold 50,392 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.93, for a total value of $1,256,272.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 851,949 shares in the company, valued at $21,239,088.57. The trade was a 5.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 749,684 shares of company stock worth $18,845,838. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Fastly

Here are the key news stories impacting Fastly this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fastly’s new AI Firewall, AI Runtime Control and API Security products are designed to secure and manage AI and agentic traffic at the edge. The offerings could expand Fastly’s addressable market and increase demand for its edge cloud platform. Fastly’s AI Security Push Adds Heat Ahead of Investor Day
• Positive Sentiment: Recent operating results remain strong: second-quarter revenue reached a record $183.3 million, up 23% year over year, while non-GAAP EPS of $0.15 exceeded consensus. Fastly also raised or reaffirmed fiscal 2026 expectations at approximately $739 million of revenue and $0.52 of midpoint EPS, indicating improving operating leverage. Fastly: Earnings Are Catching Up With The Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views are mixed. DA Davidson raised its price target to $23 but maintained a neutral rating, implying limited upside relative to recent trading levels. In contrast, a bullish Seeking Alpha contributor increased a target to $34, arguing that earnings growth is beginning to justify Fastly’s valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: The Investor Day triggered profit-taking rather than a fresh buying wave, suggesting that expectations had become elevated after the AI-product announcement and recent rally. Investors may have wanted more aggressive guidance or clearer evidence that the new products will materially accelerate growth. Fastly Just Ripped 138% This Year but It’s Now Falling
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales by Jeffrey Ford, Scott Lovett and CTO Artur Bergman add a cautionary signal, although the transactions were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and therefore do not necessarily indicate a change in management’s outlook.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastly

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Fastly by 100.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,031,952 shares of the company's stock worth $204,349,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524,763 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Fastly by 120.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,269,369 shares of the company's stock worth $36,888,000 after buying an additional 692,459 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Fastly in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,696,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Fastly by 90.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 685,415 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,918,000 after purchasing an additional 326,087 shares during the period. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fastly in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $5,164,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.71% of the company's stock.

Fastly Trading Up 13.4%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 3.36 and a current ratio of 3.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.86 and a beta of 0.36.

Fastly (NASDAQ:FSLY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.08. Fastly had a negative net margin of 11.80% and a negative return on equity of 6.31%. The business had revenue of $183.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.94 million. Fastly has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.130 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fastly, Inc. will post -0.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fastly Company Profile

Fastly, Inc is a cloud computing company that provides an edge cloud platform for delivering, securing and accelerating digital experiences. Its platform processes and serves applications, websites, APIs, streaming media and other internet content closer to end users, helping organizations improve performance, reliability and control.

Fastly's product portfolio includes content delivery and application performance services, application programming interface (API) security, web application and bot protection, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation, and edge compute capabilities.

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