Cloudflare‘s (NYSE:NET) stock seemed to be aiming for the clouds on Monday. Investors were still piling into the shares of the cloud connectivity and cybersecurity specialist after it reported its third-quarter figures on Thursday. This bullish sentiment was bolstered by a price target raise set over the weekend by an analyst covering the company.
Demand helps drive double-digit gains
That analyst, Piper Sandler’s (NYSE:PIPR) James Fish, increased his fair value assessment on Cloudflare to $337 per share from $333. With this change, he maintained his overweight (i.e., buy) recommendation on the stock.
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Cloudflare’s third-quarter revenue was $782.5 million, 39% higher than its take for the same quarter of 2025. Net income not under generally accepted accounting principles (non-GAAP, or adjusted) came in at slightly under $144 million, or $0.38 per share. That metric’s growth rate was 40%.
Both metrics beat the consensus estimates of analysts like Fish.
Artificial intelligence, real fears
Cloudflare also provided guidance for its current (fourth) quarter and the entirety of 2026. For the year, it expects revenue to total around $2.96 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) should be $1.35. If achieved, both figures would be notably above the 2025 results of $2.17 billion and $0.93, respectively.
Cybersecurity services are particularly popular these days, given the growing fear that “rogue” artificial intelligence (AI) models could be destructive to all manner of IT systems. The companies that can not only take advantage of this trend but also maximize it should continue to attract investors. Cloudflare is one of those companies.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cloudflare. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
