Oppenheimer Begins Coverage on Cloudflare (NYSE:NET)
Cloudflare has a fresh Wall Street spotlight: Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an “Outperform” rating and a $260 price objective, suggesting roughly an 11% climb from the prior close. The call adds momentum to an already closely watched name in cloud networking and security.
Other research desks have weighed in recently as well. Mizuho lifted its target to $280 alongside an “Outperform” view. Morgan Stanley nudged its target to $235 with an “Overweight” stance. Jefferies started coverage at “Hold” with a $250 target, while Stifel raised its objective to $275 and reiterated a “Buy.” Susquehanna moved to a $260 target with a “Neutral” rating. In aggregate, the stock is tracked by a wide range of analysts, with one labeled as Strong Buy, seventeen at Buy, ten at Hold, and two at Sell. The broad takeaway: a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target near $235.35.
Stock Snapshot
In the latest session, shares opened around $234.96. Technicals show a 50-day moving average near $221.66 and a 200-day moving average around $194.03. Liquidity remains solid with both current and quick ratios at 2.04, while leverage sits at a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Over the past year, the stock has traded between $87.77 and $260.00. Market capitalization is approximately $82.30 billion, with a beta of 2.10. On a trailing basis, the company is still posting a negative price-to-earnings ratio (-783.21), reflecting ongoing investment and profitability dynamics.
Recent Results and Outlook
For the most recent reported quarter, Cloudflare delivered earnings per share of $0.27, topping consensus estimates of $0.23. Revenue landed at $430.08 million compared with higher expectations, but still marked a strong 30.7% year-over-year increase. Profitability metrics remain in the red, with a negative return on equity of 6.54% and a net margin of -5.12%. Comparatively, the same quarter a year ago posted EPS of $0.20.
Looking ahead, the company guided to roughly $0.27 in EPS for the next quarter and about $0.91 for the full fiscal year ahead. Street models currently suggest a slight loss for the present fiscal year, at approximately -$0.11 EPS, before improvement into the next period.
Insider Activity
Regulatory filings show notable insider moves. CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares at an average price near $226.46 in mid-September. CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 41,555 shares in August at an average price around $190.64. Across the last quarter, insiders sold roughly 638,060 shares for an aggregate value of about $133.2 million. Insiders continue to hold a meaningful stake, with ownership around 10.89%.
Institutional Ownership
Institutional participation remains widespread. Recent incremental changes include:
- Reliant Investment Partners LLC: stake up 1.5% to approximately 3,316 shares.
- Daymark Wealth Partners LLC: holdings up 1.1% to around 4,556 shares.
- Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC: position up 1.8% to about 2,821 shares.
- Huntington National Bank: holdings up 22.8% to roughly 280 shares.
- ORG Partners LLC: stake up 11.9% to around 498 shares.
Altogether, institutional investors control an estimated 82.68% of the float.
What Cloudflare Does
Cloudflare runs a global network designed to speed up and secure internet applications at the edge. Its platform spans web application firewalls, bot mitigation, distributed denial-of-service protections, API gateways and security, SSL/TLS encryption, rate limiting, script management, and a centralized security hub. The company’s services are engineered to protect and optimize workloads across public and private clouds, on‑premises environments, SaaS applications, and IoT devices.
For latency-sensitive sectors—think online gaming, VR streaming, and real-time interactive experiences—the value proposition is clear: consistent performance, resilient security, and global reach that can help developers keep experiences smooth and players connected.
