Cloudflare earnings, outlook tops Street estimates; stock rallies more than 8%

By Wallace Witkowski

CEO says cybersecurity company is 'uniquely positioned to become a leader in AI inferencing'

Cloudflare Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Thursday, after the cybersecurity company's earnings and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.

Cloudflare (NET) shares surged more than 8% in after-hours trading, following a 1.5% gain to close the regular session at $65.04.

The company reported a second-quarter loss of $94.5 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with a loss of $63.5 million, or 20 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted net income, which excludes stock-based compensation expenses and other items, was 10 cents a share, compared with break-even on a per-share basis in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose to $308.5 million from $234.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast net income of 7 cents a share on revenue of $305.6 million.

"We believe we're uniquely positioned to become a leader in AI inferencing and have a lot more in store across the entire AI lifecycle to help enable companies to build the future," said Matthew Prince, Cloudflare's co-founder and chief executive, in a statement.

Read: Microsoft cybersecurity expansion poses long-term 'ramifications' for Palo Alto Networks, Cloudflare, others

Cloudflare forecast adjusted earnings of about 10 cents a share on revenue of $330 million to $331 million for the third quarter, and about 37 cents a share on revenue of $1.28 billion to $1.29 billion for the year.

Analysts had estimated 9 cents a share on revenue of $329.4 million for the third quarter, and 34 cents a share on revenue of $1.28 billion for the year.

Last quarter, shares logged their worst day since the company's 2019 initial public offering after reporting that deals were taking longer to close.

Year to date, Cloudflare's stock price is up 44%, while the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF HACK has risen 17.5%, S&P 500 index SPX has gained 17%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP has rallied 33%.

-Wallace Witkowski

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08-04-23 0748ET

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