Overview
- Akamai shares closed up 7.7% to $161.14 on Wednesday, the highest since March 2000, after Bank of America raised the stock to Buy with a $175 target.
- Bank of America said investors now view Akamai as an AI infrastructure provider rather than a legacy content delivery network.
- The upgrade leaned on a seven-year, $1.8 billion commitment from a leading AI model maker, which the bank estimates will add $20 million to $25 million in quarterly revenue starting in Q4.
- Bloomberg reported the customer is Anthropic, though neither Akamai nor the buyer has confirmed the identity.
- In Q1, Akamai beat expectations with $1.074 billion in revenue and $1.61 EPS as cloud infrastructure grew about 40% year over year, security rose 11%, and delivery services fell 7%.