Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Releases Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) updated its third quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 0.340-0.340 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 0.260. The company issued revenue guidance of $736.0 million-$737.0 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $722.4 million.

Cloudflare Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:NET traded down $9.63 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $283.33. The stock had a trading volume of 5,190,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,302,411. The company has a market cap of $100.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,133.31, a PEG ratio of 225.36 and a beta of 1.65. Cloudflare has a 12 month low of $158.83 and a 12 month high of $305.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $254.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $639.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.83 million. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 3.72% and a negative return on equity of 5.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cloudflare will post 0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on Cloudflare from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Cloudflare from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.27.

Insider Activity at Cloudflare

In related news, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 5,000 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.11, for a total transaction of $1,340,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 888,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,101,252.03. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mark J. Hawkins sold 133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.74, for a total transaction of $36,939.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,952,931.68. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 689,532 shares of company stock worth $165,956,228. 10.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Cloudflare

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New AEO dashboard expands Cloudflare’s AI opportunity. The company launched an Answer Engine Optimization Visibility Dashboard that shows whether AI assistants recommend a brand, giving businesses a new way to measure and improve AI-driven discovery. Cloudflare Adds AEO Visibility Dashboard
• Positive Sentiment: Cloudflare is adding AI security and workspace products. Identity-Aware AI Gateway enables companies to track employee and AI-agent usage, manage spending and flag risky content. Cloudflare OS, an open-source AI workspace running on its network, could further support enterprise adoption and monetization. Cloudflare Gives Companies Full Visibility to Audit and Analyze AI Use Cloudflare OS Is the First AI Workspace
• Positive Sentiment: Cloudflare remains an investor-preferred AI infrastructure alternative. A 24/7 Wall St. article highlighted Cloudflare alongside CoreWeave and Snowflake as potential destinations for investors taking profits in fast-rising Nebius shares, providing a favorable but indirect endorsement. Nebius Is Still Up 136 Percent This Year
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings are the key near-term catalyst. Investors are looking for accelerating second-quarter revenue growth, stronger margins, AI demand and higher full-year guidance. Jefferies expects a possible outlook increase, while its Hold rating indicates that expectations are already elevated. Cloudflare Poised for Second Quarter Revenue Acceleration
• Negative Sentiment: CEO selling is a notable sentiment headwind. CEO Matthew Prince sold approximately 157,000 shares worth about $46 million from August 3–5. The transactions were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their predictive value, but the scale may encourage profit-taking concerns. SEC Insider Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation increases the risk of disappointment. With NET near its annual high and trading at extreme earnings and growth multiples, the company may need to materially exceed expectations for the shares to advance. A results beat that merely matches consensus could still trigger selling.

Institutional Trading of Cloudflare

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NET. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cloudflare during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Cloudflare by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 26,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,277,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. Virtue Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cloudflare by 814.5% in the 4th quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 7,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 6,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Cloudflare by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 13,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the period. 82.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc is a global web infrastructure and security company that provides a suite of services designed to improve the performance, reliability and security of internet properties. Its core offerings include a content delivery network (CDN), distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, managed DNS, and a web application firewall (WAF). Cloudflare also provides tools for bot management, SSL/TLS, load balancing and rate limiting to help organizations maintain uptime and protect web applications from attack.

In addition to traditional edge and security services, Cloudflare has expanded into edge computing and developer platforms.