Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) shares were higher on Monday as the company received a boost from an analyst.
Analysts at Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE:CS) upgraded the cloud services provider today, increasing its price target from $55 to $75. The average 12-month price target that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg chose was $62.4.
Akamai shares gained about 14.5% on Monday, sending the stock beyond the average price target to roughly $66.18 per share. The stock experienced the largest surge in the S&P 500 Index on Monday, marking its ninth consecutive month of gains.
The company offers a cloud computing platform for companies that include banks, insurers and asset managers, which consists of a network platform that helps companies improve their ability “to deliver, accelerate, optimise and secure global traffic and business applications over the internet”, according to a note from Credit Suisse on Friday.
Akamai last posted its quarterly earnings report almost two months ago, unveiling adjusted earnings of 62 cents per share, which marked a year-over-year decline of 9%. The figure did top Wall Street’s consensus estimate of 59 cents per share.
Revenue was a better segment for the company as sales gained 6% year-over-year to $621 million. The figure beat analysts’ expectations of $610.7 million for its third quarter.
Akamai added that its web division revenue popped 14% year-over-year to $328 million, while its media revenue declined 1% compared to the year-ago mark to $273 million.
