Cloudflare Stock Gains 15% as Q4 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates

Core Insights - Cloudflare, Inc. (NET) shares surged 15.5% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2025 results, with non-GAAP earnings of 28 cents per share, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.04% and reflecting a 47.4% year-over-year increase [1][10] Financial Performance - Fourth-quarter revenues rose 33.6% year-over-year to $614.5 million, surpassing the consensus mark by 4.1%, driven by strong enterprise customer onboarding and a focus on security [3][10] - Revenue from Channel Partners, accounting for 26.7% of total revenues, reached $176 million, up 73.6% year-over-year, while revenues from Direct Customers, making up 73.3% of total revenues, were $438.5 million, up 22.3% year-over-year [4] - Non-GAAP gross profit for Q4 increased 29% year-over-year to $460.2 million, with a gross margin of 74.9%, down 270 basis points year-over-year [5] - Non-GAAP operating income jumped 33.2% year-over-year to $89.6 million, maintaining an operating margin of 14.6% [6] Customer Growth - The company had 332,466 paying customers at the end of Q3, a 40% increase year-over-year, adding 289 new customers contributing over $100,000 in annual revenues, totaling 4,298 such customers [5] Cash Flow and Balance Sheet - As of December 31, 2025, Cloudflare's cash, cash equivalents, and available-for-sale securities totaled $4.1 billion, up from $4.04 billion at the end of Q3 [7] - Operating cash flow for Q4 was $190.4 million, with free cash flow at $99.4 million; for the full year 2025, operating cash flow was $603.1 million and free cash flow was $260.6 million [7] Guidance - For Q1 2026, Cloudflare expects revenues between $620 million and $621 million, with a year-over-year rise of 27.7% compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $611.8 million [8] - Non-GAAP income from operations for Q1 is projected between $70 million and $71 million, with anticipated non-GAAP earnings of 23 cents per share, compared to the consensus estimate of 25 cents per share [9] - For FY 2026, revenues are expected to be between $2,785 million and $2,795 million, indicating a year-over-year rise of 26.8%, with non-GAAP earnings per share projected at $1.11-$1.12 [11]