Akamai Shares Slide 10% Despite Q4 Beat as Full-Year Outlook Disappoints

Core Insights - Akamai Technologies reported fourth-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, but shares fell approximately 10% intra-day due to weaker-than-expected guidance for the upcoming year [1] Financial Performance - Non-GAAP earnings were $1.84 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.75 [1] - Revenue increased 7% year over year to $1.095 billion, slightly above analyst projections of $1.08 billion [1] - GAAP net income per diluted share decreased 36% to $0.58, primarily due to a $55 million restructuring charge [3] - Non-GAAP net income rose 6% to $270 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 7% to $458 million, representing a margin of 42% [3] - For the full year, revenue rose 5% to $4.21 billion, with non-GAAP EPS growing 10% to $7.12, while GAAP EPS declined 6% to $3.07 [3] Revenue Breakdown - Growth was driven by higher-margin security and cloud offerings, with security revenue advancing 11% to $592 million [2] - Guardicore Segmentation and API Security revenue surged 36% to $90 million [2] - Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue climbed 45% to $94 million [2] - In contrast, Delivery revenue declined 2% to $311 million [2] Future Guidance - Akamai forecasted fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS between $6.20 and $7.20, below the consensus estimate of $7.34 [4] - Projected revenue for the upcoming year is between $4.4 billion and $4.55 billion, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 26% to 28% [4]