What Happened?
Shares of cloud security and performance company Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) jumped 4.2% in the morning session after Barclays initiated coverage on the company with an Overweight rating and a $235 price target.
The new rating suggested strong confidence in the cloud security company's future. Analysts at the firm highlighted Cloudflare's vast network, which supported a significant portion of the internet, as a major strength. They projected that the company's revenue was positioned to grow between 27% and 30% annually through 2028. This growth was expected to be fueled by a diverse range of products and an expanding share of the market. The price target of $235 represented a notable premium over the stock's previous closing price.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $203.45, up 3.2% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Cloudflare’s shares are very volatile and have had 21 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 3.5% on the news that renewed enthusiasm for Alphabet reinvigorated the artificial intelligence trade, propelling a market rebound heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The Nasdaq index jumped 2.6% and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%, driven by a 5% rally in Alphabet following the announcement of its upgraded Gemini 3 AI model. This optimism spilled over into the broader tech sector, lifting shares of Broadcom, Micron, and Palantir significantly. The rally built on momentum from the previous trading session, sparked by the New York Fed president keeping the door open for a December interest rate cut.
Cloudflare is up 80.8% since the beginning of the year, but at $203.45 per share, it is still trading 19.7% below its 52-week high of $253.30 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Cloudflare’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,830.
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