New York, February 12, 2026, 19:45 EST — After-hours
- Fastly shares were last up about 72% in late trading at $16.04
- Company forecast 2026 revenue of $700 million to $720 million
- Investors are watching whether AI-driven demand turns into steadier customer commitments
Fastly Inc (FSLY) shares jumped about 72% in after-hours trading on Thursday, last up $6.71 at $16.04. The stock hit $17.85 earlier and had traded about 116 million shares by late afternoon, data showed.
The move matters because Fastly has been a hard name for investors to hold through uneven demand and intense competition in content delivery networks (CDNs) — the plumbing that caches and routes data so sites load faster. Now the market is leaning into a new question: does a burst of AI-driven traffic turn into durable revenue, or fade as quickly as it arrived?
Late Wednesday, Fastly projected 2026 revenue of $700 million to $720 million and first-quarter revenue of $168 million to $174 million, and guided for adjusted earnings per share — a non-GAAP figure that strips out some expenses — of 23 to 29 cents for the full year and 7 to 10 cents for the first quarter. It reported fourth-quarter revenue of $172.6 million, up 23% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings per share of 12 cents; CEO Kip Compton said the results “mark an inflection in Fastly’s growth.” Fastly also said remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted revenue still to be recognized, climbed 55% to $353.8 million. (Nasdaq)
Analysts polled by Zacks had expected about $161.41 million in quarterly revenue and 6 cents a share in earnings, the research firm said. Fastly came in above both. (Nasdaq)
On the earnings call, CFO Rich Wong warned that Fastly’s revenue is still tied to customer consumption, which can swing from quarter to quarter. He said “infrastructure capital spend” — capital expenditures, or capex — “will be in the range of 10% to 12% of revenue” in 2026, and pointed to supply constraints and sharp year-on-year moves in memory prices. (Investing)
William Blair analyst Jonathan Ho said the quarter showed a “rising contribution from agentic AI traffic” — automated software that makes repeated requests across the network — and called the trend early. (Investors)
Among peers, Akamai Technologies rose about 10% on the day, while Cloudflare fell about 2%, as investors moved money around the web-infrastructure group.
But the rally comes with strings. Fastly’s business can still look lumpy if traffic shifts, a large customer reroutes workloads, or a big event ends, and higher capex leaves less cushion if demand cools.
Traders will test the move in Friday’s regular session, with a shorter holiday week ahead. U.S. stock markets are closed on Monday, February 16, for Presidents Day. (Nasdaq)
Fastly executives are due to appear at the Raymond James 47th Annual Institutional Investors Conference in Orlando on March 2, an early chance to expand on AI-traffic trends and the push for customer revenue commitments. On the call, Compton said the goal is to “mitigate the volatility” of a pure usage model. (Fool)
