New York, May 26, 2026, 07:04 (EDT)
- Akamai traded at $147.23 before the Nasdaq opened, as investors came back after the Memorial Day break.
- The company sold $3.5 billion of zero-coupon convertible notes on May 22 to support its cloud infrastructure build-out.
- The stock faces a near-term test: can growth in AI-cloud demand balance out higher spending and the chance of dilution?
Shares of Akamai Technologies were under scrutiny again Tuesday, just after the U.S. holiday, as the company’s $3.5 billion financing drew attention from investors watching its AI cloud push. Akamai was last spotted at $147.23 ahead of the Nasdaq day session, putting the company’s market cap near $22.1 billion.
Timing is key. The Nasdaq was shut Monday for Memorial Day, with its usual 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern hours set to resume. That put Tuesday as the first full trading day since Akamai wrapped the financing late last week.
Akamai shares pulled back from their AI rally this month. The stock finished Friday at $147.23, off about 2.3% from $150.77 at the May 18 close. Shares went as low as $138.10 on May 20, according to LSEG figures on the company’s investor website.
Akamai finished a $1.75 billion sale of zero-coupon convertible senior notes due 2030 and another $1.75 billion due 2032 on May 22. These convertible notes can become stock if set terms are met. Senior notes sit above other debt, and with a 0.00% coupon, they carry no regular interest payments.
Akamai put $236.6 million from the raise toward note hedges and spent about $350 million repurchasing 2,476,298 shares, according to the filing. The rest is set for Cloud Infrastructure Services, or CIS, its cloud business. The company said it plans to focus on speeding up the global expansion of CIS.
The debate over the shares remains. Akamai reported first-quarter revenue up 6% to $1.074 billion. CIS revenue climbed 40% to $95 million. Security revenue gained 11% to $590 million. The delivery and other cloud applications segment, its legacy business, dropped 7% to $389 million.
Akamai said on May 7 that it landed a $1.8 billion, seven-year deal with a U.S. “frontier model provider” for CIS. Reuters later reported Bloomberg News had named Anthropic as the customer, citing people familiar. Both Akamai and Anthropic wouldn’t comment. Reuters
Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said the company “delivered a strong start to 2026,” as CIS revenue jumped 40% from a year ago and security posted gains. Leighton said an AI customer commitment validated Akamai’s position as AI infrastructure. Akamai
Wall Street is buying in, for now. Bank of America analyst Tal Liani moved Akamai up to Buy from Neutral and increased his price target to $175 from $130. He wrote Akamai is moving away from “a legacy delivery network” into a “credible AI infrastructure platform.” TradingView
Related stocks traded mixed. Cloudflare gained 1.7%. Fastly slipped 0.6%. Palo Alto Networks, which is bigger in cybersecurity, rose 3.0%.
The bullish argument comes with warnings. Cash outflows may increase as cloud spending picks up ahead of revenues, and Akamai’s filing shows that warrants from the note deals might dilute shareholders if the stock moves above the strike price. If AI-fueled growth slows to materialize, the same financing that helps the business grow could squeeze margins and free cash flow.
Akamai faces a key test this week on holding Friday’s close after the holiday. The AI contract is already in the mix and the company’s debt deal has gone through. Tuesday could reveal just how much appetite investors have for Akamai’s push from content delivery into heavier AI cloud spending.
