NET

Interested in Arqit Quantum Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Arqit Quantum reported higher first-half fiscal 2026 revenue of $623,000 versus $67,000 a year earlier, with management saying revenue has now grown for two straight reporting periods. The company also saw more activity across 11 contracts, up from six in the prior-year period. Management says urgency around post-quantum cybersecurity is accelerating, citing Google, Cloudflare and IonQ as evidence that organizations are moving faster toward crypto migration. CEO Andy Leaver said the focus has shifted from whether to upgrade to how quickly it can be done. Arqit’s new products and partnerships are gaining traction, including the Encryption Intelligence risk tool, which landed its first contract and a first European partnership, and NetworkSecure, which is being used by Sparkle for quantum-secure networking. The company also highlighted ongoing opportunities in telecom, government and defense, including an imminent U.S. defense contract renewal discussion. Big Gains Alert: These 3 Tech Stocks Are Surging This Month Arqit Quantum (NASDAQ:ARQQ) reported higher first-half fiscal 2026 revenue and said it is seeing increased commercial activity as governments, telecom operators and defense-related customers evaluate post-quantum cybersecurity needs. Chief Executive Officer Andy Leaver told investors that the market has shifted from debating whether organizations need to upgrade cryptographic security to determining how quickly they can do so. He pointed to public comments and research from Google, Cloudflare and IonQ that, in his view, have accelerated the urgency around migration to post-quantum cryptography. → CAVA Group’s Stock Looks Delicious After Strong Earnings 3 Quantum Computing ETFs to Know—And Why 2 Don't Hold D-Wave “What has become clear in the first half of our current fiscal year is that when is becoming now,” Leaver said, referring to the timing of post-quantum security upgrades. Chief Financial Officer Nick Pointon said Arqit generated $623,000 in revenue for the first half of fiscal 2026, compared with $67,000 in the same period of fiscal 2025. He said the increase reflected revenue from a Middle East customer contract that began late in the first half of fiscal 2025, as well as activity under 11 contracts during the latest period, compared with six in the prior-year first half....

Intuit reported better-than-expected financial results for its crucial tax season Wednesday, while also announcing a round of layoffs. Intuit said it’s reducing its full-time workforce by 17%. According to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks tech layoffs, 114,173 tech employees have lost their jobs in 2026.

With a short float of 2.71% and upside potential of 21.60%, Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) earns a place on our list of the best cloud stocks to buy as Azure growth hits 40%. Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)’s first-quarter results came in ahead of expectations, but the market’s reaction told a mixed story. Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) had climbed over 30% YTD heading into earnings but pulled back more than 23% since Q1 results on May 7, settling at $197.56 on May 15, 2026. Despite that move, roughly 25 of 37 covering analysts remain bullish on the shares. On May 8, 2026, Bernstein cut its price target to $136 from $146, keeping a “Market Perform” rating, and said the quarter essentially delivered a growth rate consistent with the fourth quarter rather than the acceleration some had hoped for following strong results at AWS and Datadog. Net revenue retention fell to 118%, and while the beat relative to guidance was normal, Bernstein kept a more measured tone. Susquehanna saw it differently. On May 11, 2026, analyst Shyam Patil raised the firm’s price target to $200 from $190, maintaining a “Neutral” rating, and described the quarter as a fine one, with strength particularly visible among large customers. Patil also noted Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)’s announcement of a significant headcount reduction as it pivots toward an AI-first operating structure aimed at driving efficiency and productivity, and flagged the more conservative second-quarter guidance as prudent rather than alarming. The company’s first-quarter revenue came in at $639.8 million, well ahead of the $621.9 million estimate, with adjusted earnings of 25 cents per share, beating the 23-cent consensus. Second-quarter revenue was guided at $664 million to $665 million, just below the $665.3 million Wall Street estimate, and adjusted earnings are expected at 27 cents per share . Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) is a leading connectivity cloud company that specializes in improving the security, performance, and reliability of websites and applications. While we acknowledge the potential of NET as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 33 Stoc...

Block (NYSE:XYZ) cut 4,000+ employees in February 2026 and posted Q1 2026 adjusted diluted EPS growth of 51.8%, with guidance calling for 62% year-over-year full-year EPS growth. 100% of employees use AI tools, and production code changes per engineer increased 2.5x. Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) announced a 20% workforce cut citing an agentic AI-first operating model, and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) cut 14% of staff (700 people) alongside reporting a GAAP loss of $1.49 per share. The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Block wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. Jason Calacanis used Block (NYSE:XYZ) as a case study on a recent This Week in Startups episode to argue that AI-driven productivity gains have become a prisoner's dilemma for every public company CEO. Block cut over 4,000 people in February 2026, taking headcount from over 10,000 to under 6,000. Three months later, the company posted Q1 2026 adjusted diluted EPS growth of 51.8% ($0.85 against $0.56 in the prior-year quarter), and raised full-year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance from $3.66 to $3.85, a 62% year-over-year growth target. The stock closed at $74.85 on May 8, up 6.72% on the day and up 19.13% over the prior month. The point is, companies are increasingly seeing that reducing headcount increases profits. Even if they don't want to slash jobs, their hand can eventually be forced because they'll otherwise lose to a competitor with a better cost structure. Calacanis framed the structural argument bluntly: "If there is a gain to be had, you have no choice but to take it. That's capitalism. Because if you don't take it, your competitor takes it. Their earnings go up. They can attract the best talent. You can't." As of early April, 100% of Block employees are using AI tools to do their work, and production code changes per engineer are up more than 2.5x since the start of the year. Builderbot, Block's internal AI agent, is reviewing more than 90% of production code change requests. CEO Jack Dorsey told analysts, "a significantly smaller team, using the tools we are building, can do more and do it better." The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Block wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. The same week brought parallel moves across the sector. Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) announced a 20% workforce cut, with CEO Matthew Prince citing an "agentic AI-first o...

Fastly, Inc. FSLY investors have had a difficult run. Since the company released its first-quarter 2026 results in early May, the stock has fallen nearly 42%, even though the results were better than expected. With this, the company’s shares have declined 21.7% over the past month. The decline is even more disappointing when compared with the broader market. Over the same time frame, FSLY has underperformed the industry’s decline of 3.9% and lagged the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector and the S&P 500’s respective increases of 10.8% and 6%. Other technology players, including Zscaler, Inc. ZS, Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM and Cloudflare, Inc. NET, have gained 16.2%, 78.3% and 1.3%, respectively. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The sharp underperformance shows that investors are looking beyond Fastly’s headline numbers. The company reported record revenues, strong growth in security and improved adjusted profitability. However, the market remains worried about slower growth in its core business, rising infrastructure costs and tough competition. The biggest concern is the slowdown in Fastly’s core Network Services business. This segment still contributes the majority of the company’s revenues, making its performance critical to overall growth. In the first quarter, Network Services revenues increased 11% year over year. While the growth was solid, it was lower than what investors typically expect from a high-growth technology company. Management attributed some of the moderation to tough comparisons with a particularly strong fourth quarter, which benefited from holiday e-commerce traffic and gaming downloads. However, investors remain cautious about the long-term growth trajectory of the company’s legacy CDN business. Pricing pressure is another challenge. Fastly noted that pricing erosion in Network Services remained in the mid-single-digit range. This is common across the CDN industry, where customers receive higher discounts as traffic volumes grow. While Fastly continues to add traffic and customers, pricing dynamics could continue limiting revenue acceleration. At the same time, Fastly is investing heavily in infrastructure to support future growth opportunities tied to AI workloads, edge computing and security offerings. The company expects infrastructure capital expenditures to rise meaningfully in 2026. Although these investments...

Technology giant Cisco is cutting nearly 4,000 jobs, or around 5% of its workforce, despite reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue in its fiscal third quarter. The networking equipment maker said it is reducing its headcount in order to change its “cost structure” and invest in AI and cybersecurity. Cisco’s decision follows a recent trend of tech companies increasingly citing a priority on AI spending as a reason to let employees go. Cloudflare and General Motors have both laid off staff in recent days, despite reporting strong financial results. Cisco said it plans to invest more in cybersecurity, as the company continues to contend with a slew of security vulnerabilities in its routers and firewalls that have allowed hackers to break into the networks of its corporate customers, including the U.S. government. Cisco last year also experienced a data breach in which customers’ personal information was affected. In a blog post published Wednesday, Cisco’s chief executive Chuck Robbins touted the company’s “record revenue” and “double-digit growth,” while acknowledging that Cisco was making strategic investments “in our employees’ use of AI across the company.” According to public filings, Robbins was slated to earn more than $52 million in executive compensation during 2025. When reached by TechCrunch, a Cisco spokesperson did not comment beyond Robbins’ statement, or say, when asked, if Robbins plans to reduce his compensation. This is the latest round of job cuts at Cisco in recent years. The company laid off thousands of employees during two separate layoffs in 2024 and cut over 150 jobs in 2025.

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Friday closed up +0.84%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) closed up +0.02%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed up +2.35%. June E-mini S&P futures (ESM26) rose +0.79%, and June E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQM26) rose +2.37%. Stock indexes settled higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 posting new record highs. Chipmaker and AI-infrastructure stocks led the overall market higher on Friday, offsetting concerns about the Iran war. Stronger-than-expected corporate earnings are pushing stocks higher. Weakness in software stocks on Friday weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As CPUs Steal the Show, AMD Stock Just Got a New Street-High Price Target How Intel Stock Could Be the Biggest Winner from AMD’s Explosive Earnings Win Cathie Wood Dumps More AMD Shares Despite Its Massive 108% Rally. Here's Why. Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. Stock indexes also found support today on signs of resiliency in the US labor market after April nonfarm payrolls rose more than expected and March nonfarm payrolls were revised upward. Stocks rallied on Friday despite a larger-than-expected decline in US consumer sentiment to a record low. US Apr nonfarm payrolls rose by +115,000, stronger than expectations of +65,000, and Mar nonfarm payrolls were revised upward to +185,000 from the previously reported +178,000. The Apr unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%, right on expectations. US Apr average hourly earnings rose +0.2% m/m and +3.6% y/y, weaker than expectations of +0.3% m/m and +3.8% y/y. The University of Michigan’s US May consumer sentiment index fell -1.6 to a record low of 48.2 (data from 1978), weaker than expectations of 49.5. The University of Michigan US May 1-year inflation expectations rate unexpectedly eased to +4.5% from +4.7% in Apr, weaker than expectations of an increase to 4.8%. The May 5-10 year inflation expectations rate unexpectedly eased to +3.4%, weaker than expectations of no change at +3.5%. In the latest developments in the Middle East, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said Iran seized an oil tanker on Friday in the Strait of Hormuz for "attempting to disrupt oil exports and the interests of the Iranian nation." Also, US forces targeted missile and drone launch sites and other milita...

Most tech companies talk about AI transformation as something that is coming. Cloudflare, Inc. (NET) is living it right now, and the numbers CEO Matthew Prince shared on the first-quarter earnings call are some of the most striking data points I have seen from any company this earnings season. Internal AI usage at Cloudflare increased 600% in just three months, and 97% of the company's engineers are using AI coding tools. This isn't a forecast. It's already happening. The technology company, headquartered in San Francisco, added one million new developers in the quarter, bringing the total to 5.5 million, according to the earnings call transcript compiled by The Motley Fool. These aren't customer metrics. They describe what is happening inside Cloudflare's own walls. And that distinction matters enormously, because it tells you something about where this company is genuinely going rather than where it says it is going. "AI is driving a fundamental re-platforming of the Internet and a paradigm shift in how software is created and consumed," Prince said on the earnings call. "It's shaping up to be the biggest tailwind we've ever seen in Cloudflare's history." Cloudflare, Inc. (NET) closed May 7, earnings day, up 3.30% to $256.79. It is also up 30.25% year to date and 110.99% over the past year, according to Yahoo Finance. Three-year return sits at 482.69%, while its five-year return is at 258.55%. Isn’t that impressive? We all know it is. Cloudflare reported the following financial results for the first quarter of 2026, according to the company's May 7 earnings release. Revenue of $639.8 million, up 34% year over year Non-GAAP operating income of $73.1 million, up 31% year over year Free cash flow of $84.1 million, or 13% of revenue, up from 11% in Q1 2025 Current remaining performance obligations up 34% year over year 4,416 customers paying more than $100,000 annually, up 25%, now representing 72% of total revenue, according to The Motley Fool Dollar-based net retention of 118%, according to The Motley Fool Source: Cloudflare First Quarter 2026 Financial Results and The Motley Fool My review of the large deal numbers is particularly telling. Deals over $1 million grew 73% year over year. Customers spending $5 million or more grew 50%, with a record number of new additions. Gross retention reached its highest level in four years. These are not the metrics of a...

The stock market hit fresh highs as crude oil prices tumbled below $100 on Iran hopes. Earnings were mostly strong, though there were big losers too

Dow Jones futures: President Donald Trump says a U.S.-Iran ceasefire is intact despite clashes. Rocket Lab, Cloudflare and IREN are big earnings movers.

Cloudflare (NET) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.25 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.23 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.16 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +7.53%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this web security and content delivery company would post earnings of $0.27 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.28, delivering a surprise of +3.7%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Cloudflare, which belongs to the Zacks Internet - Software industry, posted revenues of $639.76 million for the quarter ended March 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.87%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $479.09 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Cloudflare shares have added about 26.1% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 7.6%. While Cloudflare has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Cloudflare was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Za...

(Bloomberg) -- CoreWeave Inc. shares are on a scorching run in 2026 as demand for computing capacity to power artificial intelligence keeps growing. But now investors want to see some proof that the neo-cloud provider is executing on its ambitious plans. Most Read from Bloomberg Billionaire Duke of Westminster to Sell £700 Million of US Real Estate Assets US Has Opened a Passage Through Hormuz, Central Command Says DOJ Plans Intervention in Trump Supreme Court Carroll Appeal China Asks Banks to Pause New Loans to US-Sanctioned Refiner Sony to Pay Almost $4 Billion for Bieber, Neil Young Catalog The chance arrives when CoreWeave reports earnings after the bell on Thursday. Recent results from the biggest AI spenders like Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. made it clear that the need for computing power is insatiable as capital expenditures continue to rise. Considering the company rents access to AI infrastructure featuring the latest chips from Nvidia Corp., that plays right into its hands. “There is an insane amount of demand for AI compute,” said Tejas Dessai, director of thematic research at Global X ETFs. “The backdrop is extremely positive for CoreWeave.” Investors will be closely monitoring CoreWeave’s revenue acceleration, its outlook for the rest of the year and its backlog heading into 2027, he said. The stock is up 78% this year and a stunning 218% since the Livingston, New Jersey-based company went public in March 2025. The latest rally got going roughly a month ago as investors regained faith in the AI trade and CoreWeave announced deals with Meta, Anthropic PBC and Jane Street Group in quick succession. CoreWeave shares were down as much as 9.1% in intraday trading Thursday after rallying 7.9% on Wednesday. Of the 36 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who follow CoreWeave, 23 have buy ratings on the stock and only two have sells. But their average 12-month price target of $131 is below where the shares closed Wednesday, even though it’s been rising over the past six months. Wall Street expects the company to report revenue of nearly $2 billion in the first quarter, twice what it posted a year ago, and a loss of $1.20 per share, which would be an improvement from a loss of $1.49 a share in the first quarter of 2025. CoreWeave’s revenue backlog was nearly $67 billion as of Dec. 31, and the recent deals should raise its remaining performance obligati...