Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Upgraded to Buy at DZ Bank

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) was upgraded by equities research analysts at DZ Bank from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, FinViz reports. The firm presently has a $300.00 price objective on the stock. DZ Bank‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 1.50% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $300.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cloudflare from $355.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Craig Hallum upgraded Cloudflare to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Cloudflare from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $338.48.

Cloudflare Trading Up 10.0%

Cloudflare stock opened at $295.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $318.15 and a 200 day moving average of $250.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -434.64, a P/E/G ratio of 206.44 and a beta of 1.37. Cloudflare has a 12-month low of $158.83 and a 12-month high of $370.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.04. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 3.88%. The company had revenue of $782.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $737.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 39.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Cloudflare will post 0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.40, for a total transaction of $1,522,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 868,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,241,421.20. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 12,500 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.59, for a total transaction of $3,744,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 104,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,444,367.22. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 256,537 shares of company stock worth $78,750,901 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NET. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 135.8% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,394,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $906,758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530,872 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cloudflare by 4.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,046,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,537,000 after buying an additional 48,956 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Cloudflare by 2.0% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,707,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $352,275,000 after buying an additional 32,804 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Cloudflare by 1.6% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 959,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,466,000 after buying an additional 15,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Cloudflare by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 927,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,318,000 after buying an additional 69,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.68% of the company’s stock.

Key Cloudflare News

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 revenue rose 39.2% year over year to $782.5 million, beating expectations, while non-GAAP EPS of $0.38 also topped consensus. The company’s next-quarter revenue forecast was above analysts’ estimates, and management raised its 2026 outlook. NET Q3 2026 deep dive
• Positive Sentiment: Management cited strength in developer and security demand, including AI-related usage, and moved its target for GAAP profitability forward to Q4 2026. That could reassure investors that growth may translate into improved earnings. Cloudflare Q3 earnings call
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst actions were mixed: Wolfe Research upgraded Cloudflare to Outperform, while Scotiabank, Needham and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets. The differing views underscore uncertainty about how much of the strong outlook is already reflected in the shares. Wolfe Research upgrade Scotiabank price target
• Negative Sentiment: Reports flagged a growing margin challenge even as revenue growth accelerated. Cloudflare’s high valuation may also leave the stock vulnerable if growth or progress toward profitability disappoints. Cloudflare’s best quarter ever hit with a growing margin challenge Cloudflare sell-off and valuation

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc provides cloud-based services that help businesses and other organizations protect, connect and improve the performance of websites, applications and networks. Its global network delivers services including content delivery, domain name system management, and protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks and other cyber threats.

The company also offers web application security, bot management and Zero Trust services for securing access to applications and internal networks.