Akamai tops Q3 profit estimates as cloud infrastructure sales rise 34%

Akamai (AKAM) topped the $1.71 consensus estimate with non-GAAP earnings of $1.77 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026. Revenue of $1.12 billion came in below the $1.14 billion estimate. Shares were little changed after hours at 5:51 p.m. ET, from a $77.79 close.

Revenue rose 6% from $1.055 billion a year earlier, or 7% when adjusted for foreign exchange. Growth came from security and Cloud Infrastructure Services.

Here's how the company did:

• Revenue: $1.12 billion vs. $1.055 billion a year earlier, below the $1.14 billion estimate
• Non-GAAP EPS: $1.77 vs. $1.86 a year earlier, $1.71 expected
• GAAP EPS: $0.77 vs. $0.97 a year earlier

GAAP net income was $117 million, down 16% from a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income was $262 million, down 3%.

Adjusted EBITDA was $435 million, down 5% from a year earlier. Non-GAAP operating margin was 25%, down 6 percentage points.

Segment results

Security revenue was $622 million, up 9%. Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue was $109 million, up 34%, or 35% adjusted for foreign exchange.

Delivery and other cloud applications revenue was $391 million, down 3%.

U.S. revenue rose 5% to $559 million. International revenue rose 7% to $563 million, or 9% adjusted for foreign exchange.

GAAP income from operations fell 35% to $109 million. The company had 11,832 employees, up from 11,161 a year earlier.

2026 guidance

Dr. Tom Leighton, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We expect Akamai’s overall revenue growth to accelerate to 17% to 22% year-over-year when adjusted for foreign exchange in 2027.”

For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue of $1.15 billion to $1.17 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $1.50 to $1.70.

For full-year 2026, it expects revenue of $4.44 billion to $4.47 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $6.47 to $6.68.

For 2027, Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue is projected at $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion. For 2028, total revenue is projected to exceed $7.0 billion.

Cash and capital returns

Cash from operations was $433 million, or 39% of revenue. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $4.24 billion at Sept. 30.

No shares were repurchased in the third quarter. For the nine months, the company spent $616 million to buy 5 million shares at a weighted average price of $123.19.

The company had 144 million shares outstanding at Sept. 30. Capital expenditures were $464 million, or 41% of revenue, in the quarter.