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Cloudflare to Post Q1 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?
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Key Takeaways
Cloudflare is set to report Q1 2026 results on May 7, with revenues seen rising nearly 30% year over year.
NET benefits from AI adoption, developer platform growth and rising enterprise customer demand.
Macro uncertainty and slower large deal closures may pressure Cloudflare's revenue growth.
Cloudflare (NET - Free Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 7, 2026. NET anticipates revenues between $620 million and $621 million for first-quarter 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NET’s first-quarter revenues is pegged at $621.9 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 29.8%.
For the first quarter, the company expects non-GAAP earnings of 23 cents per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NET’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 23 cents per share, suggesting growth of 43.8% from the same quarter last year. The consensus mark for earnings has remained unchanged over the past 60 days.
Cloudflare’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 9.44%.
Factors Likely to Influence Cloudflare’s Q1 Results
Cloudflare’s first-quarter results are likely to benefit from the shift toward artificial intelligence and the transformation of the Internet into an agentic ecosystem. With AI agents increasingly replacing human-driven browsing, the volume of Internet activity is expanding exponentially, opening an avenue to manage higher requests and lowering downtime.
Rising adoption of Cloudflare’s developer platform, which enables rapid deployment and scalable execution of applications are enabling NET to win in the AI-assisted development trend. Shift toward a zero-trust approach in cybersecurity is also a notable tailwind in the to-be-reported quarter. The rising adoption of Workers AI, AI inference, Gateway and Model Context Protocol is also a tailwind.
As enterprises are moving away from traditional hyperscaler models toward more flexible and cost-efficient solutions, Cloudflare’s usage-based pricing and efficient infrastructure are making it an attractive alternative. Growing enterprise adoption, with larger customers contributing due to NET’s approach, is likely to have benefited NET in the first quarter of 2026.
Cloudflare’s revenues are expected to have been boosted by its aggressive global expansion outside the United States. It is worth mentioning that the company generated approximately 50% of its 2025 revenues outside the United States. A diversified clientele is likely to have boosted Cloudflare’s first-quarter top line.
NET ended its fourth-quarter 2025 with 4,298 large customers contributing $100,000 in annual revenues. During 2025, approximately 69% of revenues came from large customers. It added 289 such new customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. This trend is expected to have continued in the to-be-reported quarter as well.
However, amid the ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges, Cloudflare is facing difficulties in closing large deals in the pipeline, affecting its revenue recognition. These challenges stem from customer cautiousness in their IT spending and vendor onboarding due to recent policy measures of the United States. This is expected to have negatively impacted the company’s top-line growth in the to-be-reported quarter.
Earnings Whispers for Cloudflare
Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Cloudflare this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here.
Though Cloudflare carries a Zacks Rank #3, it has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks to Consider
Here are some stocks you may want to consider in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:
NVIDIA is slated to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 20. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVIDIA’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.77 per share, up by a penny over the past 30 days, indicating a rise of 118.5% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.92% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
Cisco Systems is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2026 results on May 13. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cisco Systems’ third-quarter 2026 earnings is pegged at $1.04 per share, unchanged over the past 60 days, indicating a rise of 8.33% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Audioeye (AEYE - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +9.62% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
It is set to report first-quarter fiscal 2026 results on May 12. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Audioeye’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 17 cents per share, up by 2 cents over the past 60 days, indicating a rise of 13.3% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
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Cloudflare to Post Q1 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?
Key Takeaways
Cloudflare (NET - Free Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 7, 2026. NET anticipates revenues between $620 million and $621 million for first-quarter 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NET’s first-quarter revenues is pegged at $621.9 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 29.8%.
For the first quarter, the company expects non-GAAP earnings of 23 cents per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NET’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 23 cents per share, suggesting growth of 43.8% from the same quarter last year. The consensus mark for earnings has remained unchanged over the past 60 days.
Cloudflare’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 9.44%.
Factors Likely to Influence Cloudflare’s Q1 Results
Cloudflare’s first-quarter results are likely to benefit from the shift toward artificial intelligence and the transformation of the Internet into an agentic ecosystem. With AI agents increasingly replacing human-driven browsing, the volume of Internet activity is expanding exponentially, opening an avenue to manage higher requests and lowering downtime.
Cloudflare, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Cloudflare, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Cloudflare, Inc. Quote
Rising adoption of Cloudflare’s developer platform, which enables rapid deployment and scalable execution of applications are enabling NET to win in the AI-assisted development trend. Shift toward a zero-trust approach in cybersecurity is also a notable tailwind in the to-be-reported quarter. The rising adoption of Workers AI, AI inference, Gateway and Model Context Protocol is also a tailwind.
As enterprises are moving away from traditional hyperscaler models toward more flexible and cost-efficient solutions, Cloudflare’s usage-based pricing and efficient infrastructure are making it an attractive alternative. Growing enterprise adoption, with larger customers contributing due to NET’s approach, is likely to have benefited NET in the first quarter of 2026.
Cloudflare’s revenues are expected to have been boosted by its aggressive global expansion outside the United States. It is worth mentioning that the company generated approximately 50% of its 2025 revenues outside the United States. A diversified clientele is likely to have boosted Cloudflare’s first-quarter top line.
NET ended its fourth-quarter 2025 with 4,298 large customers contributing $100,000 in annual revenues. During 2025, approximately 69% of revenues came from large customers. It added 289 such new customers in the fourth quarter of 2025. This trend is expected to have continued in the to-be-reported quarter as well.
However, amid the ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges, Cloudflare is facing difficulties in closing large deals in the pipeline, affecting its revenue recognition. These challenges stem from customer cautiousness in their IT spending and vendor onboarding due to recent policy measures of the United States. This is expected to have negatively impacted the company’s top-line growth in the to-be-reported quarter.
Earnings Whispers for Cloudflare
Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Cloudflare this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here.
Though Cloudflare carries a Zacks Rank #3, it has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks to Consider
Here are some stocks you may want to consider in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:
NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.24% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
NVIDIA is slated to report first-quarter 2026 results on May 20. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVIDIA’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.77 per share, up by a penny over the past 30 days, indicating a rise of 118.5% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Cisco Systems (CSCO - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.92% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
Cisco Systems is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2026 results on May 13. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cisco Systems’ third-quarter 2026 earnings is pegged at $1.04 per share, unchanged over the past 60 days, indicating a rise of 8.33% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Audioeye (AEYE - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +9.62% and carries a Zacks Rank #2 at present.
It is set to report first-quarter fiscal 2026 results on May 12. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Audioeye’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at 17 cents per share, up by 2 cents over the past 60 days, indicating a rise of 13.3% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.