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Akamai Technologies (AKAM) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note

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Akamai Technologies (AKAM - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $104.61, moving -3.69% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.66%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.22%.

Shares of the cloud services provider have appreciated by 2.85% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.54%, and outperforming the S&P 500's gain of 1.4%.

The upcoming earnings release of Akamai Technologies will be of great interest to investors. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.67, indicating a 10.22% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $1.12 billion, indicating a 6.07% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $6.62 per share and a revenue of $4.49 billion, signifying shifts of -7.02% and +6.59%, respectively, from the last year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Akamai Technologies. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 1.67% decrease. Akamai Technologies currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note Akamai Technologies's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 16.4. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 15.33 for its industry.

Meanwhile, AKAM's PEG ratio is currently 2.76. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Internet - Services industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.82.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 191, positioning it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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