Akamai Edges Cloudflare 78-76: A 13x Sales-Multiple Gap Between Two Edge Giants
pdamodaran · x · 2026-11-09
DalalBytes rebuilt its ten-dimension comparison after both companies reported Q3 2026: Akamai scores 78, Cloudflare 76.
- Growth: Cloudflare revenue rose 39% in Q3 with its full-year guide raised a third time; Akamai grew 6% but guides 17-22% for 2027.
- Valuation: Cloudflare trades near 35x trailing sales vs Akamai near 2.7x guided 2026 sales — a gap of 13x.
- Pay models: Cloudflare's stock compensation ran 21% of revenue in the first nine months of 2026; Akamai pays upfront via capex peaking at $3.6B in 2026 against a signed $14B book billing from 2027.
- Security: Akamai's security segment annualizes at $2,488M — a 5x multiple covers its entire $11.94B market cap.
- The report cites the published economics of the Anthropic contract and projects both companies converging near 30% guided growth by 2028, with the multiple gap narrowing only to 11x.
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