Looking back on content delivery stocks’ Q1 earnings, we examine this quarter’s best and worst performers, including Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) and its peers.

The amount of content on the internet is exploding, whether it is music, movies and or e-commerce stores. Consumer demand for this content creates network congestion, much like a digital traffic jam which drives demand for specialized content delivery networks (CDN) services that alleviate potential network bottlenecks.

The 4 content delivery stocks we track reported a strong Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.8% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.

Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 6% since the latest earnings results.

Slowest Q1: Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM)

With a massive distributed network spanning 4,100+ points of presence in nearly 130 countries, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) provides a global distributed cloud platform that helps businesses deliver, secure, and optimize their digital experiences online.

Akamai reported revenues of $1.07 billion, up 5.8% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a softer quarter for the company with EPS guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations and full-year EPS guidance slightly missing analysts’ expectations.

“Akamai delivered a strong start to 2026, highlighted by a 40% year-over-year increase in Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS) revenue and security growth of 11%,” said Dr. Tom Leighton, Akamai's Chief Executive Officer.

Akamai delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates, weakest guidance update, and slowest revenue growth of the whole group. Interestingly, the stock is up 7.1% since reporting and currently trades at $124.99.

Read our full report on Akamai here, it’s free.

Best Q1: F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV)

Originally named after the F5 tornado, the most powerful on the meteorological scale, F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) provides security and delivery solutions that protect applications across cloud, data center, and edge environments for large organizations.

F5 reported revenues of $811.7 million, up 11% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 3.7%. The business had an exceptional quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

F5 delivered the biggest analyst estimate beat and highest guidance raise among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 25.4% since reporting. It currently trades at $381.06.

Is now the time to buy F5? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Fastly (NASDAQ: FSLY)

Taking its name from the core advantage it delivers to customers, Fastly (NASDAQ: FSLY) operates an edge cloud platform that processes, secures, and delivers web content as close to end users as possible, enabling faster digital experiences.

Fastly reported revenues of $173 million, up 19.8% year on year, exceeding analysts’ expectations by 0.6%. It may have had the worst quarter among its peers, but its results were still good as it also locked in EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

As expected, the stock is down 43.6% since the results and currently trades at $17.79.

Read our full analysis of Fastly’s results here.

Cloudflare (NYSE: NET)

With a massive network spanning more than 310 cities in over 120 countries, Cloudflare (NYSE: NET) provides a global network that delivers security, performance and reliability services to protect websites, applications, and corporate networks.

Cloudflare reported revenues of $639.8 million, up 33.5% year on year. This print topped analysts’ expectations by 3%. It was a very strong quarter as it also logged an impressive beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

Cloudflare delivered the fastest revenue growth but had the weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is down 12.8% since reporting and currently trades at $224.

Read our full, actionable report on Cloudflare here, it’s free.

Market Update

Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand-wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure?

These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability.

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