Fastly (NYSE:FSLY) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Shares of Fastly, Inc. (NYSE:FSLY) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $10.07, but opened at $7.90. Fastly shares last traded at $7.68, with a volume of 3,779,502 shares changing hands.

The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.01 by ($0.22). Fastly had a negative return on equity of 13.24% and a negative net margin of 27.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FSLY shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Fastly from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Fastly from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum lifted their price objective on shares of Fastly from $6.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Fastly from $5.50 to $7.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective (down from $10.00) on shares of Fastly in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Todd Nightingale sold 49,816 shares of Fastly stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.25, for a total transaction of $311,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,600,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,006,081.25. The trade was a 3.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Artur Bergman sold 10,000 shares of Fastly stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.58, for a total transaction of $105,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 3,364,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,592,558.88. This trade represents a 0.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 260,152 shares of company stock valued at $2,287,883. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fastly

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FSLY. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in Fastly by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 2,960 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Fastly by 124.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 3,522 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Fastly by 128.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Fastly in the fourth quarter valued at $72,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Fastly in the fourth quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.71% of the company’s stock.

Fastly Trading Down 20.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.31 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.97 and a quick ratio of 3.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $10.03 and its 200-day moving average is $8.11.

Fastly Company Profile

Fastly, Inc operates an edge cloud platform for processing, serving, and securing its customer's applications in the United States, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and internationally. The edge cloud is a category of Infrastructure as a Service that enables developers to build, secure, and deliver digital experiences at the edge of the internet.