Markets
Cloudflare Logo at Davos Cafe
(Ömer Sercan Karku/Getty Images)

Cloudflare jumps as BofA gives the stock a two-notch upgrade

The upgrade is part of Wall Street’s scramble to find the next winners from AI.

Matt Phillips

Cloudflare got a leapfrog upgrade from Bank of America analysts on Tuesday, who jacked their rating on the seller of website security and performance software to “buy” from “underperform,” bypassing the typical analytic pitstop at “neutral,” “hold,” or whatever happens to be the preferred house term of art. The analysts wrote:

“We think Cloudflare is poised to be one of the true AI winners in software. It stands out by offering customers an alternative to building their own capacity — an expensive and inefficient task. AIaaS [AI as a service] is already resonating with customers; our surveys show AI is the leading product Cloudflare customers are looking to adopt in the NTM, with average AI spending forecast to increase +8% to $100k per customer, or 15% of total customer spending. Further, customers are increasingly choosing Cloudflare over hyperscalers like AWS (Amazon Web Services), Oracle and Azure given ease of use, scalability and utilization benefits.”

BofA’s analysts are sticking their neck out somewhat on this call, which isn’t consensus.

According to FactSet, Wall Street opinion on the company is fairly divided, with less than 40% of analysts labeling the stock — which is trading at a seemingly absurd valuation of 146x expected earnings and 19x expected sales — a buy.

But more broadly, BofA’s read on Cloudflare is part of a Wall Street-wide effort to dig up stocks likely to benefit from the next phase of AI’s integration into the economy, now that excitement over the early winners, like Nvidia, seems to be petering out a bit. We recently spotlighted a Goldman note on a similar topic with a list of potential AI winners that included the stock, among others such as Palantir and Spotify.

More Markets

See all Markets
Dickens, Great Expectations, He said, Aha! would you?

Tech tumbles as momentum stocks run into a blowout jobs report and a wave of profit-taking

The AI trade is under some pressure, taking prices back like... a few days. President Donald Trump is not a fan of the price action.

Trump Administration Considers Reclassifying Marijuana As A Less Dangerous Drug

Trulieve to list on NYSE, a first for US cannabis sector

More may be on the way: several other US cannabis companies have announced reverse stock splits with the intention of listing on a major exchange.

markets

Lululemon’s stretch getting tested: Stock plunges after after outlook is cut

Lululemon shares are down double digits in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, overshadowing a Q1 beat and raising fresh concerns about the brand’s turnaround efforts.

The company now expects fiscal 2026 revenue to be flat to down 1%, compared with its prior forecast for 2% to 4% growth. Guidance for full-year diluted earnings per share was dragged down to a range of $10.95 to $11.15, below the company’s previous guidance of $12.10 to $12.30 and well below Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26.

Key numbers for Q1:

  • EPS of $1.69 vs. the $1.68 expected.

  • Revenue of $2.47 billion vs. the $2.43 billion expected.

The modest top-line beat masked a widening divergence between Lululemons geographic markets. While international revenue rose 22% overall with a 30% increase in Mainland China, the bigger problem remains North America, where revenue fell 5%.

Interim co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank acknowledged during the earnings call that recent product rollouts underperformed. A highly anticipated yoga campaign failed to generate its expected halo effect across broader product lines.

Profitability metrics took a major hit, with gross margins contracting by 410 basis points to 54.2% due to mounting tariff costs and promotional markdowns. Operating income consequently fell 37% year over year to $276.9 million.

“We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top-line performance,” Frank said during the earnings call. “And second, not all of our product launches have met our expectations. While we have had several successful launches so far this year, we have seen others as we start Q2 not generate the anticipated guest response.”

Lululemons valuation has already been steadily compressing for years. While it was once one of retails richly valued stocks, investors have been questioning whether the company can return to the double-digit growth era.

The results also arrive during a leadership transition. Lululemon announced back in April that former Nike executive Heidi ONeill is set to take over as CEO in September, with investors looking to her to revive growth in North America and restore the brands growth.

As Lululemon faces both macroeconomic pressure and brand-specific challenges, its stock has dropped around 40% year to date.

markets

US job growth skyrocketed in May, blasting past expectations

The US economy added 172,000 jobs in the month of May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending 10-year Treasury yields higher.

The strong May job market surprised economists. Experts had predicted only 85,000 new jobs — just half the reported number. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

The job growth story is a hopeful spot for the economy as consumers continue to feel inflationary pressure from the Iran war.

Job gains were buoyed by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 70,000 jobs, as well as local government, healthcare, and education.

Both the March and April jobs reports were revised upward, making them collectively 93,000 higher than previously reported.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.