Akamai Technologies (AKAM)
Forward P/E 15.05x is 0.73x the peer median of 20.66x, a 27% discount, while latest-quarter revenue grew +5.4% year over year (PRIMARY/EDGAR) — slow, but not collapsing. Trailing P/E is much higher at 35.95x and PEG is 2.43, so the shares are not cheap on growth-adjusted terms and the forward multiple assumes a sharp earnings step-up. Delivered demand check: the cluster median grew +5.7% year over year, so demand is steady rather than falling.
What would change this label: Moves down toward FAIRLY PRICED or OVERVALUED if revenue growth turns negative for two consecutive quarters or the forward P/E re-rates above about 18.6x (0.90x the peer median) with no growth pick-up. The UNDERVALUED case firms up if revenue growth accelerates to +10% or better while the forward P/E stays at or below about 16x.
Akamai's shares cost about 15 times next year's expected profit, while similar internet infrastructure companies cost about 21 times. Growth is slow at about 5%, so this is no rocket ship, but you are paying less than peers for a steady, profitable business.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Akamai Technologies returned -16.33% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Akamai Technologies: -46.8% (2024-02-09 to 2025-04-08). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E 15.05x is 0.73x the peer median of 20.66x, a 27% discount, while latest-quarter revenue grew +5.4% year over year (PRIMARY/EDGAR) — slow, but not collapsing. Trailing P/E is much higher at 35.95x and PEG is 2.43, so the shares are not cheap on growth-adjusted terms and the forward multiple assumes a sharp earnings step-up. Delivered demand check: the cluster median grew +5.7% year over year, so demand is steady rather than falling. The company’s forward P/E is 15.1× against a peer median of 20.7×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Internet services & infrastructure group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 5.7% year over year (SEC filings) — demand steady. Latest-quarter sales growth was +5.4% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akamai Technologies (AKAM) | $99.00 | 15.1× | 36.0× |
| GDDY | $106.08 | 12.7× | 15.8× |
| VRSN | $302.28 | 28.6× | 32.5× |
| Peer median | 20.7× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
This company does not report a gross-profit line in its SEC facts (normal for banks, payment networks and some health insurers), so profit is shown as net income instead — gross margin is marked UNVERIFIED-absent rather than estimated.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jun 2026 2026-06-30 | $1.1B | — | $79M | 0.52 | $181M |
| Q/E Mar 2026 2026-03-31 | $1.1B | — | $106M | 0.71 | $211M |
| Q/E Dec 2025 2025-12-31 | $1.1B | — | $85M | — | $235M |
| Q/E Sep 2025 2025-09-30 | $1.1B | — | $140M | 0.97 | $329M |
| Q/E Jun 2025 2025-06-30 | $1.0B | — | $104M | 0.71 | $314M |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-31 | $1.0B | — | $123M | 0.82 | $133M |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-31 | $1.0B | — | $140M | — | $251M |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-30 | $1.0B | — | $58M | 0.38 | $280M |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-30 | $980M | — | $132M | 0.86 | $340M |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-31 | $987M | — | $175M | 1.11 | $258M |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-31 | $995M | — | $161M | — | $319M |
| Q/E Sep 2023 2023-09-30 | $965M | — | $161M | 1.04 | $226M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES INC |
| Chief executive | Tom Leighton (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akamai_Technologies) |
| Sector | Technology — Internet Services & Infrastructure — sells content delivery, cloud security and edge computing services |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $99.00 |
| Market value (market cap) | $14.3B — share price times shares outstanding of 143,716,609 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $4.3B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $411M |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $956M |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jun 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | -16.33% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -46.8% (2024-02-09 to 2025-04-08) |
What we could not verify
- Gross profit / gross margin: not tagged as a standalone line in this company's EDGAR company facts (common for banks, payment networks and some healthcare payers) — shown as UNVERIFIED-absent; the page charts revenue and net income instead.
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- The brief supplied only 2 peers (GDDY, VRSN) rather than 5, so the peer median forward P/E of 20.66x is computed over those 2 names only and is thinner evidence than a 5-peer median.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001086222.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001086222.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/AKAM/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.