Cloudflare Inc

Cloudflare said more than 50% of the traffic flowing across its network was nonhuman in the second quarter of 2026, reflecting rapid growth in AI agents and machine-to-machine traffic. The company ended the quarter with more than 7.4 million developers on its Workers platform, adding nearly two million in the quarter alone, and management said Workers remains one of the fastest-growing parts of its business. Cloudflare also introduced Monetization Gateway, Wallets and cloudflare.pay during the quarter to support transactions between AI agents, businesses and content providers. Second-quarter revenues increased 36% year over year, while dollar-based net retention reached 120%, and management said its total addressable market has expanded to more than $300 billion from $30 billion at the time of its IPO. The Zacks Consensus Estimate points to Cloudflare revenue growth of 32.5% in 2026 and 28.6% in 2027, with 2026 earnings estimated at $1.26 per share, up 35.5% from the prior year.

Cloudflare introduced new "Disallow AI Training" and AI crawler controls for website owners on 15 September 2026, letting site operators block AI training on their content while keeping pages indexable for traditional search engines. The company set criteria for "Accountable" crawlers and said it is participating in IETF efforts on open AI access standards. Cloudflare runs a global cloud network that helps businesses secure and deliver their websites and applications, and the company says the controls fit its role as an internet policy layer rather than just a content delivery utility. The launch does not yet answer how Cloudflare will charge for this layer of AI governance, or whether it becomes a paid tier versus table stakes in a market that also includes AWS and Akamai. Simply Wall St's analysis points to a $334 fair value for Cloudflare.

Cloudflare announced a new Accountable designation for AI crawling and launched Disallow AI Training, a setting that lets any website refuse AI training while staying fully in search results. Apple, Google, and Microsoft are now labeled as Accountable and have shown they meet Cloudflare's criteria or given specific timelines to meet them, while other mixed-use crawlers are blocked if site owners block training. Mixed-use crawlers, which collect content for both a search index and AI training, now make up 36.6% of verified crawler traffic on Cloudflare's network, the single largest category, and fewer than 1% of website owners block search crawlers while 17% restrict AI training. Cloudflare is replacing its Block AI Bots switch with three independent controls for search, AI training, and AI agents, and replacing Managed Robots.txt with Bot Preference Sync, which applies site owners' crawling preferences across all supported crawlers automatically. The company said every operator it designates as Accountable must give site owners a way to opt out of AI summaries, and by early next year its goal is to let site owners control how much of their content is included, in one place.

Cloudflare now sees agentic artificial intelligence as a growth opportunity that will dwarf its previous drivers, and has raised its long-term "North Star" growth target to 50% from 40%. Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seifert, speaking at an investor event, said the company's network architecture is positioned to support low-latency, secure and distributed AI inference workloads, and that Cloudflare expects to exit the year with momentum toward that objective. Demand is showing up through the Workers developer platform, where the company added 2 million developers quarter over quarter, and through variable consumption revenue, with companies including Lovable, Figma, Anthropic and OpenAI building on Workers; Cloudflare estimates that about 80% of significant AI enterprise infrastructure customers use its services. Seifert said Cloudflare is focused on inference rather than training the largest models, and that capital expenditures could rise but any increase would be expected to coincide with higher revenue. The company is also building monetization infrastructure for the agentic economy, including "pay per crawl," a Monetization Gateway, Cloudflare Wallets and identity tools, working with partners including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal and Coinbase, though Seifert acknowledged that significant technical work remains and that Cloudflare cannot yet process transactions at the millions-per-second scale it believes may be necessary.

CoreWeave shares fell 5% to $90.27 midday Thursday even after Michael Burry closed his highest-profile bearish bet against the AI infrastructure complex, a move that would normally lift a heavily shorted AI name. Through his firm Scion Asset Management, Burry closed his December put options on NVIDIA without rolling into later contracts, and he has said the exit should not be read as optimism. CoreWeave Chief Executive Michael Intrator said Wednesday that newer data-center deals carry more operating margin than earlier ones and that the deal-level economics are excellent; the company's Q2 2026 revenue rose 112.3% year over year to $2.58 billion, with revenue backlog around $104 billion. The bear case has shifted to the balance sheet, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.94 and interest expense of $640 million in Q2 against free cash flow of negative $5.74 billion after $6.42 billion in capex. Oracle is down 3% to $157.43 ahead of its fiscal Q1 2027 earnings release after the close, with options pricing an 11% move, while Cloudflare is nearly flat at $313.57 after raising its FY2026 revenue outlook to $2.864 billion to $2.87 billion.

Cloudflare Inc. raised its long-term growth outlook to 50 percent annually from 40 percent at present, sending its shares up 10.51 percent on Wednesday to close at $10.51 apiece. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026, Chief Finance Officer Thomas Seifert said the company is moving beyond a traditional software-as-a-service model to become an agentic AI platform, and that its future opportunity could be much larger than its business, with revenues projected to grow 36 percent year-on-year. In the second quarter, Cloudflare grew revenues 36 percent to $696.1 million from $512 million a year earlier, while its net loss widened 237 percent to $169.98 million from $50.4 million amid a 206 percent higher operating loss. Earlier this month the company partnered with OpenAI on the early launch of Vulnerability Discovery and Remediation, available in early access through Cloudflare Managed Defense, which CEO Matthew Prince said shifts defense strategy from chasing patches one vulnerability at a time to an automated approach. Institutional interest also rose in the second quarter, with 87 hedge funds holding positions in the stock, up from 84 in the prior quarter, and their combined holdings climbing 11.8 percent to $3.97 billion from $3.55 billion.

OpenAI has committed $1 billion to subsidize access to its Daybreak cyber models and products for organizations through a new initiative called "Daybreak for Frontline Defenders." The program, initially available only in the United States, will also provide hands-on training, technical assistance, and new partnerships over the next six months, with plans to expand to partner countries. Cybersecurity firms including Cloudflare, SentinelOne, Elastic, and Proofpoint have partnered with OpenAI to integrate Daybreak models into their operations. OpenAI will prioritize operators of essential services such as water and electric grid systems, state and local governments, community banks, nonprofits, and open-source maintainers. The company also announced a pilot with the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center to train cyber defenders. Daybreak, launched in May, offers AI capabilities for authorized cyber defense, including code review, threat analysis, and vulnerability prioritization.

Cloudflare, Inc. has announced Vulnerability Discovery and Remediation, a new service available in early access through Cloudflare Managed Defense, which uses OpenAI Daybreak models, including GPT-5.6 Cyber, to find, block, and fix software vulnerabilities automatically. The service integrates with Cloudflare's global network to provide real-time traffic context, enabling organizations to prioritize and remediate high-risk vulnerabilities before they are exploited. This launch comes as the National Vulnerability Database logged 60,475 vulnerabilities by September 2026, surpassing the 48,185 total for all of 2025. Cloudflare's CEO Matthew Prince emphasized the shift from manual patch chasing to automated edge defense, while OpenAI's McCall McIntyre highlighted the goal of giving defenders frontier AI safely. The service is available by invitation for select Cloudflare Enterprise customers.

Snowflake stock surged 23% to $377.11 after the company reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $1.55 billion, beating estimates, and raised its fiscal 2027 product-revenue forecast to $6.07 billion. The earnings beat and guidance hike lifted other cloud stocks, with Oracle advancing 3% to $150.26 and Cloudflare gaining 2% to $276.90. Snowflake's product revenue grew 37% to $1.49 billion, marking its third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth, and its remaining performance obligations reached $9 billion. The company also raised its full-year non-GAAP operating-margin outlook to 14.5% from 13.5%. Despite the rally, Snowflake reported a GAAP net loss of $191.7 million and faces a higher valuation bar going forward.

Cloudflare has launched Adaptive Intelligence, a new AI-powered threat detection engine integrated into its Bot Management platform to stop automated attacks before they scale. The engine continuously analyzes live traffic and generates short-lived defensive rules as attackers change tactics, addressing the rising threat of AI-enabled bots. Cloudflare's second-quarter revenue rose 36% year over year to $696.1 million, with current remaining performance obligations up 35% and free cash flow at $56.4 million, or 8% of revenue. The launch strengthens Cloudflare's push into AI-driven security, potentially driving enterprise security spending as automated attacks become more sophisticated.

JFrog Ltd. has introduced the JFrog Traffic Controller, a new solution integrated with Zscaler, Cloudflare, and Netskope to enforce software supply chain security at the network edge, ensuring all package downloads flow through JFrog Artifactory as the single source of truth. The company's 2026 State of the Union report revealed a 451% surge in malicious packages year over year, reaching over 171,000 unique instances, yet only 40% of organizations have detection capabilities. The Traffic Controller reroutes outbound package requests through JFrog Curation, which inspects each package against security, license, and quality policies, blocking malicious ones and serving safe approved versions automatically. Available immediately, the solution supports Zscaler Internet Access, Cloudflare Gateway, and Netskope One SSE, with additional SASE partners expected to follow. JFrog CEO Shlomi Ben Haim emphasized that the goal is to provide a universal control point without disrupting developer workflows, and the company will showcase the solution at swampUP 2026 in New York from September 1-3.

Cloudflare's Workers developer platform is becoming a key growth engine, with the company reporting over 7.4 million developers on the platform by the end of the second quarter of 2026, adding nearly two million in that quarter alone—more than the 1.5 million added during all of 2025. The platform is gaining traction among enterprise customers, with more including Workers in pool-of-funds contracts; for instance, an APAC technology company signed a $4 million Workers contract after an $8.7 million Application Services deal, and another signed a $6 million contract for AI agent capabilities. Cloudflare says Workers has moved beyond adoption to meaningfully contribute to revenues, driving consumption alongside security and networking products. The rise of AI agents could further boost the platform, with Zacks Consensus Estimates projecting 32.3% and 28.5% year-over-year revenue growth for 2026 and 2027, respectively. However, Cloudflare faces tough competition from Palo Alto Networks, whose SASE segment grew 40% year over year in fiscal Q3 2026, and Zscaler, which ended its fiscal Q3 with over 700 Zero Trust Everywhere enterprises, up from 550. Cloudflare's stock is up 40.7% year-to-date, trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 28.87 versus the industry's 3.91, and carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Baird tech strategist Ted Mortonson forecasts that hyperscaler capital expenditures will reach about $800 billion this year and could hit $1.1 trillion by 2027, driven by demand outstripping supply in compute and early-stage agentic adoption in enterprises. He notes that while semiconductor stocks have surged 61% and software indices are flat, the software sector is seeing short covering and institutional interest in system-of-record names. The security industry has been transformed by the introduction of Mythos, boosting names like Cloudflare, Crowdstrike, and Palo Alto, though these stocks now trade at nearly 30 times enterprise value to revenue, with some insider selling on the periphery. Mortonson cautions that changes in security architecture show up in pipeline rather than annual recurring revenue, and the street may not yet grasp how quickly that pipeline converts to orders.

The four content delivery stocks tracked by this publication reported a very strong second quarter, with group revenues beating analysts' consensus estimates by 3.6% and next quarter's revenue guidance coming in 1.8% above expectations. Akamai Technologies reported revenues of $1.1 billion, up 5.4% year on year, but delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates, weakest guidance update, and slowest revenue growth among its peers, with its stock down 4.9% since reporting. Fastly reported revenues of $183.3 million, up 23.3% year on year, achieving the biggest analyst estimate beat and highest guidance raise of the group, though its stock fell 8.3% since reporting. F5 reported revenues of $865.1 million, up 10.9% year on year, while Cloudflare reported revenues of $696.1 million, up 35.9% year on year, scoring the fastest revenue growth in the group and seeing its stock rise 3% since reporting.

Cloudflare has partnered with Signal as an independent Key Transparency auditor for the encrypted messaging app. The agreement expands Cloudflare's role in securing major messaging platforms, following its earlier collaboration with WhatsApp. As an external auditor, Cloudflare will help verify Signal's key transparency system for hundreds of millions of messaging users. This development broadens Cloudflare's influence in digital trust, privacy, and encryption standards across consumer communications.

Atlassian and Cloudflare reported strong quarterly results that pushed back against Wall Street's 'SaaSpocalypse' fears over slowing enterprise software demand. Atlassian posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.87, beating the $1.50 consensus, and grew its Remaining Performance Obligations 44% year-over-year to $4.8 billion, while its CEO announced plans to personally buy up to $250 million in company stock. Cloudflare delivered second-quarter revenue of $696.1 million, up 36% year-over-year and above the $666 million estimate, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $2.864 billion and $2.870 billion. Hedge fund holdings in Atlassian fell from 57 funds in the fourth quarter to 44 in the first quarter, with short interest at 11.20% of the float, while Cloudflare saw institutional accumulation rise from 70 to 84 funds and short interest of just 3.09%.

Cloudflare launched Cloudflare Wallets on August 4, 2026, giving autonomous software agents the ability to hold and spend money for the first time. The system uses a two-tier hierarchy of Account Wallets controlled by humans and Virtual Wallets assigned to individual agents via API keys, with spending caps and approved merchant lists set by the account owner. It relies on cloudflare.pay handles built on Web Bot Auth to provide persistent agent identity, and is integrated with the x402 protocol, which has already settled 160.6 million transactions worth $41.2 million across 7 chains. The x402 Foundation, a 40-member consortium including Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Google, AWS, Circle, Coinbase, Adyen, American Express, Fiserv, Ripple, and Shopify, launched on July 14, 2026 to standardize the underlying infrastructure. The Cloudflare Monetization Gateway, which opened its waitlist on July 1, 2025, will allow sites to charge agents per request, turning API calls into revenue events.

Cloudflare has entered the agent commerce race with a two-tier wallet architecture designed to give developers programmable control over how AI agents spend money. The company's new AI Agents platform, announced August 4, introduces Account Wallets for funding and Virtual Wallets for individual agents, each equipped with configurable guardrails including periodic spending allowances, merchant allow-lists, and per-transaction size caps. The move positions Cloudflare alongside Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Google, and AWS as a premier member of the x402 Foundation, the open-protocol consortium building settlement infrastructure for machine-initiated transactions. Cloudflare is also introducing cloudflare.pay, a human-readable stablecoin identifier that uses the x402 protocol for settlement, combining a payment rail and identity layer at the network infrastructure level. The announcement comes as the x402 Foundation has processed over 200 million transactions, though more than 95 percent are protocol signaling rather than actual commercial exchange, with real daily volume near $28,000 according to Artemis Analytics.

Lawson has launched Japan's first proof-of-concept trial for stablecoin payments at point-of-sale registers, while Cloudflare has unveiled a stablecoin-compatible wallet. Lawson's trial is taking place at a store in Takanawa Gateway City, and paying with JPYC was as effortless as a standard QR code payment. Cloudflare's wallet also supports autonomous payments by AI agents, marking a turning point where the internet itself embeds financial infrastructure. The moves by both companies symbolize that stablecoins are entering a phase where they are quietly woven into existing infrastructure, rather than emerging as a new protagonist.

Cloudflare shares surged 7.7% after the company reported second-quarter results that beat expectations and raised its full-year outlook. Revenue rose 35.9% to $696.1 million, exceeding estimates by 4.7%, while billings grew 34.8% to $753.5 million. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.29 beat consensus by 7.5%, and adjusted operating income reached $96.11 million, a 6.1% beat. CEO Matthew Prince noted that non-human, machine-to-machine AI traffic surpassed 50% of network volume for the first time, driving adoption of its Workers developer platform. Management lifted its full-year revenue guidance to $2.87 billion at the midpoint and adjusted EPS guidance to $1.26, and initiated a third-quarter outlook above Street forecasts.

ARK Invest, led by Cathie Wood, purchased approximately $36.9 million worth of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. shares last week, making SpaceX its largest stock buy. The firm acquired 316,963 shares across several funds, with about $19.7 million bought on August 5 after SpaceX shares fell 13.6% following its first public earnings report, and another roughly $13.2 million added as the stock rebounded nearly 16% on Friday. ARK also increased exposure to other AI infrastructure names including CoreWeave, Nvidia, and Cloudflare, while trimming positions in Palantir, Shopify, and Roblox.

Cloudflare announced a new suite of AI and agentic products, including Cloudflare OS, Identity-Aware AI Gateway, and Cloudflare Wallets. Cloudflare OS is an open-source AI workspace for developers building and running AI agents, while the Identity-Aware AI Gateway provides user and agent analytics for enterprise AI governance. Cloudflare Wallets aim to support agentic payments and identity, extending the company's reach into AI-driven financial transactions. The launch strengthens Cloudflare's positioning in AI infrastructure by tying agents, security, and transaction rails into its existing zero-trust and globally distributed network. The stock is currently at $300.27 with a 53.2% return year to date.

US stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 151.83 points to 54,036.93. The S&P 500 gained 47.68 points to 7,757.64, a record high, and the Nasdaq surged 342.26 points to 26,690.62. The main driver was the US nonfarm payrolls report, which showed a decline of 23,000 jobs in July, sharply missing economists' expectations for an increase of 80,000. This eased market concerns that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its September meeting. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, most traders now expect the Fed to keep its policy rate steady at 3.50% to 3.75%. Software stocks boosted the market on strong earnings, with Cloudflare jumping over 5%, Atlassian soaring 35%, and Airbnb climbing 17% after reporting better-than-expected results. In European markets, the STOXX 600 index closed at 660.25, up 0.31%, marking a record high for the fourth straight session, supported by tech stocks and positive corporate earnings.

US stock indices advanced after an unexpected decline in July nonfarm payrolls and softer wage growth eased concerns about imminent Federal Reserve rate hikes. The S&P 500 gained 0.61%, the Dow added 0.25%, and the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.00%, while the 10-year Treasury yield fell 4 basis points to 4.64%. Software stocks surged, led by Atlassian’s more than 34% jump on a strong revenue forecast, and cybersecurity stocks rallied, led by an 8% jump in Cloudflare after its better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Chipmakers also gained, with Microchip Technology up more than 12% on an upbeat sales outlook, and Airbnb climbed more than 15% after reporting revenue above estimates and raising its full-year growth forecast.

Cloudflare jumped 16% in premarket trading Friday after raising its full-year outlook, driven by artificial intelligence demand spreading beyond chipmakers into networking and security infrastructure. The company now expects 2026 revenue of $2.86 billion to $2.87 billion, up from its previous range of $2.805 billion to $2.813 billion, and adjusted earnings guidance increased to $1.25 to $1.26 per share from $1.19 to $1.20. Developer adoption is accelerating, with Cloudflare adding about 2 million developers during the second quarter alone, exceeding the roughly 1.5 million added in all of last year. The Workers platform has become one of its fastest-growing businesses as developers increasingly build and run AI applications closer to users. The rally leaves Cloudflare trading at more than 190 times forward earnings, well above many cybersecurity peers, raising the question of whether AI-driven demand can keep growing quickly enough to justify that premium.

Cloudflare shares surged nearly 16% after the company reported second-quarter revenue of $696.1 million, up 36% and well above the roughly $665 million analysts expected. Growth accelerated from prior quarters, and non-GAAP earnings of $0.29 a share also beat estimates. Current remaining performance obligations, a measure of contracted future revenue, rose 35%. The company posted a GAAP net loss of $170.0 million, or $0.48 a share, driven by a $150.7 million restructuring charge, but excluding that charge non-GAAP operating income was $96.1 million. Free cash flow was $56.4 million, and the company held $4.16 billion in cash and securities. Cloudflare raised its full-year revenue outlook to a range of $2.864 billion to $2.870 billion and guided third-quarter revenue to about $737 million.

Atlassian surged 34%, Twilio jumped 27%, and Cloudflare gained 9% after each delivered strong quarterly results and raised their growth outlooks. Bank of America upgraded Atlassian to Buy and raised its target to $175, calling the company's workflow and collaboration data an increasingly valuable AI asset. Goldman Sachs raised Cloudflare's price target to $389, citing agentic AI adoption, 36% revenue growth, and record large-customer net additions. Jefferies raised its Atlassian target to $200, while Wells Fargo raised its Twilio target to $275, reflecting broad analyst optimism across the software sector.

Doximity, Cloudflare, and Atlassian led premarket movers after reporting quarterly results that beat expectations. Doximity shares soared 66% after the professional medical networking platform reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 revenue of $156.6 million, above the $151.7 million consensus, and raised its full-year financial targets. Atlassian surged 31% after delivering a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat with adjusted EPS of $1.87 versus the $1.50 consensus and revenue of $1.77 billion, representing 28% year-over-year growth. Cloudflare rose 16.2% to $330.51 after raising its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to between $2.86 billion and $2.87 billion, citing resilient demand linked to artificial intelligence. Other notable gainers included PubMatic, Figs, Twilio, Airbnb, Hertz, QuinStreet, and JFrog, all of which advanced on better-than-expected results. On the downside, The Trade Desk tumbled more than 27% after its second-quarter revenue of $715.1 million missed estimates and it guided for a third-quarter revenue decline of about 12%, while Sezzle plunged 23% on a warning that revenue growth could slow to around 30% in the second half of 2026.

Several companies made significant premarket moves following their latest earnings reports. Atlassian shares jumped more than 29% after beating FactSet consensus on revenue and guidance for its fourth quarter, though its 13% year-over-year revenue growth forecast fell short of the 13.4% expectation. Wendy's dropped 2% as global sales declined more than 6%, driven by an 8.2% U.S. decline, and the company withdrew its 2026 financial outlook despite beating FactSet consensus on earnings, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA. Solar stocks rose after President Trump imposed tariffs on imported solar panel components, with First Solar up more than 5%, Invesco Solar ETF up nearly 3%, and SolarEdge Technologies up 2%. Airbnb surged nearly 7% after posting second-quarter earnings of $1.37 per share on revenue of $3.61 billion, exceeding LSEG estimates of $1.25 per share and $3.58 billion. Twilio soared more than 17% as it guided for adjusted earnings of $1.42 to $1.47 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion to $1.52 billion, above the $1.39 per share and $1.46 billion consensus, and raised its full-year revenue growth outlook to 18% to 18.5% from 14% to 15%, topping the 14.8% forecast. Trade Desk tumbled 27% after second-quarter adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $715 million missed LSEG estimates of 40 cents and $751 million. Cloudflare jumped more than 16.5% on strong guidance, expecting third-quarter adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $736 million to $737 million, compared with consensus of 32 cents and $722 million, and also beat second-quarter estimates. Akamai Technologies rose 8.3% after second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.59 per share on revenue of $1.10 billion topped LSEG forecasts of $1.57 per share and $1.09 billion.

The DR NET03 price rose 12.70% to 5.50 baht after Cloudflare, the underlying stock, reported second-quarter 2026 results that beat market expectations. Revenue came in at 696.1 million US dollars, up 35.9% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings per share were 0.29 US dollars, an increase of 38.1%. Management said AI has become the most significant growth driver in the company's history, and forecast next-quarter revenue of approximately 723 million US dollars. Asia Plus Securities assessed that the stock remains suitable for long-term investment under the AI and cybersecurity theme rather than short-term speculation, with support for NET03 at 4.40 to 4.60 baht and resistance at 4.84 to 5.20 baht.

Several companies made significant after-hours moves following their quarterly earnings reports. Airbnb surged about 7% after posting second-quarter earnings of $1.37 per share on revenues of $3.61 billion, beating analyst forecasts of $1.25 per share and $3.58 billion. Twilio jumped roughly 16% on strong current-quarter guidance, projecting adjusted earnings of $1.42 to $1.47 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion to $1.52 billion, above consensus estimates. Trade Desk tumbled 22% after its adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share and revenue of $715 million missed expectations of 40 cents and $751 million. Sweetgreen plunged 14% as its second-quarter loss of 22 cents per share on $193 million in revenue fell short of the anticipated loss of 15 cents on $195 million. DraftKings slipped over 1.5% after revenue of $1.44 billion missed the $1.51 billion estimate, though it reaffirmed its 2026 fiscal-year guidance. Cloudflare rallied 17% on upbeat guidance, while Akamai Technologies gained 12% and Instacart rose more than 8% on better-than-expected revenue. Dropbox fell nearly 6% after its non-GAAP gross margin of 81.6% narrowly missed the 81.7% consensus.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on August 4, 2026, that an AI agent is a tool, not a person, leaving users liable for agent actions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The decision in Amazon v. Perplexity AI vacated a preliminary injunction against Perplexity's Comet AI shopping agent, with the court calling Amazon's CFAA claim legally baseless and bad policy. However, the court acknowledged that legal treatment of agentic AI will change, while Amazon's trademark and state-law claims remain active on remand. Market data shows only 14% of consumers trust AI to execute purchases without verification, and 42% refuse to trust AI for transactions over $25, creating a gap between legal assumptions and user behavior. In response, Mastercard launched Agent Pay for Machines with Verifiable Intent, Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol now has over 100 partners, and Cloudflare Wallets introduced human-configured guardrails like per-agent spending allowances and merchant allowlists.

Cloudflare has introduced Cloudflare Wallets, a programmable wallet for artificial intelligence agents that supports stablecoin payments. The goal is to enable AI agents to verify identity and pay for APIs and digital content through stablecoin micropayments, a concept the company calls agentic commerce. Users can reserve account names immediately, while payment features will launch later. There are plans to integrate with the Monetization Gateway using Coinbase's x402 protocol to enable stablecoin micropayments. Will Pepper, a software engineer at Cloudflare, said the wallet will allow users to store stablecoins and receive payments from across the web.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince has publicly criticized Vail Resorts' appointment of MGM Resorts International chief Bill Hornbuckle to its board, intensifying tensions as Prince pursues a roughly $500 million offer to acquire Park City Mountain Resort. Vail Resorts announced on July 30, 2026 that Hornbuckle would join as its tenth board member effective August 3, 2026. Prince, a Park City native and former ski instructor, has argued the company underinvests in lift infrastructure, snowmaking, and worker compensation, and has framed safety shortfalls as justification for a community-based acquisition. Vail Resorts has rejected the offer, stating Park City Mountain is not for sale and citing $121 million in capital investment at the resort since 2016. The appointment comes amid reports that Vail Resorts has hired takeover-defense bankers and that Oasis Capital is weighing a proxy fight, with the next earnings call scheduled for September 24, 2026.

A PwC survey of over 1,000 executives in the US financial industry found that 86% view artificial intelligence skills as more valuable than an MBA for many new-hire positions, while 91% of executives are ready to increase compensation to compete for talent with AI skills. Peter Pollini, head of PwC's financial services business, said organizations need people who truly understand how to build and manage AI systems, not just those who are merely familiar with AI. The value of an MBA is increasingly being questioned as total program costs approach nearly 300,000 US dollars, while top universities such as Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT are turning to short-duration, lower-cost AI training programs for executives. For example, MIT's program lasts just five days and costs about 13,000 US dollars. Meanwhile, technology companies like IBM, Shopify, and Cloudflare are accelerating the hiring of entry-level employees proficient in AI tools, believing that the younger generation can create more value for the organization.

Cloudflare shares rose 1.32% to $265.61 in the latest close, outperforming the S&P 500's 0.02% gain. The web security and content delivery company has gained 10.5% recently, contrasting with a 4.21% loss in the Computer and Technology sector. Cloudflare is set to report earnings on August 6, 2026, with analysts projecting earnings per share of $0.27, a 28.57% increase from the prior year, and revenue of $665.42 million, up 29.88%. Full-year estimates call for earnings of $1.21 per share and revenue of $2.82 billion, representing gains of 30.11% and 29.96%, respectively. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 32% higher over the last 30 days, and Cloudflare holds a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Cloudflare has launched Precursor, a continuous behavioral validation engine for bot management that runs on its edge network and inside user browsers to scrutinize entire sessions for automated activity. The launch comes as the stock shows a 10.5% one-month return and a 23.45% three-month return, with a one-year total shareholder return of 32.12% sitting within a three-year total return of nearly three times. Cloudflare last closed at $262.15, while Simply Wall St’s most widely followed narrative pegs fair value at $167.45, framing the stock as 57% overvalued. The fair value framework rests on strong revenue expansion, a path to profitability, and a premium future earnings multiple, but the company’s loss of $86.74 million and a share price near analyst targets mean any slowdown in security demand or AI enthusiasm could pressure the premium narrative.