The company reported earnings of $1.42 a share, in line with estimates, and slightly ahead of the guidance range of $1.35 to $1.40 a share.
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The security software and content delivery network company Akamai Technologies posted June quarter profits that were in line with Street estimates, with revenues slightly higher than projected.
For the second quarter, Akamai (ticker: AKAM) had revenue of $853 million, up 7% from a year ago, or 5% when adjusted for currency fluctuations, edging the Street consensus at $846 million. The company’s guidance called for revenue of $839 million to $853 million.
Non-GAAP profits were $1.42 a share, in line with estimates, and slightly ahead of the guidance range of $1.35 to $1.40 a share. Under generally accepted accounting principles, the company earned 94 cents a share.
On an adjusted basis, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) came in at $386 million, up 9% from a year earlier, and a little above the Street consensus at $379 million. The company also said it spent $96 million in the quarter to buy back shares.
Akamai said its security technology segment revenue hit $325 million, up 25% from a year ago, or 22% adjusted for currency. The company’s edge technology group had revenue of $528 million, down 1%, or off 4% adjusted for currency.
“Akamai’s excellent second quarter financial performance was highlighted by continued strong growth across our security solutions globally,” Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said in a statement. “As the internet has become increasingly critical to consumers and businesses, our customers have turned to us more than ever to power and protect exceptional online experiences.”
In an interview with Barron’s, Leighton said that the company is making “fabulous progress” on its security business. He said the edge business, driven by overall internet traffic, continues to face tough comparisons with the previous year, when activity spiked during the pandemic. He also notes that a crackdown in India on Chinese mobile applications in the 2020 third quarter – many of which used Akamai for content delivery – has reduced revenue by about $5 million a month.
As for the company’s brief recent outage, Leighton says the financial impact from the incident will be “very small,” noting that the event affected about 2% of the company’s overall traffic for less than an hour.
For the September quarter, Akamai is projecting revenue of $845 million to $860 million, with non-GAAP profits of $1.37 to $1.41 a share, slightly above the previous Street consensus view of $844 million and $1.35 a share.
For all of 2021, Akamai is expecting revenue of $3.42 billion to $3.45 billion, with profits of $5.54 to $5.65 a share, about in line with the Street at $3.43 billion and $5.52 a share.
Akamai stock was down 3.9% at $115.15 in after-hours trading. Its shares have rallied about 13% for the year to date. In Tuesday’s regular session, the stock added 0.6%, to $119.61.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
