Stock of the Week: Cloudflare Is Our Top Pick Right Now
December 28, 4:55 am
Cloudflare (NET) has quietly built one of the strongest forward-looking setups in the market right now. While the stock has pulled back modestly in recent months, the underlying signals - both financial and alternative - tell a very different story.
At AltIndex, we focus on data points that often move before earnings and price action. And across hiring activity, employee sentiment, user growth, web traffic, and social engagement, Cloudflare is flashing multiple green lights.
That combination earns Cloudflare our Stock of the Week title.
Cloudflare at a Glance
- Current stock price: $202.39
- 52-week range: $102.11 – $253.30
- 3-month performance: −6%
- Year-over-year performance: +83%
Despite the recent pullback, Cloudflare remains one of the best-performing infrastructure and security stocks over the past year - and the alternative data suggests that momentum is still building beneath the surface.
Hiring Data Signals Expansion, Not Caution
One of the most powerful early indicators of a company’s confidence is hiring.
Cloudflare’s job postings are up 50% year over year, a notable acceleration that stands out even more when viewed in context. Its closest competitors - Akamai Technologies (AKAM) and Fastly (FSLY) - have seen largely stagnant hiring activity over the same period.
This divergence matters. In capital-intensive and competitive markets like cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity, companies tend to slow hiring quickly when demand softens. Cloudflare is doing the opposite.
Backing this up, LinkedIn employee counts are up 28% year over year, confirming that these job postings are translating into real headcount growth.
Employee Sentiment Is Improving
Growth is more meaningful when employees believe in the direction of the business.
According to aggregated online employee reviews, Cloudflare’s internal business outlook score is up 11% year over year.
Rising sentiment alongside rising headcount typically points to healthy execution rather than forced expansion. It suggests teams are scaling into demand, not scrambling to plug gaps.
Usage and Awareness Are Accelerating
Beyond hiring, Cloudflare is seeing a broad increase in real-world engagement.
- App downloads are trending higher
- Web traffic hit an all-time high in November
- Wikipedia pageviews are up 140% year over year
Web traffic and Wikipedia activity are particularly useful signals. They often reflect rising interest from developers, enterprise buyers, and investors - frequently before that attention shows up in revenue growth.
In Cloudflare’s case, these spikes align closely with its expanding role in security, edge computing, and AI-driven infrastructure.
Social Growth Confirms Rising Mindshare
Cloudflare’s presence across social platforms has grown rapidly, signaling increasing brand relevance across both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Instagram followers: +56% YoY
- Reddit subscribers: +103% YoY
- Threads followers: +97% YoY
- TikTok followers: +72% YoY
- YouTube subscribers: +73.8% YoY
The surge on Reddit is especially notable. Developer-driven communities tend to grow organically and reflect real usage rather than marketing spend.
Sustained growth across multiple platforms suggests Cloudflare is expanding both its developer footprint and its broader market awareness at the same time.
Financial Performance Supports the Data
Cloudflare’s alternative data strength is clearly reflected in its financial performance.
In its most recent earnings report, the company delivered revenue growth of roughly 30% year over year, with quarterly revenue reaching approximately $562 million. That pace of growth places Cloudflare among the faster-growing large-scale cloud infrastructure companies.
Profitability is also improving. Cloudflare reported non-GAAP operating income of about $86 million, representing an operating margin of just over 15%. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.27, exceeding market expectations.
Cash generation continues to strengthen as well. Free cash flow reached roughly $75 million in the quarter, highlighting Cloudflare’s ability to scale while maintaining financial discipline. The company also ended the quarter with over $4 billion in cash and equivalents, providing ample flexibility to invest in growth, infrastructure, and product development.
Looking ahead, management raised full-year guidance, projecting approximately $2.14 billion in revenue for the year alongside continued improvement in profitability. This outlook aligns closely with what we are seeing in the alternative data, including expanding teams, rising engagement, and accelerating usage across Cloudflare’s platform.
Taken together, the financials reinforce the message from the data. Cloudflare is not just growing attention and mindshare. It is converting that momentum into durable revenue growth and improving margins.
AI Score and Price Target
AltIndex’s AI Score blends financial performance with alternative data signals like hiring, sentiment, traffic, and engagement.
Cloudflare currently holds an AI Score of 71 out of 100, which places it firmly in buy-signal territory.
Based on this data, our current price target for NET is $232.
Why Cloudflare Is Our Stock of the Week
Cloudflare stands out because the signals are aligned:
- Hiring is accelerating while competitors stall
- Employee sentiment is improving
- Web traffic and app usage are hitting new highs
- Social and developer communities are expanding rapidly
- Financial performance supports continued growth
Short-term price pullbacks can create noise. But when alternative data trends move decisively in one direction, they often tell the more important story.
Right now, that story points to Cloudflare strengthening its position - which is why it earns our top spot this week.
Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or investment advice. All investments involve risk, and you should conduct your own research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Get More Insights
Sign up and get access to a personalized dashboard, deeper insights, AI stock picks, stock alerts, weekly newsletter and much more.
