By Sam Boughedda
Morgan Stanley analysts upgraded Fastly, Inc. (NYSE:FSLY) to Equal-Weight from Underweight, raising the firm's price target on the stock to $18 from $12 in a note Thursday.
The analysts told investors in a note that while the durability of long-term growth remains a question, the firm sees FSLY management executing on key priorities, including improving gross margins, prioritizing investment in security to support long-term growth, and finding areas of leverage in opex.
"In the near term, we expect share gains in Fastly's core content delivery to continue given Fastly performance advantage and large players such as Akamai less interested in competing on price," they added.
Fastly shares rose at the beginning of Thursday's session but are now flat on the day. However, the stock has performed well in 2023, climbing more than 93% to above the $16 per share mark.