DOCN vs AKAM Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
DigitalOcean and Akamai are both cloud infrastructure companies in transition — DigitalOcean expanding from SMB IaaS to GPU cloud, and Akamai transitioning from mature CDN to security and cloud. Akamai is more profitable and has a stronger security growth story; DigitalOcean is growing from a smaller base with clearer SMB niche positioning.
Akamai's security-led transformation offers a more credible enterprise growth story than DigitalOcean's SMB cloud push — both are transitions, but Akamai's security segment traction is more proven.
DOCN holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. DOCN has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+120.83% vs +15.43%), though AKAM has the better forward P/E setup (14.86x vs 56.20x for DOCN). DOCN leads on both revenue growth (28.60%) and operating margin (10.44%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for DOCN (+69.28%) than for AKAM (+43.57%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- want pure-play SMB cloud exposure at a lower valuation than large cloud operators
- believe GPU cloud via Paperspace creates a new growth engine for AI workloads
- value the simplicity positioning that large enterprise clouds cannot easily replicate
- are comfortable with declining NRR while watching for a growth re-acceleration catalyst
- want enterprise CDN and security exposure from the world's largest delivery network
- value security segment growth (20%+) as a transition catalyst for a mature CDN company
- prefer profitability and cash flow versus DigitalOcean's earlier-stage profitability trajectory
- believe Akamai's network scale is a durable asset for security and cloud delivery
| Metric | DOCN | AKAM |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 47.7 | 38.9 |
| AI ranki | #617 | #1217 |
| Latest closei | $89.79 | $86.69 |
| 1M returni | -35.90% | -20.41% |
| 3M returni | -29.39% | -26.46% |
| 6M returni | -17.48% | -18.05% |
| 1Y returni | +120.83% | +15.43% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | DOCN | AKAM |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $21.67K (+116.7%) started 2025-11-03 | $11.63K (+16.3%) started 2025-11-03 |
| 5Y ago | $9.5K (-5.0%) started 2021-11-03 | $7.82K (-21.8%) started 2021-11-03 |
| 10Y ago | $21.13K (+111.3%) started 2021-03-24 | $13.03K (+30.3%) started 2016-11-03 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | DOCN | AKAM |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $12.17B | $15.35B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 47.05 | 38.69 |
| Forward P/Ei | 56.20 | 14.86 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 13.86 | 4.93 |
| Analyst targeti | $175.20 | $153.31 |
| Target upsidei | +69.28% | +43.57% |
| Metric | DOCN | AKAM |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 28.60% | 5.40% |
| Earnings growthi | -24.50% | -26.80% |
| EPS growthi | -24.50% | -26.80% |
| FCF margini | -2.36% | +16.43% |
| Operating margini | 10.44% | 7.63% |
| Profit margini | 23.27% | 9.51% |
| ROIC proxyi | 62.27% | 8.92% |
| Return on equityi | 62.27% | 8.92% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 1.59 | 0.64 |
| Debt/equityi | 212.51 | 196.67 |
| Current ratioi | 1.31 | 1.64 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.14 | 1.52 |
Over the past year, DOCN and AKAM have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.56), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | DOCN | AKAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +116.73% | +16.32% |
| CAGRi | +117.30% | +16.37% | |
| Volatilityi | 88.83% | 63.57% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.25 | 0.48 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 2.17 | 0.75 | |
| Max drawdowni | 50.55% | 46.20% | |
| Current drawdowni | 50.47% | 46.20% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 15.22% | 15.84% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 20.88% | 20.82% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.76% | 16.66% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 26.80% | 22.58% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -5.02% | -21.81% |
| CAGRi | -1.03% | -4.80% | |
| Volatilityi | 73.23% | 39.65% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.29 | -0.04 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.43 | -0.05 | |
| Max drawdowni | 84.78% | 46.84% | |
| Current drawdowni | 50.47% | 46.20% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 63.27% | 23.61% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 65.98% | 26.43% | |
| Max daily dropi | 24.79% | 21.73% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 29.16% | 23.01% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +111.27% | +30.32% |
| CAGRi | +14.26% | +2.68% | |
| Volatilityi | 71.89% | 35.46% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.48 | 0.13 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.73 | 0.18 | |
| Max drawdowni | 84.78% | 46.84% | |
| Current drawdowni | 50.47% | 46.20% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 56.89% | 17.35% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 62.27% | 21.27% | |
| Max daily dropi | 24.79% | 21.73% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 29.16% | 23.01% |
| Category | DOCN | AKAM |
|---|---|---|
| Company | DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. | Akamai Technologies, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Software - Infrastructure | Software - Infrastructure |
| Core business | DigitalOcean is a cloud infrastructure provider for developers and SMBs, offering simplified compute, storage, and GPU cloud at transparent pricing. Its growth ambition is centered on serving the underserved SMB cloud market with products that are simpler than AWS but more powerful than shared hosting. | Akamai is the world's oldest and largest CDN and cloud delivery company, with a distributed network of 4,000+ servers in 130+ countries serving over 30% of global web traffic. Its traditional CDN business is mature but Akamai is transitioning into cloud computing (via Linode acquisition) and security (via Guardicore and other acquisitions). Security is now Akamai's fastest-growing segment at 20%+ annually. |
| Investor focus | Investors track NRR, customer growth, ARPU, and the GPU cloud ramp as the primary growth drivers for DigitalOcean's next phase. | Investors track security segment revenue growth, cloud computing revenue from Linode (rebranded Akamai Cloud), CDN revenue sustainability, and operating margin as the mix shifts toward higher-margin security software. |
- Clear niche between hobbyist cloud and enterprise AWS pricing serving a large underserved market
- Improving profitability trajectory with positive free cash flow
- GPU cloud addressing growing SMB AI model training and inference demand
- Largest global CDN network creating a structural delivery performance advantage
- Security segment growing 20%+ including SASE, zero trust, and API security products
- Predictable, recurring revenue from long-term enterprise CDN contracts provides an earnings floor
- NRR declining — existing customers spending less, a challenge for a subscription-adjacent model
- Core cloud IaaS market is commoditizing rapidly
- Leadership has undergone multiple CEO changes creating strategy uncertainty
- CDN is a mature, commoditizing business with ongoing pricing pressure from Cloudflare and AWS CloudFront
- Cloud computing segment (Linode) competing against AWS and Azure is a long-shot market position
- Transformation from CDN to security/cloud company is complex with significant investment required
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