LIVE
DOCN
DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. · Technology
$173.27
+15.50% this month
VERSUS
⟷
COMPARE
NET
Cloudflare, Inc. · Technology
$224.06
+8.38% this month
Scoreboard verdict
Across AI score, momentum, valuation, upside, operating margin
DOCN
2
NET
2
Comparison scoreboard
MIXED SETUPAI Score
DOCN 50.6
NET ✓54.9
1Y Return
DOCN ✓+523.05%
NET +23.52%
Fwd P/E
DOCN ✓98.60
NET 142.37
Target Up.
DOCN +3.17%
NET ✓+8.50%
Op. Margin
DOCN N/A
NET N/A
Metrics last refreshed: 6/20/2026
Quick take
DOCN vs NET Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
DigitalOcean and Cloudflare both serve the developer/cloud ecosystem but at very different scales and with fundamentally different market positions. DigitalOcean is a niche SMB/developer cloud provider with modest growth; Cloudflare is a global network infrastructure company growing rapidly across security, performance, and AI workloads with a much larger addressable market.
DOCN vs NET is a choice between an undervalued SMB cloud play facing growth headwinds and a premium-valued global network platform growing aggressively across security, edge, and AI — very different risk-return profiles.
Live analysis · updated 6/20/2026
DOCN and NET are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly. DOCN leads on both 1-year return (+523.05%) and forward P/E (98.60x vs 142.37x for NET), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for NET (+8.50%) than for DOCN (+3.17%).
Normalized 1Y performance
DOCN
NET
Recent returns
DOCN
NET
Analyst price targets & sentiment
DOCN · 13 analysts
STRONG BUYHOLDSTRONG SELL
Buy (1.7/5.0)
Price target range
analyst low$135.00
analyst high$200.00
analyst mean$178.77
current price$173.27
+3.2% upside to analyst mean
NET · 31 analysts
STRONG BUYHOLDSTRONG SELL
Buy (2.0/5.0)
Price target range
analyst low$136.00
analyst high$305.00
analyst mean$243.11
current price$224.06
+8.5% upside to analyst mean
Who should consider this stock?
DOCN may suit investors who:
- →want value exposure to the developer/SMB cloud market at a more modest valuation
- →believe DigitalOcean's simplicity positioning is durable against large cloud provider competition
- →value GPU cloud and managed hosting as new revenue vectors from Paperspace and Cloudways
- →are comfortable with slower growth in exchange for an improving profitability profile
NET may suit investors who:
- →want a global network infrastructure company with a dominant security and performance platform
- →believe zero trust security replacement of legacy network security is a multi-year tailwind
- →value Workers AI as an emerging high-margin AI inference revenue stream on existing infrastructure
- →are comfortable paying a premium valuation for best-in-class revenue growth and NRR
Performance & AI score
| Metric | DOCN | NET |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 50.6 | 54.9 |
| AI rank | #427 | #263 |
| Latest close | $173.27 | $224.06 |
| 1M return | +15.50% | +8.38% |
| 6M return | +294.69% | +17.05% |
| 1Y return | +523.05% | +23.52% |
$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | DOCN | NET |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $62.3K (+523.0%) started 2025-06-18 | $12.35K (+23.5%) started 2025-06-18 |
| 5Y ago | $36.87K (+268.7%) started 2021-06-18 | $22.04K (+120.4%) started 2021-06-18 |
| 10Y ago | $40.77K (+307.7%) started 2021-03-24 | $124.48K (+1144.8%) started 2019-09-13 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
Valuation & upside potential
| Metric | DOCN | NET |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $18.08B | $79.53B |
| Trailing P/E | 76.00 | N/A |
| Forward P/E | 98.60 | 142.37 |
| Price/Sales | 19.06 | 34.15 |
| EV/Revenue | 19.97 | 34.78 |
| Analyst target | $178.77 | $243.11 |
| Target upside | +3.17% | +8.50% |
Growth, profitability & risk
| Metric | DOCN | NET |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 22.40% | 33.50% |
| Earnings growth | -61.70% | N/A |
| EPS growth | -61.70% | N/A |
| FCF margin | +16.61% | +32.42% |
| Operating margin | N/A | N/A |
| Profit margin | 24.96% | -3.72% |
| ROIC proxy | 70.00% | -5.88% |
| Return on equity | 70.00% | -5.88% |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Beta | 1.57 | 1.67 |
| Debt/equity | 169.95 | 230.86 |
| Current ratio | 1.46 | 1.96 |
| Quick ratio | 1.31 | 1.90 |
Drawdown & downside risk
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
1Y risk snapshot
DOCN max drawdown24.11%
NET max drawdown36.76%
DOCN max wkly drop20.42%
NET max wkly drop23.58%
5Y risk snapshot
DOCN max drawdown84.78%
NET max drawdown82.58%
DOCN max wkly drop29.16%
NET max wkly drop39.37%
10Y risk snapshot
DOCN max drawdown84.78%
NET max drawdown82.58%
DOCN max wkly drop29.16%
NET max wkly drop39.37%
Performance metrics by period
| Period | Metric | DOCN | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | +523.05% | +23.52% |
| CAGR | +523.83% | +23.53% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 2.58 | 0.59 | |
| Max drawdown | 24.11% | 36.76% | |
| Max daily drop | 13.28% | 23.62% | |
| Max wkly drop | 20.42% | 23.58% | |
| 5Y | Growth | +268.66% | +120.36% |
| CAGR | +29.82% | +17.12% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.66 | 0.51 | |
| Max drawdown | 84.78% | 82.58% | |
| Max daily drop | 24.79% | 23.62% | |
| Max wkly drop | 29.16% | 39.37% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +307.69% | +1144.78% |
| CAGR | +30.80% | +45.19% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.67 | 0.82 | |
| Max drawdown | 84.78% | 82.58% | |
| Max daily drop | 24.79% | 23.62% | |
| Max wkly drop | 29.16% | 39.37% |
Business comparison
| Category | DOCN | NET |
|---|---|---|
| Company | DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. | Cloudflare, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | N/A | N/A |
| Core business | DigitalOcean is a cloud infrastructure provider targeting developers, startups, and small-to-medium businesses with simplified, affordable compute, storage, and networking products. Unlike AWS or Azure, DigitalOcean's value proposition is radical simplicity — developers can deploy a virtual machine in seconds without navigating complex enterprise cloud pricing. Its annual customer revenue (ACR) model and net revenue retention track how well it monetizes its developer customer base as it grows. | Cloudflare operates a global network infrastructure platform providing security, performance, and reliability services to businesses of all sizes. Its products span DDoS protection, CDN, zero trust security (SASE), AI inference (Workers AI), and serverless compute (Workers). Cloudflare's network reaches 95% of the world's internet-connected population within 50 milliseconds, giving it a structural performance advantage. Revenue is growing 25%+ driven by large enterprise customer expansion. |
| Investor focus | Investors track average revenue per user (ARPU) growth, net revenue retention (NRR — whether existing customers spend more over time), total customer count, and operating margin improvement as the business scales toward profitability. | Investors track large customer (>$100K ARR) additions and their contribution to revenue, net revenue retention (above 115%), the pace of zero trust/SASE platform adoption, and AI inference revenue from Workers AI. |
DOCN strengths
- →Unique positioning in the underserved SMB and developer cloud market between hobbyist tiers and enterprise clouds
- →Simple, transparent pricing that developers prefer over AWS/Azure complexity
- →Cloudways and Paperspace acquisitions added managed hosting and GPU cloud capabilities
NET strengths
- →One of the world's largest global networks with 300+ data center locations providing infrastructure moat
- →Zero trust and SASE security platform growing rapidly as enterprises modernize network security
- →AI inference on the edge (Workers AI) is a new high-growth revenue layer on existing infrastructure
Risks to watch — DOCN
- →Compressed growth rates as the SMB cloud market faces competition from AWS and Azure moving downstream
- →NRR has been declining, suggesting customers are spending flat or less — a concerning trend
- →Limited enterprise exposure means DigitalOcean is exposed to startup funding cycles
Risks to watch — NET
- →Premium valuation (100x+ revenue) requires sustained 25%+ growth to justify
- →Enterprise security market is competitive — CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, and Zscaler are major rivals
- →Free tier drives brand but some large free customers delay monetization
Frequently asked questions
Free public comparison
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Related comparisons
More comparisons
Browse all 1,000 comparisons →