NET vs FSLY Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Cloudflare is the larger, faster-growing, and more diversified edge network and security platform investing heavily in AI inference infrastructure, while Fastly is a smaller, lower-valuation edge cloud provider pursuing a turnaround focused on customer diversification and improved profitability. Both compete in content delivery and edge computing, but Cloudflare has pulled ahead in scale, product breadth, and growth.
Use this NET vs FSLY comparison to evaluate scale leadership versus turnaround potential in the edge cloud infrastructure market. Cloudflare offers a premium-valued, diversified growth story with AI edge computing optionality; Fastly offers a lower-valuation turnaround bet contingent on successfully diversifying its customer base and reaccelerating growth.
FSLY holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. FSLY leads on both 1-year return (+245.09%) and forward P/E quality (42.73x vs 175.43x for NET), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, NET is growing revenue faster (35.90%), while FSLY maintains the higher operating margin (-7.87%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for NET (+13.79%) than for FSLY (+8.22%).
- Want exposure to the largest, most diversified global edge network and security platform
- Believe Cloudflare's Workers AI and edge inference products can become meaningful growth drivers
- Are comfortable paying a premium valuation for continued strong growth and large-customer expansion
- Prefer scale leadership over turnaround potential in the edge cloud market
- Want exposure to a lower-valuation edge cloud turnaround story
- Believe customer base diversification can reaccelerate Fastly's revenue growth
- Are comfortable with higher execution risk than a scale leader like Cloudflare
- See potential upside if Fastly successfully improves profitability and competitive positioning
| Metric | NET | FSLY |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 65.1 | 32.9 |
| AI rank | #83 | #2000 |
| Latest close | $293.14 | $24.95 |
| 1M return | +11.82% | +21.95% |
| 6M return | +65.48% | +38.07% |
| 1Y return | +49.43% | +245.09% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | NET | FSLY |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $14.97K (+49.7%) started 2025-08-25 | $34.51K (+245.1%) started 2025-08-21 |
| 5Y ago | $23.64K (+136.4%) started 2021-08-24 | $5.77K (-42.3%) started 2021-08-23 |
| 10Y ago | $162.86K (+1528.6%) started 2019-09-13 | $10.4K (+4.0%) started 2019-05-17 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | NET | FSLY |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $104.38B | $3.97B |
| Trailing P/E | N/A | N/A |
| Forward P/E | 175.43 | 42.73 |
| Price/Sales | 42.56 | 5.78 |
| EV/Revenue | 41.30 | 5.87 |
| Analyst target | $333.55 | $27.00 |
| Target upside | +13.79% | +8.22% |
| Metric | NET | FSLY |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 35.90% | 23.30% |
| Earnings growth | N/A | N/A |
| EPS growth | N/A | N/A |
| FCF margin | +27.58% | +12.66% |
| Operating margin | -7.90% | -7.87% |
| Profit margin | -8.21% | -11.80% |
| ROIC proxy | -14.43% | -8.39% |
| Return on equity | -14.43% | -8.39% |
| Dividend yield | N/A | 0.00% |
| Beta | 1.66 | 0.36 |
| Debt/equity | 217.86 | 40.20 |
| Current ratio | 1.82 | 3.36 |
| Quick ratio | 1.75 | 3.17 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | NET | FSLY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | +49.65% | +245.09% |
| CAGR | +49.97% | +245.38% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.90 | 1.54 | |
| Max drawdown | 36.76% | 51.60% | |
| Max daily drop | 23.62% | 38.23% | |
| Max wkly drop | 23.58% | 42.00% | |
| 5Y | Growth | +136.37% | -42.33% |
| CAGR | +18.78% | -10.44% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.53 | 0.26 | |
| Max drawdown | 82.58% | 90.81% | |
| Max daily drop | 23.62% | 38.23% | |
| Max wkly drop | 39.37% | 42.00% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +1528.56% | +4.00% |
| CAGR | +49.45% | +0.54% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.87 | 0.39 | |
| Max drawdown | 82.58% | 96.12% | |
| Max daily drop | 23.62% | 38.23% | |
| Max wkly drop | 39.37% | 42.00% |
| Category | NET | FSLY |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Cloudflare, Inc. | Fastly, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Cloud Infrastructure |
| Industry | Software - Infrastructure | N/A |
| Core business | Global edge network and cybersecurity company providing content delivery, DDoS protection, zero trust security, and a serverless developer platform (Workers), with growing investment in AI inference infrastructure at the network edge. | Smaller edge cloud platform providing content delivery, edge computing, and security services, historically more concentrated among a smaller number of large customers, currently pursuing a turnaround focused on diversifying its customer base and improving profitability. |
| Investor focus | Large customer growth and net retention, expansion of security and Workers AI products, gross margin trends, and progress toward sustained GAAP profitability at scale. | Customer diversification away from historical concentration, revenue growth reacceleration, progress toward profitability, and competitive positioning versus larger edge network peers. |
- One of the largest global edge networks with a broad, diversified product suite spanning CDN, security, and developer platform
- Strong large-customer growth and net retention as customers expand usage across multiple product lines
- Well positioned to capture AI inference workloads at the network edge given existing global infrastructure footprint
- Established edge computing and CDN technology with a loyal base of developer-focused customers
- Smaller scale allows potential for more nimble product development and turnaround execution
- Trades at a lower valuation than larger peers, offering potential upside if the turnaround succeeds
- Premium valuation relative to current profitability requires continued strong growth to justify
- Intensifying competition from major cloud providers and other CDN/security vendors
- Execution risk in successfully monetizing newer AI-related products like Workers AI
- Historical customer concentration risk, with a meaningful share of revenue tied to a small number of large customers
- Slower revenue growth and scale disadvantage relative to larger competitors like Cloudflare
- Turnaround execution risk in diversifying its customer base and reaccelerating growth
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