Akamai Posts Inline Q2

The content delivery, or should I say cloud optimization provider Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) reported its second quarter results, hitting guidance right on the nose, and probably not surprising anyone.  The company’s Q2 forecasts weren’t enthusiastically received back in April, but obviously it’s better to be right than to make traders happy.  Here is a quick summary of their numbers in the context of the last few quarters:

$ in millions	Q2/10	Q3/10	Q4/10	Q1/11	Q2/11	Q3/11 (guidance)
Revenue	245.3	253.6	284.7	276.0	277.0	273-283
COS	71.8	77.8	86.2	89.0	89.6
SG&A+R&D	112.5	112.6	121.8	109.9	109.8
Gross Margin	70.7%	69.3%	69.7%	67.8%	67.7%	67%
Adj.  EPS	0.34	0.34	0.40	0.38	$0.35	$0.31-0.34

Revenues were up $1.0M during the quarter and 13% over the same quarter last year.  A 13% growth rate is nothing to sneeze at, but the company’s stock price still has a bunch of future growth built into it.  Gross margins were basically flat with the prior quarter and down 300 basis points from the same quarter last year.  Earnings per share were right in the expected range.

The company is now looking at 10-13% growth for 2011, which is below their target of 15%.  They said traffic growth has shown positive signs, however it will not be enough to counter pricing declines to give growth at higher rates.

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Categories: Content Distribution · Financials