Cloudflare Stock Rebounds 10% After Fastest Revenue Growth in Nearly Four Years

Key takeaways

• Cloudflare (NET) closed at $268.75 on Friday, November 6, 2026, up 9.91%, in the first full trading session after the company reported third-quarter results after the market close on Thursday, November 5.
• Revenue for the quarter ended September 30 rose 39% year over year to $782.5 million, which the company described as its fastest revenue growth in nearly four years.
• Non-GAAP earnings were $0.38 a share, up from $0.27. On a GAAP basis Cloudflare still lost $34.1 million, or $0.10 a share.
• Even after the bounce, the stock sits well below its early-October levels near $360.

All financial and share-price figures are in U.S. dollars.

Cloudflare gave investors a reason to buy back in. The network and security company reported third-quarter results after the market closed on Thursday, November 5. "We accelerated growth, delivering our fastest revenue growth in nearly four years, while expanding profitability," CEO Matthew Prince said in the release. The stock jumped at Friday's open before settling for a close of $268.75, a gain of about 10%. That came right after a rough stretch. The shares had fallen 8.3% on Thursday ahead of the report and had slid from about $361 on October 9 to $244.51.

The quarter in numbers

Here are the main figures from Cloudflare's third-quarter 2026 press release and supplemental financial data:

Metric	Q3 2026	Q3 2025
Revenue	$782.5M (+39%)	$562.0M
Non-GAAP gross margin	72.4%	75.3%
Non-GAAP operating income	$137.1M (17.5% margin)	$85.9M (15.3%)
GAAP net loss	$34.1M ($0.10/share)	$1.3M ($0.00/share)
Non-GAAP EPS (diluted)	$0.38	$0.27
Free cash flow	$82.1M (10% of revenue)	$75.0M (13%)
Customers paying >$100K a year	5,006 (+25%)	4,009
Dollar-based net retention	122%	119%

According to Investing.com, analysts had expected about $736.8 million in revenue and $0.34 in adjusted earnings per share, so Cloudflare beat both comfortably.

Why growth is speeding up

Revenue growth has picked up every quarter this year, rising from 34% in Q1 2026 to 36% in Q2 and 39% in Q3, based on the company's quarterly figures. On the earnings call, management credited its Workers developer platform, which developers increasingly use to build AI applications, along with bigger spending by large customers. Cloudflare said it now has about 10 million active developers. Its annualized revenue run rate has passed $3 billion.

Larger customers keep spending more, too. Cloudflare reported dollar-based net retention of 122%. Under the company's own definition, that means revenue from the group of existing paying customers it measures was 22% higher than a year earlier. The figure combines expansion, contraction and churn within that group, so it isn't a simple average of what each customer spent.

Guidance

• Q4 2026: revenue of $845 million to $846 million, non-GAAP operating income of $156 million to $157 million, and non-GAAP EPS of $0.43.
• Full year 2026: revenue of $2.963 billion to $2.964 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $1.35.

The midpoint of the Q4 range works out to roughly 38% year-over-year growth over Q4 2025 revenue of $614.5 million.

What to watch

• Margins. Gross margin fell about three points from a year earlier as the company spent more on infrastructure. Capital spending in the quarter was $121.8 million, which kept free cash flow margin at 10%.
• GAAP profitability. Stock-based compensation and restructuring charges (including $150.7 million in Q2) still leave Cloudflare in the red on a GAAP basis.
• Valuation and volatility. The shares fell about 32% from October 9 to November 5, then gave back part of a much bigger opening jump on November 6. The stock opened at $286.97, traded as low as $265 and closed at $268.75, all in one session, after falling 8.3% the day before. Those swings show how volatile the shares have been.

Bottom line

Cloudflare's third quarter showed faster growth, a wider non-GAAP operating margin (17.5% versus 15.3% a year earlier) and solid guidance, which helped the stock recover part of a steep autumn slide. Investors weighing the shares should compare that momentum with GAAP losses, rising infrastructure spending and a volatile price.

Prices are closing values as of November 6, 2026. Financial figures are from Cloudflare's Q3 2026 earnings release dated November 5, 2026. This article is for information only and is not investment advice.