Analyst Confidence Rises on Akamai’s Strategic AI Infrastructure Push

Shares of Akamai Technologies are gaining momentum, buoyed by a wave of analyst upgrades and a significant new infrastructure strategy focused on artificial intelligence. The stock closed the previous trading week at $88.12, marking a notable recovery from recent volatility. This positive shift is largely attributed to the company's aggressive pivot toward capitalizing on AI and edge computing demand.

The surge in analyst optimism is directly linked to Akamai's announced plans for a substantial technical capacity build-out. The company intends to boost its GPU-usable computing power by 70 percent. This strategic expansion is designed to meet accelerating demand for AI inference and decentralized edge computing services.

Management projects that this infrastructure investment will generate approximately $300 million in incremental annual revenue. Furthermore, it is expected to accelerate the company's revenue growth rate to 8-9 percent by the second half of 2026. This move underscores a deliberate strategic shift away from traditional content delivery and toward higher-margin cloud and security services.

Financial Firms Revise Targets Upward

Professional assessment of Akamai's prospects has improved markedly. Scotiabank significantly raised its price target from $94 to $105, reaffirming its "Sector Outperform" rating. This new target implies an upside potential of more than 15 percent from recent levels.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Akamai?

This sentiment is echoed by other research firms adjusting their forecasts:
* RBC Capital increased its price target from $80 to $90.
* Zacks Research revised its earnings per share estimate for fiscal year 2027 upward to $4.63.
* The consensus average price target among analysts now stands at approximately $99.67.

Sustained Institutional Backing and Valuation

Institutional investor confidence appears solid, with professional firms holding about 94.28 percent of outstanding shares. Recent regulatory filings indicate that Norges Bank and DLD Asset Management have either established new positions or meaningfully increased their existing stakes. This high level of institutional ownership highlights continued faith in the long-term infrastructure roadmap.

Market observer Dan Ives recently described Akamai as a "quietly essential" layer of global data center infrastructure. This perspective reflects a broader investment trend of looking beyond primary AI chip manufacturers to identify value in supporting technology layers.

From a technical standpoint, the chart shows a reversal pattern. After hitting a low of $85.71 on January 8, the stock advanced 2.81 percent to $88.12, supported by above-average trading volume. The forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is currently 12.13, which sits notably below the industry average of 18.08. This combination of a relatively modest valuation and aggressive growth plans in security and computing shapes the current investment narrative. Upcoming quarterly results will provide the first indications of how the planned capacity expansion is translating into tangible revenue growth.