Oppenheimer recommends buying Fastly stock ahead of the earnings report and the release of the iconic game GTA

Shares of Fastly, a mid-cap cloud technology developer focused on business growth—whose partners include Google Cloud— soared nearly 16% on October 9. This came after an Oppenheimer analyst recommended buying the company’s stock, citing user interest in AI agents and the long-awaited release of the cult classic video game GTA VI.

Shares of Fastly, whose cloud solutions help speed up website loading and ensure their security, rose nearly 16% on the Nasdaq on October 9, to $29.3. This came after investment bank Oppenheimer upgraded its rating on the stock from “hold” to “buy.” The target price set for the stock is $35, which implies growth potential of more than 19% from the last closing price. In trading on October 12, Fastly shares are down about 3%.

Oppenheimer analyst Param Singh highlighted the growth in the value of Fastly's contracts, customer interest in AI agents, and the company's security tools.

According to Barron's, Fastly is no longer limited to delivering standard web content. According to the company, autonomous AI agents and bots have driven a new surge in network traffic: from January through May 2026, AI traffic on the Fastly network grew 6.5 times faster than traffic generated by humans. Companies need tools to manage this flow—and that’s exactly what Fastly is building its new products around. For example, in September, it launched AI Runtime Control and AI Firewall, which allow companies to manage access to and costs associated with AI models, protect AI applications from attacks, and control how AI agents interact with corporate APIs (application programming interfaces).

Singh believes that, based on third-quarter results (with the earnings report scheduled for November 4), Fastly’s revenue will reach the upper end of its projected range of $184 million to $190 million. He also expects that, following the release of its quarterly results, Fastly will raise its guidance for fiscal year 2026.

These analyst estimates reflect, among other things, the expected contribution to the company’s earnings from the release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI), which is scheduled for November 19. According to Oppenheimer’s estimates, downloads of the game—some of which will be routed through the Fastly network—will generate nearly $10 million in additional revenue for the company.

Since the beginning of the year, Fastly's stock price has soared 188%.

Wall Street analysts are divided on the company’s outlook: six recommend buying shares of the cloud technology developer, the same number recommend holding them, and one recommends selling. The average target price is $28.55, which is slightly below the most recent closing price.