Oppenheimer upgrades Fastly to ‘outperform’ ahead of 3Q earnings and GTA VI launch

Shares of Fastly, a mid-cap provider of cloud technology for businesses whose partners include Google Cloud, surged almost 16% on Friday. The rally followed an Oppenheimer analyst’s upgrade on the stock, citing interest in AI agents and the long-awaited release of Grand Theft Auto VI, the latest installment in the iconic video game franchise.

Fastly, whose cloud solutions help sites to load faster and stay secure, rose almost 16% on the Nasdaq on Friday to $29.30 per share. The gains came after investment bank Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “perform.” Its target price of $35 per share implies more than 19% upside from the last close. Fastly has given back around 3% in trading on Monday as of this writing. Oppenheimer analyst Param Singh highlighted rising contract values at Fastly, client interest in AI agents, and demand for the company’s security tools.

Fastly is no longer limited to delivering standard web content, Barron’s writes. According to the company, autonomous AI agents and bots have driven a fresh wave of network traffic: from January through May, AI traffic on Fastly’s network grew 6.5 times faster than human traffic. Businesses need tools to manage this traffic, and Fastly is developing new products to meet that need. In September, it launched AI Runtime Control to manage access to AI models and spending on them, AI Firewall to protect AI applications from attacks, and new API Security capabilities to control how AI agents access enterprise APIs (application programming interfaces).

Singh expects Fastly’s third-quarter revenue to reach the upper end of its guided range of $184-190 million. The company is due to report on November 4. He also expects the management to raise its 2026 guidance when the quarterly results are released.

The analyst’s expectations reflect, among other factors, the anticipated contribution from the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, scheduled for November 19. Oppenheimer estimates that downloads of the game, some of which will pass through Fastly’s network, will generate almost $10 million in additional revenue for the company.

Fastly is up 188% year to date. However, Wall Street analysts are now split on the stock: it has six “buy” calls versus six “hold” ratings and one “sell.” The average target price is $28.55 per share, slightly below the last close.