What happened
Shares of edge cloud computing specialist Fastly (FSLY 1.74%) gained 99.3% in May 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The bulk of Fastly's gains last month sprung from a fantastic first-quarter earnings report.
So what
Fastly's first-quarter revenue rose 38% year over year, landing at $63 million. Adjusted net losses shrank from $0.30 to $0.06 per share. Your average Wall Street analyst would have settled for a net loss of $0.12 per share on sales near $59 million. The company saw rising order volumes as businesses of every stripe explored remote work options under COVID-19 social distancing orders. The stock closed 46% higher the next day, and the momentum from that jump continued to carry Fastly's shares higher throughout the month.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
This company is positioned to grow quickly over the next few years as businesses lean into infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) computing. Fastly's edge computing version of that idea can often deliver higher performance and tighter security than a centralized implementation would give users.
"When you can move application logic from your central cloud or your data center into the edge to have it be more scalable, more performance, more secure, that is the highest margin side of our business," said CEO Joshua Bixby in Fastly's first-quarter earnings call.
Fastly's stock price has now gained 121% since entering the public market in May 2019. It's no surprise to see investors applauding the company's strong results.
