What happened

Shares of Cloudflare (NET -1.05%) jumped as much as 13% today after the company reported strong first-quarter earnings results. They topped Wall Street's forecast, and guidance was also ahead of expectations. As of 12:15 p.m. EDT today, the stock had given back some of those gains and was up just 5%.

So what

Revenue in the first quarter came in at $138.1 million, compared to the consensus estimate of $131 million. That resulted in an adjusted net loss per share of $0.03, which is right on target with analyst expectations. The cybersecurity technology company said its dollar-based net retention rate, which measures spending from existing customers, hit a record 123%.

Stock chart going up

Image source: Getty Images.

"We crossed 4 million total customers, and our large customer count was up 70% year-over-year, accounting for more than half of our total revenue," CEO Matthew Prince said in a statement. "We delivered terrific financial results while also investing in innovation, the fuel our engine runs on."

Now what

Guidance for the second quarter calls for revenue in the range of $145.5 million to $146.5 million, which should translate into an adjusted net loss per share of $0.03 to $0.04. Wall Street is currently modeling for $139.1 million in sales and $0.03 per share in adjusted red ink.

Looking further out, Cloudflare said that full-year 2021 revenue is expected to be $612 million to $616 million, which is ahead of the consensus estimate of $592.8 million. Adjusted net loss per share this year is forecast at $0.10 to $0.11.