What happened
Shares of content-delivery network Fastly (FSLY 1.87%) slipped on Tuesday after an analyst downgraded the stock. As of 11:15 a.m. ET today, Fastly was down 7%.
So what
RBC Capital analyst Rishi Jaluria previously believed Fastly stock would be an average performer. But he downgraded this outlook today, saying he believes the stock will underperform the market average, according to The Fly.
Jaluria also gave the stock a price target of just $9. Not only is this down a whopping 49% from his previous price target of $17.50, it also represents potentially 20% more downside from where the stock trades right now. This is a strong pessimistic statement from a prominent analyst, and it's why Fastly stock is down today.
Now what
Jaluria believes Fastly's cybersecurity offerings are lacking, and thinks the business can be hurt by a recession. He is also concerned about the CEO position still being open more than two months after current CEO Joshua Bixby announced he was stepping down. And these are all valid concerns.
Regarding Fastly's ability to withstand a recession, only time will tell. However, shareholders should be encouraged that the company continues to consistently grow its customer count, existing customer spend, markets, and network capacity. Perhaps this growth for the business as a whole would be enough to offset any losses in network activity during a potential recession.
By next quarter, we might not yet know how recession-proof the business is. But hopefully Fastly will at least address the CEO question in its coming financial report. The company is scheduled to report results for the second quarter of 2022 on Aug. 3.
