Topic: How To Invest

A question about a U.S. stock: Can I have your opinion on Akamai, symbol AKAM on Nasdaq? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Akamai Technologies Inc., $25.18, symbol AKAM on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 171.3 million; Market cap: $4.3 billion), helps companies improve the performance of their web sites. Its customers include Amazon.com, Adobe Systems, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo. Akamai is a Hawaiian word meaning smart or intelligent. Akamai mirrors a customer’s web site onto its own network of servers, which are located in over 70 countries. That speeds up download times and cuts the risk of Internet outages or slowdowns, because users can access the closest server, or the one with the best connection. Demand for Akamai’s services continues to rise, particularly as more people use the Internet to view videos. The company gets 28% of its revenue from customers outside of the U.S. In the three months ended September 30, 2009, Akamai’s revenue rose 4.6%, to $206.5 million from $197.3 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 1.8%, to $32.7 million from $33.4 million. Earnings per share were unchanged, at $0.18. The company paid higher…