Fastly Forecasts a Slowdown in 2021, but Edge Computing Is Just Getting Started
The past six months have been full of speed bumps for Fastly (NYSE: FSLY). An initial surge in internet traffic at the beginning of the pandemic gave way to concerns over the company losing (though perhaps only temporarily) its biggest customer, TikTok. But the final quarter of 2020 ended up being pretty good, all things considered. And despite a sluggish-looking initial outlook for 2021, the long-term potential for this edge computing leader is still promising.
Fastly's revenue in the final quarter of 2020 increased 40% from the year-ago period to $82.6 million, including a $2 million deferred revenue writedown associated with its recent acquisition of security software vendor Signal Sciences. Fastly also inched its way closer to breakeven, as growing use of its edge computing-based content delivery network (or CDN, the infrastructure on which data travels on the internet) allows the company to operate at a more efficient scale. Adjusted gross profit margin on services rendered was 63.7% in the fourth quarter, a big jump from just 57.6% during the same period in 2019.
In total, 2020 was a pretty good year for the upstart CDN outfit as a surge in internet use during the pandemic helped it pick up plenty of new customers.
Source Fool.com
