Fastly (NYSE: FSLY) shares climbed more than 16% after Oppenheimer upgraded the edge platform provider to Outperform from Perform and lifted its price target to $35. The stock traded near $25.29 on the news, well below the firm's new target, putting it on pace for its best week in months. Fastly operates a global network platform spanning content delivery, edge compute, and security services.

Oppenheimer Cites Rising Contract Values

The call came from Oppenheimer analyst Param Singh, who based the upgrade on industry checks indicating growing contract values tied to rising demand for Fastly's security products.

According to TipRanks, Singh ranks No. 849 out of more than 12,500 analysts tracked by the platform. His ratings have proven correct 66% of the time, delivering an average return of 24%.

The upgrade extends a powerful run for Fastly this year. The stock is up 148% year-to-date and has returned 196% over the past twelve months.

Why Oppenheimer Turned Bullish

Singh pointed to an increase in average deal size during the third quarter, a cross-selling trend supported by recent security product launches.

Fastly has rolled out several new tools in recent months, including AI Runtime, AI Firewall, and API Enforcement, which became generally available in September. While these products have not yet contributed much to revenue, Singh expects the expanding security lineup to keep fueling growth into the fourth quarter and through 2027. How much revenue those launches are generating could become clearer when Fastly reports third-quarter results.

Oppenheimer expects high-teens to low-20s percentage growth for Fastly over the coming years, a pace the firm believes remains underappreciated by the broader market at current price levels.

For the third quarter, Singh expects Fastly to post revenue near the top of its guided range, which runs from $184 million to $190 million. He also anticipates that management will raise full-year 2026 guidance, with the boost driven by continued cross-selling and additional traffic tied to the release of GTA VI, the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

What Other Analysts Are Saying

Not every analyst shares Oppenheimer's enthusiasm. RBC Capital maintained a Sector Perform rating with a $25 price target following Fastly's investor day, where the company laid out targets through fiscal year 2029. Those targets include an annual revenue growth rate of 14% to 21%.

DA Davidson kept a Neutral rating but trimmed its price target to $23 from $26, citing valuation concerns. BofA Securities moved in the opposite direction, raising its target to $22 from $20. BofA pointed to Fastly's push toward a unified edge platform and noted three straight quarters of steady revenue growth.

Speculation circulating online about Fastly's potential role in handling traffic for Meta's Muse AI assistant has added to investor interest in the stock as well.

Street Consensus: Moderate Buy

Overall, Wall Street rates Fastly a Moderate Buy, a consensus built on six Buy ratings, five Holds, and one Sell. The average price target across analysts sits at $28.56, implying roughly 3% downside from current trading levels even after the latest pop. That average conceals a wide spread of individual targets, ranging from $22 at BofA to $35 at Oppenheimer, a gap that underscores how divided analyst opinion remains even after this year's rally.

Eleven analysts have raised their earnings estimates for the upcoming period, according to InvestingPro data. Fastly has not turned a profit over the past twelve months, though analysts expect that to change this year.

As of Friday's trading session, Fastly shares had gained 188% since the start of the year.