Although the innovation ecosystem has started to look interesting again as evidenced by the recent performance of the Nasdaq Composite index, Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) has been a conspicuous laggard. Since the start of the year, the content delivery network (CDN) specialist — which also offers robust cybersecurity and edge computing services — has dropped nearly 17%. Nevertheless, AKAM stock could be an intriguing candidate for a sentiment reversal.
Fundamentally, Akamai plays a vital role in how people and enterprises consume the internet — it's just that the essential work occurs behind the scenes. Using a geographically distributed network of proxy servers, CDNs help speed up websites by storing cached content near end-users. This capability is especially critical for companies with content-streaming arms, such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX).
