Global Internet Outages Send Akamai Stock Lower

Web services concern Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) is reportedly to blame for some of the global internet outages several banks and airlines in the U.S. and Australia experienced early on Thursday. The company noted the impacted platform is back up and running, and that it was "continuing to validate services." This marks the second major outage in a little over a week. At last check, the security is down 0.5% at $116.16.

It has been a volatile year for Akamai Technologies stock. Shares came crashing down to the $92 level, after surging to a Jan. 27 all-time high of $124.91. The equity has been making a valiant effort to recover from that trough, with support at the 20-day moving average, though the $119 level has recently emerged as resistance. Year-over-year, AKAM is up 15.1%.

Analysts are optimistic towards the security, with nine of the 12 in coverage sporting a "buy" or better rating, while the 12-month consensus target price of $130.31 is an 11.7% premium to current levels.

Short-term options traders, meanwhile, have been more put-biased than usual. This is per the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.93, which stands in the 95th percentile of readings from the past year.

That being said, now looks like a good opportunity to weigh in on AKAM's next move with options. The security is seeing attractively priced premiums at the moment, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 20%, which sits in the low 12th percentile of its annual range.