The cloud concern signed a power contract with Anthropic
Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) stock is powering up the Nasdaq today, last seen up 14.2% to trade at $126.10. The cloud computing company inked an $11.6 billion cloud services contract with Anthropic, with an estimated $5.5 billion in related capital expenditures over the seven-year term of the deal. Anthropic was also given the right to buy up to 5% of Akamai's shares at an exercise price of $111.33 each.
Analysts are loving the deal, with three hiking their price targets, including J.P. Morgan Securities to $167 from $158. AKAM is heading for its best single-session pop since a 26.5% post-earnings surge on May 8. The shares are trading at their highest level since early June today, after bouncing off their 260-day moving average.
A short squeeze could keep the wind at the equity's back. Short interest tapered off in the most recent reporting period, yet the 19.02 million shares sold short account for 13.5% of AKAM's total available float. At the stock's average pace of trading, it would take shorts over five trading days to buy back their bearish bets.
Options traders are out in droves. The weekly 9/25 130-strike call is the most popular, while the 110-strike put in the same series is also seeing activity.