Updated
Updated · Zacks Investment Research · Aug 19
Zacks Backs 3 AI Cloud Stocks as Fastly Sees Traffic Grow 6.5 Times Faster
Updated
Updated · Zacks Investment Research · Aug 19

Zacks Backs 3 AI Cloud Stocks as Fastly Sees Traffic Grow 6.5 Times Faster

2 articles · Updated · Zacks Investment Research · Aug 19

Summary

  • Zacks highlighted three mid-cap AI cloud names—Five9, Fastly and Qualys—with each carrying a Rank #1 or #2 amid what it called strong global demand for AI-driven cloud services.
  • Fastly offered the sharpest demand signal: management said AI-generated traffic is growing about 6.5 times faster than human traffic, lifting need for real-time security, compute and network services.
  • Five9 is pitching AI agents, GenAI Studio and a Google Cloud partnership to expand beyond contact-center software into AI-driven labor automation; Zacks sees 2026 revenue and earnings growth of 10.2% and 10.1%.
  • Qualys is leaning on cloud cybersecurity as AI shortens exploit windows to hours, with products such as InstaScan, TruConfirm and Agent Sara aimed at continuous detection, validation and remediation.
  • Across the three picks, earnings estimates have recently improved most sharply for Fastly—up 65.6% for this year and 59% for next year—while Five9 and Qualys posted smaller upward revisions.

Insights

With AI traffic surging in 2026, could these three under-the-radar mid-cap tech stocks quietly outpace the industry's biggest giants?
AI bots are secretly driving up global compute costs; are edge infrastructure providers the ultimate hidden winners of this surge?
As vulnerability exploits dominate 2026 breaches, can AI-driven scanless scanning truly save enterprises from devastating automated cyberattacks?