NET Stock Slides As AI Deals And Analyst Support Pile Up

TIM BOHENUPDATED APR. 13, 2026, 2:04 PM ET
Reviewed by Ben Sturgilland Fact-checked by Ellis Hobbs

Cloudflare Inc. stocks have been trading up by 9.1 percent on strong investor optimism over its expanding cloud and security services.

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Key Takeaways NET Traders Need To Know

  • Cloudflare and GoDaddy announced a strategic partnership to integrate Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control into GoDaddy’s hosting platform, tightening control over AI crawler traffic and backing standards like Agent Name Service and Web Bot Auth.
  • NET is expanding its collaboration with SentinelOne by piping Zero Trust, edge network, and Logpush telemetry into SentinelOne’s Singularity AI SIEM for unified, AI-driven threat detection and automated response.
  • Cloudflare shares dropped 10.8% to $188.34 in one session and roughly 14% in an extended sell-off as traders reacted to Anthropic-related AI fears and worries around Project Glasswing.
  • Oppenheimer views the pullback in NET as a tactical buying opportunity, saying Project Glasswing concerns are overblown and highlighting expected gains from agentic AI traffic, backing a $300 price target.
  • NET is reportedly in talks with Coinbase about a new stablecoin as it leans into AI-agent internet traffic, pointing to potential new payment capabilities on Cloudflare’s network.

Candlestick Chart

Live Update At 14:03:41 EDT: On Monday, April 13, 2026 Cloudflare Inc. stock [NYSE: NET] is trending up by 9.1%! Discover the key drivers behind this movement as well as our expert analysis in the detailed breakdown below.

Quick Financial Overview

Cloudflare, trading as NET, has been on a wild ride. Just days ago the stock was changing hands above $220. Now, after a hard flush, it closed near $182.19 on 2026/04/13. For short-term traders, that’s a serious sentiment reset.

Look at the recent daily chart: NET fell from a 2026/04/08 high of $225 down to a 2026/04/10 close of $166.99. That’s a steep correction in two sessions. Since then, the stock has bounced, reclaiming the $180s with a strong intraday grind higher from a $170 open to the low $180s. The 5‑minute tape shows steady higher lows and tight consolidations — classic controlled dip-buy action rather than panic.

More Breaking News

Under the hood, NET is still a high-growth, high-multiple name. Revenue over the last year was about $2.17B, growing more than 30% annually. Gross margin sits around 74.5%, but profit margins remain negative, with EBIT margin near -3.9% and return on equity deep in the red. The balance sheet shows leverage, with total debt-to-equity around 2.4, but also a solid current ratio near 2 and strong operating cash flow — roughly $190M last quarter with about $99M in free cash flow. For traders, NET is a textbook premium growth story: pricey, volatile, and tightly linked to sentiment around AI and security.

Why Traders Are Watching NET After The Selloff

The recent NET selloff didn’t happen in a vacuum. Cybersecurity names were hit after reports that Anthropic’s upcoming Claude Mythos and related models could have powerful cyber capabilities. Some headlines framed this as a threat to legacy security tools. That spooked the whole group, and Cloudflare was no exception.

At the same time, Project Glasswing — Cloudflare’s push into agentic AI — raised questions about whether Anthropic’s tech might disrupt, rather than fuel, NET’s growth. That narrative helped drive a roughly 10.8% drop in a single session to $188.34, and around 14% over an extended stretch. On a chart, it looks like a rug-pull.

But the Street isn’t lining up on the bearish side. BTIG reiterated Buy ratings across major cyber names, arguing the AI fear trade is backwards. More powerful AI means more attack surface, which should boost demand for security platforms like NET. Oppenheimer went further on 2026/04/10, calling the Cloudflare slide a tactical opportunity and sticking to a $300 price target. Their thesis: agentic AI will push massive new traffic through Cloudflare’s network, lifting security and compute add‑on revenue.

While the market focused on the drop, NET was busy tightening its strategic position. The GoDaddy deal puts Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control directly into a huge base of small and mid‑sized sites. That makes NET a gatekeeper for how AI agents access and monetize web content. At the same time, the expanded SentinelOne partnership takes Cloudflare’s Zero Trust and edge telemetry and feeds it into an AI‑driven SIEM, turning NET’s data exhaust into high‑value security insight. Add in reported talks with Coinbase on a stablecoin and future use of Arm’s AGI CPU for agentic workloads, and you get a picture of a company leaning hard into AI, not running from it.

For active traders, that disconnect — negative price action against strengthening strategic deals — is exactly the kind of tension that can set up sharp reversals and multi-day trends.

Conclusion

For NET traders, the message is simple: ignore the headlines at your own risk, but don’t stop at the first narrative. The chart says Cloudflare just went through a violent shakeout, dropping from the $220s into the $160s before bouncing back into the $180s. That kind of move flushes out weak hands and resets expectations.

The news flow, however, shows Cloudflare doubling down on its AI and security positioning. The GoDaddy partnership makes NET a central traffic cop for AI crawlers across a massive hosting footprint. The SentinelOne integration turns Cloudflare’s network into a live data feed for AI‑driven threat hunting. Possible stablecoin work with Coinbase, plus preparation for Arm’s AI‑focused CPUs, points to a network getting ready for autonomous agents that don’t just browse the web — they transact on it.

This doesn’t mean NET is “safe” — high‑multiple growth names rarely are. It does mean traders should respect both sides of the trade: the downside that comes with rich valuations and the upside that comes from real strategic momentum. As Tim Sykes loves to remind his students, “Patterns repeat because human nature doesn’t change. Your edge is in recognizing them early and managing risk relentlessly.” That idea dovetails with the technical and catalyst‑driven approach many day and swing traders use. As Tim Bohen, lead trainer with StocksToTrade says, “A good trade setup checks all the boxes—volume, trend, catalyst. Don’t trade if you’re missing pieces of the puzzle.”. For anyone watching NET, that starts with studying the chart, reading the actual news, and always having a clear trading plan before clicking the buy or sell button.

This is stock news, not investment advice. StocksToTrade News delivers real-time stock market updates tailored to highlight the key catalysts driving short-term price movements. Our coverage is designed for active traders and investors who thrive in fast-moving markets, with a focus on volatile sectors like penny stocks, AI stocks, Robinhood stocks and other momentum plays. From earnings reports and FDA approvals to mergers, new contracts, and unusual trading volume, we break down the events that can spark significant price action.

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