UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Upgrades Akamai Technologies to Overweight Following March Earnings

In a report published Thursday, J.P. Morgan analyst Sterling Auty upgraded the rating on Akamai Technologies AKAM from Neutral to Overweight, and raised the price target from $42.00 to $52.00. In the report, Auty noted, “The concern going into March quarter earnings was that after the lift provided in 2H12 by the Olympics and other factors, Akamai might experience a lull spurred by the headwinds of several Media contracts going away. Instead the media business accelerated and appears positioned to outperform again in 2Q13. Now that the media business has gone from a potential risk to a tailwind, management can focus on building out sales for the performance and security segment, and together we think top line revenue growth of 12% in FY13 will accelerate in FY14 to 15%. The March earnings season has seen a number of notable misses and weak results and we think investors will be attracted to this beat and raise stock. We are upgrading to OW and increasing our price target.” Akamai Technologies closed on Wednesday at $36.09.