Cloudflare Inc (NYSE:NET) shares are trading higher on Tuesday morning. Investors are piling into the San Francisco-based security firm ahead of its first-quarter 2026 earnings report on Thursday.

The Nasdaq is up 1.21% while the S&P 500 has gained 0.74%.

Leadership in Edge Development

The rally follows a Tuesday report from an independent research firm, Forrester, named Cloudflare a “Leader” in its Edge Development Platforms report. Cloudflare earned the highest possible scores in 12 criteria, including vision and innovation.

AI and Strategy Milestones

Forrester noted Cloudflare’s “robust, accelerating investment in AI application development.” Dane Knecht, CTO at Cloudflare, stated, “Being recognized as a Leader by Forrester… validates, for us, our commitment to providing engineering teams what they need.”

Analysts Eye Earnings Beat

Wall Street remains optimistic before Thursday's post-market release. Analysts estimate an earnings per share of 17 cents on revenue of $622.47 million. Cloudflare has beaten EPS estimates for three consecutive quarters.

Recent Wall Street Sentiment

Major firms recently adjusted their outlooks on the connectivity cloud company. Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to Overweight on April 15. Meanwhile, Citigroup maintains a Buy rating with a high price target of $265.

Critical Price Levels To Watch For NET

NET is extended above its key trend gauges, trading 18.6% above the 20-day SMA, 19.5% above the 50-day SMA, and 18.1% above the 200-day SMA.

The catch is the bigger-picture overlay: the death cross from February (50-day SMA below the 200-day SMA) is still in place, even as the shorter-term 20-day SMA sits above the 50-day SMA (bullish near-term alignment).

  • Key Resistance: $260
  • Key Support: $211

NET Stock Price Activity: Cloudflare shares were up 8.39% at $242.98 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: Piotr Swat / Shutterstock