Cloudflare pops 10% as AI agent wave led by viral Moltbot boosts security demand

Cloudflare experienced a significant stock increase of 10% on Wednesday, driven by a strong fourth-quarter performance that surpassed Wall Street expectations. The company's positive outlook is largely attributed to the growing adoption of artificial intelligence, which is boosting the demand for its networking and security services. During an earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Matthew Prince highlighted that the emergence of AI and autonomous tools that perform tasks on behalf of users has led to heightened interest in Cloudflare's offerings. He remarked that the internet is undergoing a 'fundamental re-platforming,' positioning Cloudflare as the essential infrastructure for these new AI agents. 'If AI agents are the new users of the internet, Cloudflare is the platform they run on and the network they pass through,' he stated, explaining how this creates a beneficial cycle for the company. The global networking and cloud service provider reported adjusted earnings of 28 cents per share, with total revenue reaching $615 million. This performance exceeded analysts' predictions of 27 cents per share and $591 million in revenue. Notably, revenue rose by an impressive 34% compared to the same period last year. Looking forward, Cloudflare has provided optimistic guidance, forecasting first-quarter revenue between $620 million and $621 million, outperforming the $614 million expected by analysts. For the entire year, the company anticipates revenue in the range of $2.79 billion to $2.80 billion, surpassing the $2.74 billion estimate. The recent popularity of Moltbot, an open-source AI personal assistant built on Anthropic's Claude model, has contributed to Cloudflare's stock rise as well. The effectiveness of the company's edge infrastructure and security platform for running such AI agents has been a key factor. In response, Cloudflare introduced its own Moltworker platform, specifically designed for the secure operation of Moltbot. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets noted that the increasing prevalence of AI agents is advantageous for Cloudflare and its Workers platform, as these agents require low-latency and secure inferencing, often necessitating scalability close to the user’s location or the 'edge' of the network. Prince, who co-founded the company, also mentioned that Cloudflare ended 2025 with 4.5 million active human developers.