Oppenheimer Thinks Akamai Would Make A Good Takeout Target

Cloud service provider Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) has been identified as a potential takeover target by investment research firm Oppenheimer.

Cloud Computing And Akamai

The cloud computing industry has been horizontally structured for the past 16 years, but Oppenheimer is expecting that in 2017 a greater focus on vertical consolidation will be seen driving new revenue streams and disruption.

Oppenheimer also believes the Trump administration and Republican Congress should be very positive for the communications and cloud industry.

This led Oppenheimer to select Akamai as a 2017 mid-cap top pick and a potential acquisition candidate.

Possible Acquirers

“AKAM could also be a viable acquisition target for any company looking to create unique/highly secure cloud capabilities, but we do not believe it is for sale. Regardless, we believe AKAM would be a great fit for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) and many other companies looking to break into the cloud services space,” said Oppenheimer.

The firm has upgraded Akamai to Outperform from Perform, with an $80 price target.

Shares are up over 3 percent following the upgrade. Akamai is up over 28 percent in 2016.

Image Credit: By Tim Pierce - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons