Signal Ledger valuation · NET
Cloudflare, Inc.
What the shares are worth today on our research (cited consensus, company plans and peers, since management sets no usable targets): every line valued at the end of FY2030, net debt rolled forward, then discounted back to Jun 30, 2026.
- Business value at FY2030
- $14B
- FY2030 revenue
- $5.8B
- FY2030 EPS · P/E
- $1.06 · 38×
- Discount rate (WACC · equity)
- 9.82% · 9.87%
How this is built. Issuer revenue and long-term non-GAAP targets retained; post-2030 SBC scale convergence and GAAP translation are explicit research assumptions. Each input below shows its basis: consensus, company plan, peer or rule.
Next report: Thu Nov 5, after close
Date from Nasdaq's earnings calendar, not confirmed by the company. It can move.
| Whose number | Measure | Figure | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall Street, via Nasdaq (9 analysts). Not ours. | EPS, Nasdaq basis | $0.02 | Nov 3 |
Our rule gave no EPS estimate here. It needs at least three past reports, a median surprise within 25%, and a consensus of at least $0.05 either side of zero.
Latest quarter: Q2 FY2026
Reported Aug 6, 2026 for the quarter to Jun 30, 2026 (company release ↗ · filing ↗). This valuation already reflects these results (researched Oct 23, 2026).
| Segment | Revenue | vs a year ago | Operating income | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connectivity Cloud | $0.70B | +36% | −$0.21B | -29.6% |
- Revenue increased 36% to $696.061M and current RPO increased 35%.
- GAAP operating loss was $205.696M, including $150.693M restructuring; non-GAAP operating income was $96.111M.
- FY2026 revenue guide raised to $2.864–2.870B; June investor day raised long-term non-GAAP operating-margin goal to 30%+.
What each business is worth
| Business | Model | FY2030 revenue | Value today | Per share | 2030 multiple | Value from beyond FY2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | Capacity (capex follows demand) | $5.8B | $8.5B | $23.85 | 15.0× EBITDA | 90% |
| All businesses | $5.8B | $8.5B | $23.85 |
Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer): does new capacity pay?
Each $1 of equipment earns 64.4% EBITDA a year against a 27.9% break-even. Every $1 of new annual revenue is worth $0.44 today after paying for its equipment.
Needs $0.9B of funding before it pays for itself; that lands in net debt.
From 2030 back to today
- Enterprise value at end of FY2030$14B
- Plus net cash at FY2030$0.2B
- Equity value at FY2030$14B
- ÷ (1 + 9.87%)^4.5 years at the cost of equity$9.3B
- + dividends paid on the way, discounted$0B
This reconciliation checks the published Signal Ledger valuation against the net-debt path. The difference is 0.6%, inside our 5% tolerance.
From businesses to one share
- All businesses, valued today$8.5B
- − borrowings$3.3B
- − finance leases$0B
- + cash and short-term investments$4.2B
- ÷ diluted shares0.356B
- Signal Ledger valuation$26.36
Year by year to FY2030
| Fiscal year | Revenue | EBITDA | Capex | Free cash flow | Net debt at year end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026part already reported | $2.9B | −$0.2B | $0.5B | −$0.6B | $0.6B cash |
| FY2027 | $3.5B | $0B | $0.5B | −$0.4B | $0.2B cash |
| FY2028 | $4.2B | $0.2B | $0.5B | −$0.2B | $0B cash |
| FY2029 | $5B | $0.5B | $0.5B | $0B | $0B cash |
| FY2030 | $5.8B | $0.9B | $0.7B | $0.1B | $0.2B cash |
What must be true
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) grows revenue from $2.9B in FY2026 to $5.8B in FY2030 (2.0×).
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) raises its EBITDA margin from -5.3% to 16.3%.
- The company spends $2.6B of capital expenditure through FY2030.
- The company stays net cash throughout (lowest point $2.437M of net cash in FY2028).
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) earns 64.4% EBITDA a year on each dollar of equipment, above the 27.9% it needs to cover depreciation and the cost of capital.
What the price implies
To reach $303.61 at our discount rate, even 3× our FY2030 sales ($17.3B) within the 50% GAAP EBIT / 100% EBITDA guardrails is not enough. The price needs growth beyond these FY2030 combinations, a stronger post-FY2030 path, or a discount rate near 3.8%.
At the research price of $303.61 (2026-10-23), the price asks more than our assumptions overall. These are operating requirements at that price, not additional valuations or forecasts.
If sales and margins changed together
Each row matches the same research price at our unchanged discount rate, by scaling every operating line's margin by one common factor. Sales cover margin and capacity lines only; other valuation lines stay fixed. Margins are revenue-weighted within each metric, before separately modeled corporate costs and eliminations. The conclusion uses the row at our research margins when sales alone can match the price, otherwise the solved row needing the least sales growth; this is a trade-off between growth and profitability, not a forecast.
| FY2030 sales factor | FY2030 sales | FY2026–30 CAGR | Required FY2030 margin | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.50× | $8.6B | 31.7% | — | InfeasibleCannot reach the price within 50% EBIT / 100% EBITDA limits. |
| 2.00× | $11.5B | 41.5% | — | InfeasibleCannot reach the price within 50% EBIT / 100% EBITDA limits. |
| 3.00× | $17.3B | 56.6% | — | InfeasibleCannot reach the price within 50% EBIT / 100% EBITDA limits. |
CAGR uses $2.9B of same-scope FY2026 sales from the published model or its sourced research base, over four fiscal years. “Within margin guardrails” checks numeric limits only, not commercial plausibility. Each line and year must stay at or below 50.0% GAAP EBIT and 100% EBITDA, or our research margin where that is higher; capacity EBIT uses the engine's equipment depreciation. Unsolved margins are not extrapolated.
- Implied discount rate
- 3.8%
- All-business FY2030 sales factor
- —
The WACC that makes model value equal the price, shifting WACC and cost of equity by the same amount. Model: 9.8% WACC · 9.9% cost of equity.
Sales alone cannot match this price within the search range. FY1 stays fixed; the sales change ramps to FY2030 and stays at that factor thereafter.
If only one business changed
Businesses with margin or capacity revenue paths, ordered by value today. Revenue and margin are separate alternatives; these requirements are not added together.
Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer)
- Revenue alone
- This business alone cannot get there within the search range.
- Margin alone
- This business alone cannot get there within the search range.
Mechanical requirements, not forecasts. The separate sales-only and single-business factors are searched from 0.1× to 6×; an unsolved comparison means this business alone cannot get there within those bounds. Single-business revenue changes apply from FY2 onward; margin changes scale the full EBIT or EBITDA margin path. Mixed groups show revenue-weighted EBIT and EBITDA margins separately. Requirements above 100% are not feasible margins. Joint rows instead search non-negative uniform margin factors only up to the EBIT/EBITDA guardrails; the entire margin path scales, including post-FY2030 convergence. Sales and margins change together only in that table. The rate search runs from the largest terminal growth rate plus 0.5 percentage points to 30% WACC.
The discount rate
- Cost of equity
- 9.87%
- WACC
- 9.82%
- 10-year Treasury · model / spot
- 3.87% · 5.13%
r_f 3.87% (5-year average 10-year Treasury yield 3.87% (spot 5.13% on 2026-10-21)) + β 1.20 after Blume adjustment × 5%, rounded to 0.01% (1bp)
methodology §4.5: market-weighted WACC + 0.121361 point build-out premium: 1pp × clamp(FY1 net debt increase / (2% × equity market value), 0, 1), not rounded
The model uses the recorded 5-year average Treasury yield. The spot yield is shown for context.
Every input, with its source
Show 18 inputs · reported, guidance and rule-based
| Input | Value | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mature GAAP EBIT margin FY2034 (SBC included)Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 17.8% | Rule | Issuer long-term adjusted EBIT lower bound 30%, less mature SBC and current non-SBC exclusions: payroll taxes $8.574M, amortization $7.441M, M&A $2.080M and legal $1M, divided by Q2 revenue $696.061M. Recurring SBC $132.019M excludes restructuring SBC $27.853M. Only recurring SBC/revenue halves after FY2030; all other exclusion ratios remain. This is our derived GAAP assumption, not company GAAP guidance. Capacity conversion still uses k/life. cloudflare.net ↗ · stockanalysis.com ↗ · cloudflare.net ↗ · sec.gov ↗ |
| SBC / revenue FY2030 (expensed)Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 19.0% | Rule | Recurring operating SBC $132.019M / Q2 FY2026 revenue $696.061M, assumed unchanged through FY2030. Q2 total SBC $159.872M includes restructuring SBC $27.853M already accounted separately. Payroll taxes $8.574M remain a separate, constant revenue share. sec.gov ↗ |
| Mature SBC / revenue (expensed)Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 9.5% | Rule | Research assumption: half the FY2030 recurring SBC ratio =9.48329%, above the conservative 8.5% floor. Adobe FY2025 actual SBC/revenue is 8.1703% and Salesforce FY2026 is 8.4503%. Cloudflare network/developer economics differ, so we retain a higher ratio. Payroll taxes do not decline; SBC has no separate cash addback. d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net ↗ · adobe.com ↗ |
| Revenue FY2026Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | $2.9B | Guidance | target (methodology §4.2), growth 32.2% cloudflare.net ↗ · stockanalysis.com ↗ |
| Revenue FY2030Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | $5.8B | Guidance | fade high growth (methodology §4.2), growth 15.0% cloudflare.net ↗ · stockanalysis.com ↗ |
| EBITDA margin FY2030Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 16.3% | Guidance | linear path to 16.3% by FY2030 (management target) — operating margin 8.3% + depreciation k ÷ life = 0.4 ÷ 5 = 8.0% of revenue → EBITDA 16.3% cloudflare.net ↗ · stockanalysis.com ↗ · cloudflare.net ↗ |
| Equipment per $1 of revenue (k)Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 0.4 | Rule | methodology §4.4: in-service equipment + FY1 capex over FY2 revenue = 0.38 r40.io ↗ · cloudflare.net ↗ |
| Equipment lifeConnectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 5 years | Reported | server life 5 years sec.gov ↗ |
| Capex FY2026Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | $0.5B | Rule | FY2026 network capex guidance 14–15% midpoint 14.5% of revenue, plus latest reported 2% internal-use software capitalization as explicit total-company proxy; $0.473055B before poolShare. Not a reported total capex guide. × 1 pool share r40.io ↗ · cloudflare.net ↗ |
| Terminal growthConnectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer) | 3.0% | Rule | methodology §4.2 terminal growth for a growth line Valuation methodology §4.2 · Read methodology ↗ |
| WACCDiscount rates | 9.82% | Rule | methodology §4.5: market-weighted WACC + 0.121361 point build-out premium: 1pp × clamp(FY1 net debt increase / (2% × equity market value), 0, 1), not rounded FRED DGS10 2021-10-20..2026-10-21 |
| Cost of equityDiscount rates | 9.87% | Rule | r_f 3.87% (5-year average 10-year Treasury yield 3.87% (spot 5.13% on 2026-10-21)) + β 1.20 after Blume adjustment × 5%, rounded to 0.01% (1bp) 60 monthly returns vs SPY, 2021-09..2026-09 (adjusted closes) |
| Tax rateDiscount rates | 21.0% | Rule | No verified normalized tax guidance or three-year cash-tax series; use the US statutory 21% fallback, not a transient GAAP benefit. sec.gov ↗ |
| Cash and short-term investmentsBalance sheet | $4.2B | Reported | cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue + us-gaap:AvailableForSaleSecuritiesDebtSecuritiesCurrent · 0001477333-26-000054 (filed 2026-08-06) |
| BorrowingsBalance sheet | $3.3B | Reported | borrowings due within a year plus long-term borrowings us-gaap:ConvertibleDebtCurrent · 0001477333-26-000054 + us-gaap:ConvertibleDebtNoncurrent · 0001477333-26-000054 |
| Finance leasesBalance sheet | $0.0B | Reported | no finance lease liability reported balance sheet 2026-06-30 |
| SharesBalance sheet | 0.356B | Reported | shares outstanding as of 2026-07-21 cover page of 10-Q 0001477333-26-000054 (2 share classes summed) |
| Dividends per yearShareholders | $0.0B | Reported | Most recent annual ordinary cash dividends; verify continuation against the latest release; no future repurchases. × 0.356B shares sec.gov ↗ |
Research notes
- share-count comparison: 0.354334B quarter 2026-04-01..2026-06-30 · 0001477333-26-000054; point-in-time denominator retained
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer): 2 quarter(s) of FY2026 already reported; counted as actuals
- cost of equity 9.87% (β 1.20 after Blume adjustment), WACC 9.8% incl. 0.121361-point build-out premium (§4.5 G2)
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer): k 0.4 (calibrated 0.38), life 5 years
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer): operating-margin target 8.3% converted to 16.3% EBITDA (k ÷ life 8.0%)
- §4.5 G2: FY1 net debt increase $0.2624052101661756B / (2% × equity market value $108.10936227115B); build-out premium 0.121361pp, measured before premium
- Connectivity Cloud (Security, Network and Developer): FY2031–34 mature GAAP EBIT target 17.8%, including SBC 9.5% of revenue (FY2030 19.0%). SBC is expensed once; no future-award dilution or cash addback. Capacity EBIT also depends on actual equipment depreciation.
- implied FY2030 P/E 37.8× is outside 8–35×
Signal Ledger research built from cited consensus, company plans and peer economics because management sets no usable targets — not a forecast and not investment advice. The research desk (GPT-6.1 (Codex)) gathers filings, guidance and targets; deterministic code applies the samepublished rules to every company and checks the result. Inputs may contain errors; follow the source links before relying on them. Read our valuation methodology →