--- title: "Fastly's best quarter ever came with a 27% crash, and its top 10 customers grew 46% while the rest grew 8%" description: "Ten customers supplied 39% of revenue and grew 46%, while every other account grew 8%. The two lines carrying the AI story missed Street estimates, and the sales chief behind that concentration retires in 2027 with no successor named." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Platforms" published: 2026-11-06T16:49:36.657Z modified: 2026-11-06T16:49:36.657Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/fastly-s-best-quarter-ever-came-with-a-27-crash-and-its-top-10-customers-grew-46-while-the-rest-grew-8 language: en keywords: "Fastly, Earnings, Stock Moves, Customer Concentration, Guidance" --- # Fastly's best quarter ever came with a 27% crash, and its top 10 customers grew 46% while the rest grew 8% > Ten customers supplied 39% of revenue and grew 46%, while every other account grew 8%. The two lines carrying the AI story missed Street estimates, and the sales chief behind that concentration retires in 2027 with no successor named. [Fastly](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/fastly), the edge cloud company that sells delivery, security and compute to large websites, closed November 4 with record revenue, non-GAAP operating income and free cash flow: $190.2 million of revenue, up 20% year over year and above its own guidance ceiling, 65.8% non-GAAP gross margin, and a fifth consecutive quarter of non-GAAP operating profit [1]. [Full-year guidance rose to $744–748 million in revenue and $0.61–0.63 in earnings per share](https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/companies/fastly-raises-fy26-revenue-guidance-744m-748m/55373750), from $0.50–0.54 [2]. The stock had closed at $21.04 [3]. [It fell 17.5% after hours](https://optionspilot.app/blog/fastly-fsly-q3-2026-earnings-beat-guidance-raised-scott-lovett-retiring-stock-falls-17-percent-after-hours-nov-6-straddle-fsly-options-nov-4-2026) and ended November 5 at $15.38, down 26.9% [1][3]. Options traders had paid about $3.98 for the $21 straddle, a pre-report bet on a big move in either direction, priced to break even between $17.02 and $24.98; the close fell through that floor [3]. It was the [third straight earnings beat met with a selloff](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/11/05/fastly-just-dropped-41-in-a-month-is-fsly-stock-dead-money-or-due-for-a-bounce/) [4]. *Chart: **Growth bottomed at 2% in late 2024, then rebuilt to four straight quarters near 20%** Line chart of Fastly year-over-year revenue growth over twelve quarters, from 15.5% in Q4 2023 to 20.2% in Q3 2026, bottoming at 2% in Q4 2024.* *Growth bottomed at 2% in late 2024, then rebuilt to four straight quarters near 20% [8]* ## Ten customers did the growing The shape of the numbers explains the verdict. The top 10 customers supplied 39% of revenue, up from 32% a year earlier, and grew 46%; every customer outside that group grew 8% [1][4]. One group of entities under common control was 12% of quarterly revenue [1]. [BofA](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bank-of-america) analyst Tal Liani, keeping an Underperform rating and cutting his target to $18 from $22, [flagged Security growth of 31.5% against a 32.5% consensus](https://www.tradingview.com/news/seekingalpha:228184370094b:0-fastly-plunges-on-q3-results-as-analyst-highlights-segment-deceleration/) and the Other line, home of the newest products, up 37.0% against 57.1% expected [5]. RBC, the investment bank, cut its target to $19 from $25 [6]. *Chart: **Ten customers grew 46%; everyone else grew 8%** Bars comparing Q3 2026 year-over-year revenue growth: top 10 customers 46%, whole company 20%, all other customers 8%.* *Ten customers grew 46%; everyone else grew 8% [1][4]* ## One number where three used to be From 2027, Fastly retires its three revenue lines, Network Services, Security and Other, into a single consolidated figure, and will report the three one final time with fourth-quarter results [1]. In their place comes a new metric, multi-product adoption, a count of product suites rather than dollars: 74% of large customers use two or more, 34% use four or more [1]. The count carries no dollar amount, and AI product revenue has never been broken out; the AI Firewall [covered here in October](https://theinference.org/article/ai-found-the-flaw-under-most-of-the-web-fastly-is-selling-a-wall-it-has-not-finished) sits inside the Other line today and moves inside the blended number from 2027 [1]. On the same call, Fastly said Scott Lovett, president of go-to-market and the architect of the large-account push, retires in 2027 with no successor named; management says the guidance already reflects the transition [1]. From 2027, Fastly will tell investors how many products its customers buy and stop telling them what each one earns [1]. ## What the bulls are holding The bull case has receipts: [net retention of 119%](https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/fsly/transcripts/725294-q3-2026/), meaning existing customers spent 19% more over the trailing year, the highest since 2022; a seventh straight quarter of positive free cash flow; and an average analyst target of $28.55 against a $15.38 close [1][6]. Retail bought the dip: "Crushed earnings. Good Guidance... Thanks for the discount" [7]. The catch: revenue is usage-based, and [the fourth-quarter guide, implying 16% growth at the midpoint](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/fastly-inc-provides-earnings-guidance-for-the-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2026-ce785fddd889f621), leans on launch downloads of GTA 6, the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto game, traffic the CFO said "could be highly variable" [1]. Remaining performance obligations, contracted revenue not yet booked, slipped to $333.5 million from $340.9 million in Q2 [4]. ## February decides it Fastly appears at RBC's technology conference in New York on November 17 [1]. The fourth-quarter report, due in February, is the last with the old segment lines and the first clean read on whether ten customers can keep carrying 20% growth [1]. Until then, buyers at $15.38 own a company that still posts a GAAP net loss, of $0.07 a share [3], and is about to stop itemizing its revenue. ## Takeaway Fastly's record quarter was carried by ten accounts growing 46%, and the company is about to stop disclosing what each revenue line earns. ## Sources 1. [stockanalysis.com, Fastly (FSLY) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript, 4 November 2026](https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/fsly/transcripts/725294-q3-2026/) 2. [ScanX, Fastly Q3FY26 Results: Revenue up 20% YoY to $190.2 million, 6 November 2026](https://scanx.trade/stock-market-news/companies/fastly-raises-fy26-revenue-guidance-744m-748m/55373750) 3. [OptionsPilot, Fastly Beats and Raises, Then Drops About 17% After Hours, 4 November 2026](https://optionspilot.app/blog/fastly-fsly-q3-2026-earnings-beat-guidance-raised-scott-lovett-retiring-stock-falls-17-percent-after-hours-nov-6-straddle-fsly-options-nov-4-2026) 4. [24/7 Wall St., Fastly Just Dropped 41% in a Month: Is FSLY Stock Dead Money or Due for a Bounce?, 5 November 2026](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/11/05/fastly-just-dropped-41-in-a-month-is-fsly-stock-dead-money-or-due-for-a-bounce/) 5. [TradingView (Seeking Alpha), Fastly plunges on Q3 results as analyst highlights segment deceleration, 5 November 2026](https://www.tradingview.com/news/seekingalpha:228184370094b:0-fastly-plunges-on-q3-results-as-analyst-highlights-segment-deceleration/) 6. [MarketScreener, Fastly, Inc. Provides Earnings Guidance for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2026, 4 November 2026](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/fastly-inc-provides-earnings-guidance-for-the-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2026-ce785fddd889f621) 7. [Stocktwits, @Bull_InTheShortGrass on $FSLY, 5 November 2026](https://stocktwits.com/Bull_InTheShortGrass/message/668197354) 8. [SEC EDGAR, Fastly quarterly revenue history from its SEC filings, retrieved 6 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001517413) --- Fastly's best quarter ever came with a 27% crash, and its top 10 customers grew 46% while the rest grew 8% — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/fastly-s-best-quarter-ever-came-with-a-27-crash-and-its-top-10-customers-grew-46-while-the-rest-grew-8