Akamai Shares Fall After Analyst Downgrades

NEW YORK (AP) — Akamai Technologies Inc. shares fell Friday after a Citi Investment Research analyst downgraded the Web traffic-management services provider's stock to "Hold" from "Buy," saying the stock is nearing his $22 price target.

The move is a valuation call, and means the analyst does not recommend buying the shares at their current price

Akamai shares fell $1.71, or 7.9 percent, to $19.84 in afternoon trading.

In a note to clients, Citi analyst Mark Mahaney said he still sees Akamai as a core Web stock, but would be more interested in the shares if they were trading below $18, since that would offer 20 percent-plus upside to his price target.

He does see competition increasing for the company, though, noting that Limelight Networks Inc. recently unveiled a whole site delivery product called LimelightSITE.

"While it is too early to tell, we do believe Limelight's new product could be an incremental threat to Akamai's commerce business, which accounted for more than 30 percent of revenue in Q4," he wrote.