Two stocks drew a lot of attention this week, for opposite reasons. Akamai Technologies became the newest company to win a large AI infrastructure contract. Nike took another analyst downgrade just days before its first-quarter report. Between them, they show how far apart the market's winners and losers have drifted in 2026.
Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM)
After the market closed on September 24, 2026, Akamai announced a seven-year, $11.60 billion contract with Anthropic, the AI lab behind the Claude models. Anthropic will use Akamai Cloud's distributed infrastructure to handle its growing CPU workloads. The deal can grow by up to another $9.00 billion, which would bring the total to about $20.00 billion.
The deal also comes with an equity piece. Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for non-voting convertible preferred stock. It converts into about 7.7 million common shares at an exercise price of $111.33, or up to roughly 5% of the company. About 2% is expected to vest with the $11.60 billion commitment. The other 3% vests in steps, with about 1% for each additional $3.00 billion of cloud services Anthropic buys.
The contract also comes with heavy spending. Akamai estimates total capital spending tied to the deal at about $5.50 billion. That includes roughly $1.70 billion more in 2026 to lock in key components such as memory. The company said it expects no impact on its 2026 revenue guidance. The deal also adds to more than $2.80 billion in multi-year cloud infrastructure commitments Akamai had already announced this year.
The stock rose about 22% in extended trading on September 24 but gave back most of that gain the next day. As of midday on September 25, 2026, AKAM traded at $116.40, up 5.43% from the prior close of $110.41. The market cap is $16.92 billion and the P/E ratio is 41.91. The stock is 64.36% above its 52-week low of $70.82 but still 29.65% below its 52-week high of $165.45.
Several analysts raised their targets on September 25. Guggenheim's John DiFucci lifted his to a Street-high $225.00 from $190.00. BofA Securities raised its target to $185.00, and JP Morgan moved to $167.00 while keeping a Neutral rating. The average target of $163.83 implies 40.75% upside. Most covering analysts still rate the stock Hold or Neutral, though. The big question is whether Akamai can turn a network built for content delivery into a profitable AI computing business while carrying this much new capital spending.
Nike (NYSE: NKE)
Nike's week went the other way. On September 25, 2026, Bank of America analyst Lorraine Hutchinson downgraded the stock to Underperform from Neutral and cut her price target to $30.00 from $47.00. She now expects Nike's sales to keep shrinking through fiscal 2027, instead of the spring rebound she had forecast earlier. She also cut her fiscal 2027 and fiscal 2028 earnings estimates by 11% and 12%. Her fiscal 2027 estimate now sits 14% below consensus.
Her reasons included a "China reset" facing a tougher demand backdrop, promotional pressure from Nike's pullback in partner online sales, tariffs, and intense competition. She also pointed out that Nike's dividend payout ratio is now above 100%.
The downgrade follows other cautious calls. Stifel cut its target to $40.00 from $45.00 on September 21, 2026. It lowered its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS estimate to $1.70, citing a more promotional retail market. UBS expects Nike to miss first-quarter EPS by five cents. BMO expects the company to reset its fiscal 2027 outlook.
As of midday on September 25, 2026, NKE traded at $35.92, just above its 52-week low of $35.22 and 53.33% below its 52-week high of $76.97. The market cap is $53.16 billion and the P/E ratio is 17.09. The average analyst target of $45.00 implies about 25.28% upside. Bank of America's $30.00 target implies about 16.48% downside.
There are some positives in the numbers. Nike has beaten its own revenue guidance for seven straight quarters. Its running business has grown by double digits for five quarters in a row. North American wholesale revenue grew 10% in the fiscal fourth quarter, and Stifel estimates the World Cup could add about $300.00 million to first-quarter revenue. The problems are bigger, though. Greater China revenue fell 17% in the fiscal fourth quarter. The Sportswear and Jordan lines make up about half of revenue, and management expects them to keep declining through fiscal 2027.
What to Watch
Nike reports fiscal first-quarter 2027 results after the market closes on Thursday, October 1, 2026. Analysts expect about $0.44 in EPS on revenue of about $11.34 billion. Investors will likely focus more on China trends, gross margins and any change to full-year guidance than on the quarter itself. The company's Investor Day on November 16–17, 2026, is the next big event after that.
For Akamai, the next checkpoint is its third-quarter report, when investors should get more detail on capital spending, margins and how fast the Anthropic revenue arrives.
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