Benzinga | Oct 18, 2021 04:47PM EDT

Cloudflare Partners With Microsoft, Yandex For Quicker, Relevant Search Results

* Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) will work with Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX), and other search engines to help businesses get the most timely and relevant search results to their customers.

* Cloudflare via the IndexNow.org initiative will automatically allow websites to notify search engines on content creating, updating, and deleting for more efficient crawling.

* Now, every Cloudflare customer can ensure users see the most up-to-date version of their content, all with a single click.

* Today, ~45% of Internet traffic comes from web crawlers and bots. Cloudflare launched Crawler Hints to help improve the efficiency of crawlers on the web.

* Now, Cloudflare is using the IndexNow standard to bring Crawler Hints to significant search engines.

* Analyst rating: Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz raised the price target on Cloudflare to $140 from $105, implying a 22.5% downside, and reiterated a Neutral.

* Notwithstanding rising yields and more significant inflation concerns that have intermittently weighed on software stocks, channel checks have continued to be "quite favorable, and growth names have largely remained en vogue," Moskowitz notes.

* The analyst introduced 2023 estimates and modestly raised price targets on some names.

* He remains bullish on the sector "although, with multiples elevated," he recommends a "more surgical approach to stock selection."

* Price Action: NET shares closed higher by 7.80% at $180.77 on Monday.