I'm a NET watcher/holder, I've read most of their earnings call transcripts and SEC docs since the S-1. IMO, they were way overvalued at their peak on fundamentals. With the recent slide, I think they're "far" undervalued, to an extent that varies based on how much value one attributes to present and future tailwinds that cannot be encoded on a balance sheet as future receivables.
Boiling it down, I think institutional investors do not fundamentally understand Cloudflare's technical raison d'etre.
As you implied, NET gets lumped in with its IPO class of "tech stocks", but is fundamentally different, for the reasons you gave. They have a legitimate moat, differentiated technical talent, and are fishing in a growing pond.
Similar to the Amazon story, it seems inevitable that a company shaped like NET is going to make oodles of money in the next ten years provided they have the right leadership and capital structures. NET has all that, and a several-years head start. On and up.
Boiling it down, I think institutional investors do not fundamentally understand Cloudflare's technical raison d'etre.
As you implied, NET gets lumped in with its IPO class of "tech stocks", but is fundamentally different, for the reasons you gave. They have a legitimate moat, differentiated technical talent, and are fishing in a growing pond.
Similar to the Amazon story, it seems inevitable that a company shaped like NET is going to make oodles of money in the next ten years provided they have the right leadership and capital structures. NET has all that, and a several-years head start. On and up.