Nasdaq Remains Unaffected Despite Akamai (AKAM), Cisco (CSCO)

The tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to squeak out a small 1 point gain after large bell-weather tech stocks Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) disappointed investors. Cisco was down over 14% on another quarterly miss. The company has already missed three quarterly earnings targets in a row, and is likely losing business to smaller, more agile networking companies. Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) beat earnings and revenue (see details here), yet guidance disappointed investors sending the stock crashing over 15%. Despite these top notch tech companies falling, the Nasdaq held strong and continued to rally and the technology sector as a whole remains vastly undervalued due to its rapid growth.

Akamai Hits Rock Bottom (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), a provider of services accelerating the delivery of content over the internet plummeted over 11% in after hours trading, after the company beat earnings and revenue, but guided lower.

"People's expectations got too hot," said Allan Edwards, co-CEO of The Markets Are Open. "Good company, but this stock's going to have a baaad day tomorrow."

After adjusted earnings Akamai earned $0.40 per share beating estimates by 2 cents. The company also beat revenue by about $1 million, making $284.7 million in the quarter.

Stocks with Clouded Futures: AKAM, CRM, VMW, RHT, LLNW

The cloud stocks have all been on a tear since the beginning of the year. Last week Linux provider Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) reported results that were simply in line with analyst estimates. The stock was down 0.41% last trading day. There's no telling how these stocks will end for the year as they have run up so much. However with the speed and amount of growth that they pack, each cloud stock could be poised for another strong year. Last trading day Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was almost flat, down 0.07%, VMWare (NYSE: VMW) rose 0.64%, Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) fell 1.41%, and Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) dropped 0.17%. These stocks are all starting to level out which could mean that investors are getting ready to buy these fast growers again.

Hot Stocks of 2010: SIRI, NFLX, AKAM, DECK, CMG

The Nasdaq has sported some of the top gainers of the year. The Nasdaq itself has outperformed the other indexes, and some investors believe this is just the beginning of a multi year run. Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) is up 168% since the beginning of the year. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) smashed it out of the ballpark, being up 235% since Januray 1st 2010. Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) was up over 89% for the year so far and Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK) 146%. On the New York Stock Exchange, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) has soared 159%. Although these stocks have run up big since the beginning of the year, some believe they are still good candidates for 2011 due to their ultra-high growth rates. With the exception of Deckers, all these stocks also come with nose bleed price to earnings multiples. With the last week of trading for the year coming up, there's now telling how these stocks will act entering the new year.

To read the full Netflix report click here.

A Dark Cloud Covers Market: CRM, AKAM, LLNW, VMW, NFLX

At the close of Friday's trading session, the cloud computing sector took a hit. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was down 1.47% to close at $115.01. Content delivery network specialist Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) finished 1.33% lower to close at $49.77. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) shook the sector when investors realized that Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) was providing Netflix with a large chunk of business. Akamai shareholders were disappointed on the news. Limelight Networks was down 2.92% to close at $7.64, however the stock was up enormously earlier in the week. Finally, virtual machine maker VMWare weighed down on the cloud sector by closing down 2.74% to $80.99 per share.

The cloud stocks are up drastically since the beginning of the year ranging from 55% in CRM to 98% in LLNW. Will these stocks continue to lag the market, or will this week prove to be much more lucrative for the clouds?

Puffy White Clouds: LLNW, NFLX, LVLT, AKAM, CRM, EQIX

Cloud computing stock Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) skyrocketed 17.27% today after Mad Money's Jim Cramer interviewed the CEO last night on his show. He highlighted that Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) was a large customer of Limelight which helps to deliver their movies. Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) fell over 4% today as mixed rumours stated that Netflix had dropped the company as a service provider. However in other reports, Netflix indicated that relationships were still strong with the CDN provider.

Cloud computing guru Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was up $0.27 today closing at $114.77 per share. Data center expert Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) fell 1.78% today. The stock was hammered in early October after the company missed investor expectations.

Communications company Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT) was up 18.64% after a deal between Netflix was confirmed. Netflix has been the center of attention today. Level 3 also experienced flash-crash type trading mid-day.