Akamai Technologies (AKAM) stock surged 12.61% over the past 24 hours, driven by a strong second-quarter earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations and bullish commentary from the company's CEO.

The cybersecurity and cloud computing firm reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.59, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57, while revenue came in at $1.099 billion, slightly above the expected $1.092 billion. The results were fueled by a 39% year-over-year jump in cloud infrastructure services revenue, including a significant $600 million multi-year contract with a U.S. technology company, and a 10% increase in security segment revenue. The company also provided third-quarter and full-year guidance that fell largely in line with analyst forecasts, with revenue projections of $1.105 billion to $1.130 billion for the upcoming quarter.

Further boosting investor sentiment, CEO Tom Leighton appeared on CNBC's Mad Money, stating that he expects Akamai's growth rate to accelerate in the near term and highlighting a very strong pipeline and interest in the company's capabilities, particularly around artificial intelligence. The combination of the earnings beat, robust cloud infrastructure demand, and optimistic outlook overshadowed a slight miss in adjusted EBITDA and a decline in delivery and other cloud applications revenue.