Amazon's Q4 Good News For Akamai, Limelight (AKAM, LLNW)

Amazon reported $5.67 billion in Q4 revenue yesterday, beating Street expectations by a solid margin. That could be good news for content delivery firms Akamai Technologies, which reports Q4 next Wednesday, and Limelight Networks, which reports results on Feb. 19, American Technology Research says in a note this morning.

Why those two? Akamai (AKAM) does a lot of business with e-commerce companies, including Amazon, so more online shopping means more data for Akamai to push across its network. And Limelight (LLNW) handles transfers for Amazon's MP3 store and its Unbox movie/TV download service. It's early days for those two services, but obviously any upside would be good for LLNW. (Limelight already said earlier this month that Q4 revenue would be at the high end of guidance.)

Meanwhile, one question we'll ponder: How will a recession hit Akamai, Limelight, and other CDNs? Web bulls argue that online shopping may increase, as penny-pinching consumers look for deals, but we worry that overall spending will still be down.

See Also: Microsoft Buying Limelight Rumor Update: New Details