Akami posts strong results thanks to increased online traffic

Akamai shares, which have fallen about 12 percent in the last three months, were up 11 percent in extended trading.

"Traffic levels in our media division were higher than expected towards the end of the quarter, primarily in large social media accounts and electronic gaming and software download accounts," Chief Executive Tom Leighton told Reuters.

Akamai's 132,442 servers across the world carry content for clients ranging from Facebook Inc to Netflix Inc.

The company said in February it would wind down some media contracts because they were not of long-term economic value.

Akamai's media clients include Apple Inc, Sony BMG, News Corp, Nintendo Co and NBC.

"We still have one large video customer that we are in the process of winding down, and now it looks like it will wind down at the end of Q2, instead of the end of Q1," Leighton said.

Akamai's net income rose to $71.5 million, or 39 cents per share, in the first quarter, from $43.2 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 51 cents per share.

Revenue rose 15 percent to $368 million.

Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $357.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Akamai counts Autodesk Inc, EMC Corp and SAP AG as customers for its cloud infrastructure services.

Akamai shares, which closed at $36.09 on the Nasdaq, were trading at $40.19 after the bell.

© Thomson Reuters 2013