Shares in Cloudflare and Fortinet were rising Friday after both companies reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

Cloudflare stock climbed 10.23% to $156 in premarket trading, while Fortinet was up 5.85% to $110.84 ahead of the opening bell. Futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 were flat.

The moves came after both companies impress the market with strong earnings and guidance. However their CEOs' comments on two of the biggest stock-market stories of 2025 so far might be even more interesting to investors.

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince weighed in on DeepSeek on a post-earnings call with analysts. The rapid rise of the Chinese startup's new artificial intelligence model -- seemingly made on the cheap -- sparked a brutal sell-off last week, fueling fears that AI spending could crater.

"This idea that the only way to win in AI was to spend hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars -- I think DeepSeek shook that foundation and I think that plays very much to Cloudflare's strength," Prince said. His comments echo those made by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who invoked a 19th-century economic concept known as the Jevons Paradox to argue that cheaper AI would boost demand over the longer-term last week.

"We are extremely good at wringing out as much efficiency as possible and we're seeing the same opportunities with inference that DeepSeek saw with training," Prince added. The company uses graphics processing units spread across its global network to allow users to build and develop AI applications at a cheaper cost.

Meanwhile, Fortinet CFO Keith F. Jensen discussed trade tensions on a separate call with analysts. Tariffs could be bad news for the cybersecurity industry, judging by his comments: Jensen pointed to higher levies on imports as one reason why the company's guidance for the current quarter looked cautious.

Cloudflare had reported adjusted net income of 19 cents a share on total revenue of $459.9 million for the fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting net income of 18 cents a share on revenue $452.1 million.

Fortinet reported adjusted net income of 74 cents a share on total revenue of $1.66 billion. Analysts were expecting net income of 61 cents a share on revenue of $1.59 billion.