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Cloud Service Demand Soars on Renewed Coronavirus Fears: 4 Picks

Technology over the past few months have shown us how everything from shopping to ordering food to working and learning can be done sitting at home. This has seen the cloud business benefitting the most, with companies shifting data and information to technological and digital platforms to safely remain afloat.

With infections once again on the rise, following the gradual reopening of states, it is likely that people will prefer working, learning and shopping from home. This has seen a number of big players focus and investing more in cloud business in a bid to grab a bigger share of the market.

Companies Focus on Cloud Business

Tech companies, which have been a savior during the pandemic, are expanding their cloud business. Recently, Alibaba Group Holdings BABA partnered with Equinox, Inc. EQIX to expand its cloud services to markets in Europe, America and Asia Pacific. Per the deal, Alibaba will get access to Equinox’s existing customer base to enterprises, network operators, cloud and IT service providers to use its Alibaba Cloud.

The move will help the Chinese cloud giant expand its market share beyond the Chinese mainland. Earlier, Alibaba announced that it will recruit around 5,000 staff globally in a bid to strengthen its cloud unit.

Also, Microsoft Corporation MSFT and SAS jointly announced in June a strategic partnership making Azure the preferred cloud platform for SAS's analytics portfolio. The two companies will enable customers to easily run their SAS workloads in the cloud, expanding their business solutions and unlocking critical value from their digital transformation initiatives. Earlier, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN opened a datacenter region in Italy.

Cloud Business Poised to Grow

A number of companies are expecting their cloud usage to exceed plans due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Cloud Computing in Industrial IOT Market Research Report, cloud computing in the industrial IoT market is expected to grow from $3,966.66 million in 2019 to $7,078.35 million by the end of 2025 at a CAGR of 10.13%.

Cloud computing is transforming businesses by allowing them to focus on other crucial operations than manage servers. Many start-ups today are using cloud to save on infrastructure and overhead costs, thereby expanding without concerning themselves with infrastructure-related expenses.

According to the ninth-annual Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report, 59% of the companies expect their cloud usage to be slightly or significantly higher than planned. With coronavirus cases once again jumping, it is likely that people will prefer working and learning from home, giving cloud business a boost.

Our Choices

Tech companies have been aggressively expanding their cloud services, given that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over. Given the situation, we have shortlisted four tech companies that are sure to benefit from soaring demand for cloud services.

Box, Inc. BOX is a provider of a cloud content management platform. The platform enables internal and external collaboration on content, automation of content-driven business processes, development of custom applications, data protection, security and compliance features.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 35.1% over the past 60 days. Box carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Zoom Video Communications, Inc.’s ZM cloud-native unified communications platform, which combines video, audio, phone, screen sharing and chat functionalities, makes remote-working and collaboration easy.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is more than 100%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 195.3% over the past 60 days. Zoom sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Avalara, Inc. AVLR is a provider of cloud-based tax compliance solutions. It offers businesses of all sizes achieve compliance with transaction taxes including sales and use, VAT, excise, communications and other tax types.

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 58.3%. Its shares have gained 39.1% over the past 30 days. Avalara carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Amazon.com, Inc. besides having a thriving e-commerce presence also enjoys dominant position in the cloud-computing market, particularly in the Infrastructure as a Service space, thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The company’s expected earnings growth rate for next year is 92.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 2.1% over the past 60 days. Amazon has a Zacks Rank #2.

These Stocks Are Poised to Soar Past the Pandemic

The COVID-19 outbreak has shifted consumer behavior dramatically, and a handful of high-tech companies have stepped up to keep America running. Right now, investors in these companies have a shot at serious profits. For example, Zoom jumped 108.5% in less than 4 months while most other stocks were sinking.

Our research shows that 5 cutting-edge stocks could skyrocket from the exponential increase in demand for “stay at home” technologies. This could be one of the biggest buying opportunities of this decade, especially for those who get in early.

See the 5 high-tech stocks now>>


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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Box, Inc. (BOX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Avalara, Inc. (AVLR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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