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The cloud computing industry is shining. Over the past couple of years, this specialized corner of the tech space has taken giant strides and motivated many companies to develop cloud infrastructure. Cloud computing is a procedure by which data or software is stored outside of a computer , but can be easily accessed anywhere/any time via the Internet. This process is gaining traction as it can cut IT costs of companies by removing expensive servers and trim maintenance staff. Thanks to the enormous growth in the amount of data, complexity of data formats and the need to scale up resources at regular intervals compelled several companies to turn to cloud computing vendors. Research firm IDC projected last year that public IT cloud services spending will surge at a 5-year CAGR of 22.8% to over $127 billion in 2018. The rate of growth is six times higher than the broader IT market. In 2018, public IT cloud services will comprise over 50% of global software and storage development (read: Behind the Surge in the Cloud Computing ETF ). No wonder, the bullish industry prospects will be reflected in corporate earnings. Investors also have a dedicated ETF to this specific industry – the First Trust ISE Cloud Computing Index ETF (NASDAQ: SKYY ) . The product comprises top-notch tech giants having considerable presence in the cloud business that have also delivered stellar results. Let’s take a look at some of the cloud-heavy stocks, dig deeper into their cloud computing segment and see how can impact the cloud computing ETF SKYY (see all Technology ETFs here). Inside SKYY & Q3 Earnings of Components SKYY has amassed about $490 million in assets so far and charges 60 bps in fees. Year to date, the product has advanced over 6.7%. The portfolio has a tilt toward software and Internet companies, though technology hardware and IT service firms also pull it off nicely. In total, the fund holds about 36 securities in its basket. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ) is SKYY’s top holding. The company beat on both lines in Q3 following blockbuster results in Q2. Steady cloud computing business led revenues to skyrocket 78.4% in Q3 after an 81% jump in Q2. The division generated almost as much operating income as Amazon’s entire North America e-commerce business. Notably, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is way ahead of all players in public cloud services that are rushing to draw near. Shares soared over 6.2% following the earnings release (as of October 23, 2015). Amazon has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Further, the stock has a Zacks Growth and Momentum Style Score of ‘A’. Another cloud-heavy hot tech-stock – Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) – occupies 4.92% of SKYY and takes the second position. The company’s cloud business lies within ” Other Revenues “, which increased 11% year over year to $1.89 billion in Q3. As quoted by management, “we are scaling all of these apps for over a billion users, we are powering the infrastructure, which will drive our cloud business.” Shares of Alphabet rose over 5.6% on October 23. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is up about 35.6% so far this year and has a Zacks Growth score of ‘B’ and Momentum score of ‘A’. Juniper (NYSE: JNPR ) is yet another cloud-based holding of SKYY which takes the fourth position in the fund with 4.30% weight. Juniper posted better-than-expected third-quarter 2015 results on both lines and issued an optimistic guidance for the fourth quarter. The company stated that the better-than-expected top line was mainly driven by higher demand from Cloud and Cable service providers. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock has a Growth, Value and Momentum score of ‘B.’ Post earnings, JNPR jumped over 5.8% on October 23, 2015. Another player, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX ) , which also happens to be the world’s largest video streaming company, takes the eighth position in the fund with 3.96% weight. Though this company disappointed investors this season, its outlook is still optimistic. This Zacks Rank #3 stock is up about 105% this year . Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) shares were up over 10% on October 23 following the release of 1Q16 earnings. Its bottom line beat the estimate but the top line lagged. Microsoft’s Azure and Office 365 are almost neck and neck with Amazon. Moreover, Microsoft comes second in terms of compute capacity in the cloud. Revenues from Azure grew 135% this season. This Zacks Rank #3 stock takes 2.92% of SKYY. EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC ) beat on the top line but its bottom line matched the estimate. EMC, which holds 3.61% share of SKYY, is being acquired by Dell and a private equity firm Silver Lake. Moreover, EMC and VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW ) announced their plans to form a new cloud company by spinning out Virtustream. Investors should note that VMW holds 2.45% share of SKYY. The company’s adjusted earnings grew a robust 28.6% on a year-over-year basis while revenues were up 10.4%. Bottom Line So for investors keen on playing this thriving cloud computing space, the time is ripe for building a position in SKYY. The fund has a promising profile and could expose one to the broader universe of cloud computing. Link to the original post on Zacks.com Scalper1 News
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