3 Cloud Stocks With at Least 22% Upside, According to Wall Street
Over the past year, stock market volatility has been off the charts. We've navigated our way through the fastest bear market dive in history and the quickest snap-back rally to all-time highs. Amid this chaos, one trend has vastly outperformed: cloud computing.
Everything having to do with the cloud, including storage, infrastructure, platform, and software, has flourished. Given that the coronavirus pandemic has completely disrupted the traditional work and shopping environment, businesses and consumers have figured out just how effective they can be in their own offices or on their own couches.
It also hasn't hurt that interest rates are near all-time lows. High-growth cloud stocks have the ability to borrow cheaply in order to hire, innovate, or acquire, should they choose to do so.
While a number of
VMware: Implied upside of 27%
According to analysts, digital infrastructure giant VMware (NYSE: VMW) offers up to 27% upside. This upside may well reflect that its share price is down about 10% over the trailing 12-month period, while most other cloud stocks have been off to the races.
The biggest concern for VMware is the company's
Perhaps the most exciting question to be answered for VMware shareholders, as well as those closely watching the company, is what might happen with its largest shareholder, Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL). Dell
Valued at a multiple of less than five times forward-year sales, VMware could be an intriguing buy for patient investors seeking less volatility in the cloud space.
Zoom Video Communications: Implied upside of 23%
Now, if exceptionally high-growth
If you need any convincing as to why Zoom had such a phenomenal year, here's a perfect example. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, Zoom issued full-year guidance for fiscal year 2021 of $905 million to $915 million. During the October-ended quarter, Zoom updated its full-year sales guidance to a range of $2.575 billion to $2.58 billion. The company
What's more, Zoom Video's cloud-based communications platform is resonating with big and small businesses, and well as new and existing customers. My longtime Foolish colleague Rick Munarriz
Based on data gathered from LearnBonds in April 2020, Zoom controlled nearly 43% of the U.S. web conferencing market. Even when the pandemic ends, this shift to video conferencing isn't going away. Growth may slow a bit, but Zoom has cemented itself as the premier enterprise communications platform.
salesforce.com: Implied upside of 22%
A third cloud stock with some serious upside potential is customer relationship management (CRM) software specialist salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM). If Wall Street's prognostication is correct, Salesforce has at least 22% upside over the next year.
CRM software helps consumer-facing businesses better track customer data, service issues, and handle marketing campaigns, all in real time. It can even be a useful tool in helping to suggest add-on sales. It's a logical tool for the retail and service industries to use, but has become increasingly popular with the financial sector, manufacturing, and even healthcare companies. Pretty much any consumer-facing business is a potential opportunity for Salesforce.
Salesforce is the
In early December, Salesforce also announced that it would make its largest acquisition in the company's history and buy Slack Technologies. This
Of the three cloud stocks Wall Street fancies, Salesforce is the one
10 stocks we like better than Salesforce.com
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