5 Best Cloud Computing Stocks to Invest In

2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)

No of HFs: 258

Total Value of HF Holdings: $52.8 Billion

Tech giant Microsoft Corp ranks 2nd in our list of 14 best cloud computing stocks to invest in. The company’s cloud platform, Microsoft Azure, focuses on analytics, virtual computing, storage, networking, among others. The cloud has over 715 million users, including Verizon (VZ), LG Electronics, and LinkedIn Corp. During the pandemic, the revenue of Azure was $14.6 billion, up 23%. Nokia recently entered a partnership with Microsoft to leverage its Cloud RAN and enhance 5G deployments.

The company’s overall revenue in the fiscal year 2020 was $143 billion. Shares of MSFT gained 54% over the last twelve months. Morgan Stanley analysts reiterated their Overweight rating on Microsoft (MSFT), increasing their price target to $245 (from $230) and predicting another dividend raise.

Betton Fund mentioned that most of the growth from MSFT is from the continued shift of corporate computing systems to “the cloud” in its Q4 2020 investor letter:

“Microsoft’s stock also had a great year, returning 42.4% on increased earnings per share of 30%. The main driver of their growth in recent years is their cloud computing business, and while it did see a bump in demand as office workers went remote, most of the growth is from the continued shift of corporate computing systems to “the cloud.” We think this shift is still in its early stages.”