Tags: Tech Investing

Why the Best Investments in Tech Right Now Stem from This Industry

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @TaraKateClarke •

Money Morning Defense and Technology Specialist Michael A. Robinson has been saying how "Big Data" will deliver some of the best investments in technology that we've ever seen...

You see, by 2009, almost every midsized-to-large company in the U.S. economy was storing more than 200 terabytes of data. (A terabyte is about 1 trillion bytes, or 1,000 gigabytes, or 2 times the size of giant retailer Wal-Mart's data warehouse in 1999.)

Now it's 2013, and Big Data has grown exponentially. Companies are starting to find ways to harness this vast sea of information.

The good news for investors: You can still "get in" cheaply, since parts of Big Data are just starting to develop.

You don't have to just take our word for it...

Here are some more shocking numbers that show just how "big" Big Data is and how much it will reward investors who take advantage early...

Editor's Note: No other sector of the market creates more millionaires or billionaires than technology. And this is the fastest-moving " Big Data" technology we've ever seen. It's projected to grow 63,000% by 2017 and create $7 trillion in new wealth. Will you be able to capitalize on these windfall profits?

Big Data Really Is Huge

Take a look at these Big Data stats from 2012:

  • More than 2.7 zettabytes of data existed in our digital universe last year. (A zettabyte of data is the total found in 62.5 billion iPhones - a stack that would go from the Earth past the moon.) That's a 48% gain from 2011.
  • As a result of Big Data tools, in 2012 decoding the human genome took less than 7 days; it used to take 10 years.
  • More than an estimated 5 billion people called, texted, tweeted, and browsed on mobile phones worldwide.
  • 571 new websites were created every minute of the day.
  • 100 terabytes of data was uploaded to Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) daily. (Fun fact: "tera" is Greek for monster, and the word "byte" was coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956. )
  • The United States spent an estimated $83.2 billion on online ads; Big Data analytics will be huge for the ad industry because it will allow advertisers to see how customers research, shop, and interact with brands.

Now look at how those numbers translate into Big Data being one of the best investments in tech today...

Big Data Is Ripe for Investors

The United States owns one-third of the world's data assets, at 32%. Western Europe follows at 19%, China at 13%, India at 4%, and the rest of the world collectively holds the remaining 32%.

And that's because American companies, entrepreneurs, and universities are the best innovators in the world.

By 2020, projections show that $325 billion of incremental annual gross domestic product (GDP) will be derived from Big Data analytics in retail and manufacturing, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey.

(That figure doesn't even account for cost savings in government services and healthcare, which don't directly translate into additional GDP; those sectors alone are estimated to see $285 billion in productivity gains as a result of Big Data applications.)

Analysts say the Big Data sector will dwarf the $160 billion cloud computing industry.

And Big Data is far-reaching - it will benefit multiple sectors of the U.S. economy, primarily knowledge-intensive manufacturing (like cars, chemicals, and aerospace), retail, wholesale/transport/logistics, information/media, financial/legal/technical services, real estate, education, healthcare, and government.

For instance, take a closer look at projections on how Big Data will impact the retail industry:

  • Retail operations will have access to real-time data on inventory, demand forecasting, and analytics that will predict store traffic and associated staffing needs. An estimated increase of $55 billion in annual productivity by 2020 is projected.
  • Manufacturing will be able to use advanced simulation techniques, better production processes, and the like, resulting in up to $270 billion in productivity gains.
  • Innovation in healthcare delivery, a shift to electronic records, and analytics that streamline research, clinical trials, and simulation could equate to $190 billion in healthcare cost savings by 2020.
  • Government services will be benefited by Big Data, boosting efficiency and reducing expenses. About $95 billion in productivity gains is projected by 2020.

Even the investment world itself will be streamlined by Big Data:

For instance, right now a website called CapitalCube is applying Big Data analytics to automate financial research on a whopping 45,000 public companies over the world.

CapitalCube aims to tap into the vast cloud of business, financial, and econometric data and break it down into actionable information. Right now CapitalCube computers do about 100 billion calculations in a single night, CEO Chaith Kondragunta told Barron's.

Subscribers will have access to the analytics' output on potential acquisition targets and high yielders at bargain prices.

These developments are why we've been tracking the Big Data story - it's truly one of the best investments in tech.

In fact, Money Morning's Michael Robinson recently uncovered a Big Data investment opportunity in the medical field...

He has identified one particular device he predicts will grow in sales from $11.1 billion to $7 trillion in the next two and half years. That's a 63,000% increase.

"That's how new moguls are going to be made. It's just too big, too obvious, and too splendid to ignore," says Robinson.

Robinson has seen a lot of tech breakthroughs over his 30 years as a leading analyst. But he's never seen one as big as this new Big Data breakthrough.

It's about a new device that could end all disease. If you want to be a part of this $7 trillion opportunity, we'll show you how to get started today...

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