I've always said it and always will: The road to wealth is paved with tech.
If you've been with me for a while, you've made some lucrative "stops" along the road; nanotechnology, 3-D printing, pharmaceuticals, genetics - just to name a few.
Right now, the road is heading straight toward the "Cloud" - distributed computing.
As we speak, the Cloud is in the midst of revolutionizing virtually the entire economy. Before long, the Cloud will be a player in all of our lives, changing them for the better.
Right now, the Cloud is transforming the stock market itself, offering us one of the most impressive profit catalysts I've ever seen.
I can't think of a better time to move...
The Market's "Home of Tech" Is Now Cloud-Bound
This might be the most poetic example of my investing style I've ever seen...
Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is moving all 28 of its markets - including the Nasdaq Composite - into the Cloud, where they'll be hosted by hundreds, perhaps even thousands of machines.
Ironically - and, for me, shockingly - Nasdaq was late to the $350 billion Cloud party. I honestly thought the company that's world famous for its tech-stock markets was already there; it seemed like a no-brainer.
Turns out that wasn't the case at all.
ECONOMIC "JET FUEL": A projected 885 million tiny, self-powered computers will be in American hands by the end of 2020 - the biggest tech rollout in U.S. history. Learn how you could profit...
In reality, Nasdaq had built its own systems, its own data centers, and hosted most of its operations on site at its Manhattan headquarters - not the Cloud.
Then the novel coronavirus hit. The company was (almost) totally unprepared.
For example, in March, as the mobile-app investing megatrend exploded in parallel with COVID-19 shutdowns, Nasdaq's messaging service sent and received twice as much data as the previous record.
Fortunately for everyone, the company had already moved this service to the cloud, so expanding capacity was easy, essentially automatic.
But as I mentioned, the computers that host the Nasdaq's stock markets were inside the New York City headquarters, and those were closed, locked up tight as the virus raged through the city.
So when those throngs of new retail investors sent trading volume into the stratosphere this spring, the company had to risk rushing engineers into the building to manually configure and plug in enough servers to handle the surge.
It convinced the tech-market juggernaut to make a big, permanent, and ultimately very smart move.
Nasdaq Will Have Plenty of Company "Up There"
As you'd expect, Nasdaq is totally unwilling to be caught out again, so it's committed to moving most of its markets to the Cloud by 2025, and all 28 of them by 2030.
Again, that's playing it conservatively; I tend to think that all American markets and exchanges will be in the Cloud way before 2030.
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Try and wrap your head around the immense size of that undertaking; it's the digital equivalent of building the Pyramids, or the transcontinental railroad. It's a modern moonshot.
I'm talking about $61 trillion in stocks and nearly $100 trillion in fixed-income securities - plus the ownership data, transaction histories, messages, and derivatives that come with them.
All of it, every cent and every byte, will have to go online. A tall order, any way you slice it.
As I hinted at earlier, the Cloud computing sector is worth a cool $350 billion today, but Technavio predicts it will grow by $190.32 billion - nearly 55% - by 2023.
Even if you think that's conservative - which I do - that's easily a double in much less than a decade, and an irresistibly attractive investment opportunity.
So let's look at a market-crushing Cloud stock that's outperforming the S&P 500 by 62%.
Here's the Smart, Sector-Wide Play
It's safe to say some Cloud providers, which are already seeing soaring demand, are going to be doing a brisk business in all of this.
But then you're faced with the daunting prospect of sorting the winners from the losers. For retail tech investors, that can be like building the Pyramids.
There are hundreds of companies involved in the Cloud. We're talking everyone from the makers of the basic hardware and software that powers it all, to developers that provide businesses with Cloud-based accounting, document signing, or dozens of other specialized functions.
Fortunately, if you're following along with my recommendations, you don't have to. The savvy management at the fund I've researched can do it all for you.
The First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ: SKYY) gets you exposure to some of the biggest players in Cloud computing - Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), whose Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit is the gold standard in the Cloud. They own Google's parent, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Azure Cloud service creators Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).
Of course, those are just the top names. SKYY gets you exposure to some lesser-known top performers in Cloud computing. Of the 63 stocks in the SKYY portfolio, 71% are in Cloud software, while 11% make the very hardware the Cloud runs on.
Take a look...
You Get All These Companies at a Discount
Fastly Inc. (NYSE: FSLY) is the leader in the content delivery network (CDN) business. These are the invisible networks of servers that speed up the Internet by hosting the most popular content closer to consumers. Fastly's CDN network also protects its clients, including Google, Microsoft, Slack Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: WORK), and many others from hackers, bots, and denial of service attacks. Fastly's revenue is booming in large part to the uptick in demand prompted by COVID-19.
ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) provides full-service information technology (IT) environments that unify everything from operations and asset management, to security and risk compliance, to developing apps in-house. Its clients include firms like healthcare giant AstraZeneca Plc. (NASDAQ: AZN), chip leader Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO), and consumer products titan Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB). Plus, Microsoft just adopted ServiceNow's IT and employee experience products across the company and made ServiceNow a "key strategic partner" for its Azure Cloud platform.
German juggernaut SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) uses its sophisticated Hana platform to drive cloud sales, which are now at $21 billion. SAP is widening its focus from only the Fortune 1,000 companies to the roughly 600,000 online firms operating in the United States. SAP's database software business also gives it a leg up in the Internet of Things market, which the firm is looking to use as a "Trojan horse" to break into the Cloud computing market.
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Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV) is an aggressive, growth-centric provider of essential Cloud computing services to the life sciences industry. It boasts some very large customers, including Big Pharma leaders AstraZeneca, Bayer AG (OTC: BAYRY), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK), and Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS). Veeva also caters to cutting-edge biotechs like Karyopharm Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KPTI), which has a market cap of $1.2 billion, and $615 million Clovis Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS) - a $7 stock.
Clearly, targeting the best-in-breed companies in the Cloud will pay off - but you don't have to worry about it. SKYY's top-notch management is getting the job done.
And they've done it with astonishing speed, even in this market.
SKYY's February intraday high was $68.66. The fund re-attained that high in barely two months (no doubt that's down to the explosive post-"COVID Crash" growth in the Cloud) and left the $60s in the dust. It's come up as high as 71% since its March lows, but it's been swept up in the general correction in stocks. That means its current $79 price is an attractive entry point, but it won't be long before SKYY leaves the $70s in the dust.
One of the Most Powerful Devices Ever Created
It's expected to make your life easier, faster, and much more secure, but it's just four millimeters thick and roughly the size of a pencil eraser. It won't cost you a nickel, but I think it could spark a revenue surge of 1,768% in the next 12 months for the one firm that owns the most patents on it.
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About the Author
Michael A. Robinson is a 36-year Silicon Valley veteran and one of the top tech and biotech financial analysts working today. That's because, as a consultant, senior adviser, and board member for Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Michael enjoys privileged access to pioneering CEOs, scientists, and high-profile players. And he brings this entire world of Silicon Valley "insiders" right to you...
- He was one of five people involved in early meetings for the $160 billion "cloud" computing phenomenon.
- He was there as Lee Iacocca and Roger Smith, the CEOs of Chrysler and GM, led the robotics revolution that saved the U.S. automotive industry.
- As cyber-security was becoming a focus of national security, Michael was with Dave DeWalt, the CEO of McAfee, right before Intel acquired his company for $7.8 billion.
This all means the entire world is constantly seeking Michael's insight.
In addition to being a regular guest and panelist on CNBC and Fox Business, he is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter. His first book Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings warned people about the coming financial collapse - years before the word "bailout" became a household word.
Silicon Valley defense publications vie for his analysis. He's worked for Defense Media Network and Signal Magazine, as well as The New York Times, American Enterprise, and The Wall Street Journal.
And even with decades of experience, Michael believes there has never been a moment in time quite like this.
Right now, medical breakthroughs that once took years to develop are moving at a record speed. And that means we are going to see highly lucrative biotech investment opportunities come in fast and furious.
To help you navigate the historic opportunity in biotech, Michael launched the Bio-Tech Profit Alliance.
His other publications include: Strategic Tech Investor, The Nova-X Report, Bio-Technology Profit Alliance and Nexus-9 Network.