For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in NetApp (NTAP) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to NTAP for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
With that in mind, let's take a look at NetApp's main business drivers.
NetApp provides enterprise storage as well as data management software and hardware products and services. The San Jose, CA based company assists enterprises in managing multiple clouds environments, adopting next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), Kubernetes, and contemporary databases, and navigating the complexity brought about by the quick development of data and cloud usage.
NetApp reported revenues of $6.27 billion in fiscal 2024. The company derived 90% of revenues from the Hybrid Cloud segment and the remaining from the Public Cloud Segment.
Hybrid Cloud offers a portfolio of storage management and infrastructure solutions that assist customers to transforming their traditional data centers into modern data centers with the help of cloud. Under this segment, the company offers intelligent data management software which includes NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, and NetApp Astra, etc.
Customers using NetApp Fabric Attached Storage (FAS) Arrays benefit from a combination of capacity and performance when using either hybrid-flash or disc drive configurations. FAS systems are ideal for secondary storage targets for disaster recovery, backup, and tiering. The Hybrid Cloud also offers storage solution which includes NetApp All-Flash FAS (AFF A-Series), NetApp QLC-Flash FAS (AFF C-Series) and NetApp StorageGRID etc.
Public Cloud offers a portfolio of products delivered primarily as-a-service, along with associated support. This portfolio includes cloud storage and data services and cloud operations services.
The company’s cloud operations services include NetApp Cloud Insights, Spot by NetApp and Instaclustr platform. Apart from these, NetApp also offers support, consulting and training services. The company markets and distributes products worldwide through a direct sales force, and an ecosystem of partners, including the leading cloud providers.
On a geographical basis, NetApp generated 51% of revenues in fiscal 2024 from the Americas (the United States, Canada and Latin America), 34% from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the remaining 15% from Asia Pacific (APAC).
NetApp faces stiff competition from companies like HP, Dell, IBM and Oracle.
Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For NetApp, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in December 2014 would be worth $2,934.08, or a gain of 193.41%, as of December 3, 2024, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 192.62% and gold's return of 108.82% over the same time frame.
Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for NTAP.
NetApp’s second-quarter performance gained from continued momentum across the all-flash portfolio and growth in first-party and marketplace cloud storage services. Total revenues were up 6% year over year while total billings rose 9%. RPO was $4.5 billion, buoyed by strength in its Keystone as-a-service offering (up 55% year over year). Driven by strength across flash, block, AI and cloud storage solutions, management has revised its guidance for fiscal 2025. It now expects revenues in the range of $6.54-$6.74 billion compared with the previous band of $6.48-$6.68 billion. However, free cash flow for fiscal 2025 is expected to be slightly lower year over year driven by the SSD-related cash outflows. A weak macro backdrop and muted IT spending amid intensified competition in the all-flash business pose headwinds.
The stock has jumped 6.79% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 7 higher, for fiscal 2025; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
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