Cloud Stocks: Qualys Counts on Google and Microsoft for Growth

Cloud services security provider Qualys (Nasdaq: QLYS) recently announced its fourth-quarter results that failed to particularly impress the market. But the company is focusing on attracting the market through its product upgrades and tie-ups with the tech giants.

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Cloud Stocks: RingCentral’s Powerful Partner Strategy Would Augment with PaaS

Cloud-based communication services provider RingCentral (NYSE:RNG), which is one of our Top 20 Cloud Stocks for 2020, reported its fourth quarter results this week that blew past all market expectations, and its stock has soared to a record high post the announcement.

Cloud Stocks: Proofpoint Targets Insider Threats Through Acquisition

According to IDC, the global cyber security market grew 9% to $103.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at 9% CAGR to reach $133.8 billion by 2022. Recently, San Francisco-based Proofpoint (Nasdaq: PFPT) announced its fourth quarter results that surpassed market expectations.

PaaS: Why I Am So Excited

I have spent a decade already on One Million by One Million with the mission of helping a million entrepreneurs reach their first million in revenues.

The journey has led me down many corridors of technology.

The one that excites me the most is Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

Today, there are easily 200+ B-to-B SaaS companies out there, including 50+ public ones. The IPO market for cloud stocks is rich and we will see many others go public in due course. These are solid companies, nothing foo-foo about them.

Cloud Stocks: Zendesk, Freshworks Focus on Marketplaces and Integrations

According to an Allied Market Research report, the global complaint management software market is expected to grow at 11% CAGR to reach $8.3 billion by 2026 from $1.93 billion in 2018. Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN), and India-based Freshworks are key players in the market. Zendesk recently announced its fourth quarter results that surpassed market expectations.

Cloud Stocks: Twilio Steps up Investment in 2020 to Preserve Growth Momentum

Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) is a leading player in the Communications PaaS segment that made it to our list of Top 20 Cloud Stocks for 2020. It recently reported a strong quarter that beat estimates but its profitability outlook was disappointing.

ServiceNow’s Growth Mantras: AI, Verticals

Under the leadership of its newest CEO Bill McDermott, ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) recently reported a stellar quarter. The company outperformed market expectations for the quarter on all fronts, sending the stock soaring to a record high.

Facebook Explores Payments and Commerce

Facebook’s (Nasdaq: FB) battle with privacy concerns are far from over. The company recently announced that it had settled a class action lawsuit by paying $550 million in fine, and it was also slapped with a $5 billion fine for privacy abuses by the Federal Trade Commission. Despite this, its quarterly results surpassed market expectations. Facebook is also looking at expanding its service offerings to e-commerce and payments to drive growth.

PaaS: Platform Vendors Need to Avoid Lumpy Revenues

In my recent post How PaaS Impacts The Stock Prices Of SaaS Companies, I mentioned an equation:

Some numbers: Let us say, a SaaS platform vendor succeeds in facilitating 100 small companies to achieve $10M in ARR each. That would add up to $1 billion ARR cumulative. 30% of this, or $300 million ARR comes back to the company as platform fees. This, conceivably, amounts to a $3 billion market cap enhancement for the PaaS vendor.

The reality often is somewhat different. 

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Google’s Cloud Bets Are Paying Off

Like other tech giants, Google’s parent, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) too has crossed into the trillion-dollar market cap territory. This was even though the recently announced fourth quarter results did little to impress the markets. Alphabet fell short of the market’s revenue expectations while it managed to scrape past the earnings estimates. The stock fell 5% in the after-hours trading session.