Ever so slightly, optimism is creeping back into the stock market. After months of downward pressure, the Nasdaq Composite index is trying to find a bottom. And while this move could be temporary and the selling pressure could return, investors should be asking themselves which former highfliers are poised to bounce back once overall market sentiment improves.
In my opinion, Snowflake (SNOW 0.69%) is one name to keep an eye on. Let's have a closer look as to why.
Cloud revenue is soaring
Simply put, the cloud market is on fire. For years, businesses have been shifting toward the cloud, where data, applications, and security can all be centralized and maintained more efficiently at a lower cost.
Chart by Statista.
As this transition has picked up steam, overall cloud revenues have soared. In 2017, cloud spending amounted to $145 billion. By next year, it's estimated to rise to almost $600 billion -- more than a fourfold increase.
What Snowflake does
Companies such as Salesforce, Workday, and ServiceNow have carved out niches within the cloud marketplace, focusing on sales, human resources, and IT operations management. Yet Snowflake's business model sets it apart. Rather than focusing on a particular business need, Snowflake aims to increase its customers' productivity. To this end, it aggregates data, builds models, and predicts outcomes.
Once you understand the business model, you could argue that Snowflake's competitors are not just other cloud-computing companies but traditional consulting businesses, too. But rather than taking months to conduct interviews or review surveys, Snowflake strives to provide real-time data and insights that give its customers a leg up on their competition.
Snowflake's share of the cloud market
With revenue growing 85% year over year in its recent quarter, Snowflake is finding demand for its services. But just how much of the $600 billion cloud-computing market can Snowflake hope to capture?
Chart by Statista.
As you can see, Snowflake trails well behind many of the giant players in the cloud-computing industry. However, given the company's high growth rate, it's not unreasonable to think it can achieve its goal of $10 billion in revenue by 2029. What's more, if Snowflake continues to gain momentum (analysts estimate 295% earnings growth annually for the next five years), some competitors may turn into potential buyers -- seeking to buy out a budding rival with a market cap that's been cut in half this year.
Even though summer is in full swing, smart investors should keep SNOW on their minds.
