One investment thematic that I'm excited about is the cloud computing boom.
The global public cloud services market is expected to grow materially over the next decade as more infrastructure migrates to the cloud.
I believe this growth means that companies exposed to the cloud computing market could be positioned perfectly to profit.
Two shares which I expect to benefit greatly from this boom are listed below:
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)
Megaport could be a great way to play this thematic. It is a leading provider of elasticity connectivity and network services through a growing number of data centres globally. Its network as a service offering allows customers to increase and decrease their available bandwidth in response to their own demand requirements. This basically means that customers can ramp up their bandwidth at busy times and reduce it when demand is low.
This is proving very popular with companies that don't want to be locked into fixed service levels on long-term contracts. So much so, the company recently reported a 10% quarter on quarter increase in revenue to $15.2 million. This was driven by a 6% lift in customer numbers to 1,777 and a 12% jump in total services to 15,531. Also rising strongly was Megaport's monthly recurring revenue. It was up 19% quarter on quarter to $5.4 million at the end of March. Given the tailwinds it is experiencing, I believe it is well-placed for further strong growth over the coming years.
NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
Another way to gain direct exposure to the cloud computing market is NEXTDC. It is an innovative data centre operator with world class centres in key locations across Australia. Thanks to the strong demand for data centre services, NEXTDC has been expanding its network at a solid rate over the last few years.
And with the cloud market expected to continue growing materially for many more years to come, demand for space in its centres looks set to maintain its upwards trajectory. Another positive is that the company has consistently been making its operations more efficient by generating greater revenue per square metre and megawatt over the last few years. I'm confident there will be more of the same in the coming years, which should drive strong earnings growth as it scales.
