Investopedia: Clouds Mean Bright Days For NetApp

Semiconductors are in the doldrums; the PC market seems to be on life support; and the health of routers and switches seems to depend on whichever company reported last. Storage, though, is clearly an area of strength, as companies struggle to stay on top of their own data management and cloud computing demands ever-increasing hardware support. 


That is good news for NetApp (Nasdaq:NTAP). This storage company seems to get dismissed from time to time as a weak sister to EMC (NYSE:EMC), but the fact remains that it is a growing player in a growing market with its own independent strategy and an architecture approach that some customers seem to prefer.

Is the Fourth Quarter a Return to Beat-and-Raise?
NetApp had a little hiccup with its last quarter, but the company seems to have gotten back on track. Revenue rose 22% this quarter, and the $1.43 billion in reported sales surpassed even the high end of the range. Investors should realize, though, that the company had to change its revenue recognition policies and that boosted revenue such that actual "apples to apples" results were closer to the expected level. 



To read the full piece, please click below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Clouds-Mean-Bright-Days-For-NetApp-NTAP-EMC-HPQ-LSI-ORCL0601.aspx