Microsoft (MSFT) Acquires HPC Start-up Cycle Computing

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) recently announced that it has acquired a computing orchestration and high performance computing (HPC) start-up called Cycle Computing for an undisclosed amount.

Cycle Computing’s flagship product CycleCloud already supports Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Compute Engine and Microsoft’s Azure with big data and big computing related technologies. Microsoft has plans to integrate the HPC technology into Azure.

With names like Novaris and NASA, Cycle Computing has a diverse customer base. Microsoft will continue to support Cycle Computing clients with AWS or Google Cloud for the time being. The Azure version will be released going forward and customers will be assisted with the migration process.

We note that the integration of the acquired company and the migration of customers to the Azure platform will aid Microsoft’s top line in the long run.

Microsoft stock has gained 19.8% year to date, underperforming the 23.4% rally of the industry it belongs to.

Future of Cloud and Big Data

Per Gartner, the worldwide public cloud services market is anticipated to grow almost 18% in 2017 to $246.8 billion, up from $209.2 billion in 2016. Big Data and business analytics software market is anticipated to reach $187 billion in 2019 from $122 billion in 2015, with an increase of almost 50% over the time frame. Gartner also mentioned that by 2020 the shift to the cloud platforms will result in information technology (IT) spending of more than $1 trillion.

Per Markets&Markets, the HPC market is likely to reach $36.62 billion in 2020 from $28.08 billion in 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% during the mentioned time period.

We believe this scenario is perfect to make the most of the growth prospects of cloud services, HPC and big data combined. This is what Microsoft plans to do with this acquisition. The company’s expertise in cloud services through the Azure platform coupled with Cloud Computing’s competency in deploying high performance computing on virtual environments is expected to drive growth in the long run.

Zacks Rank and Stock to Consider

Microsoft currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stock in the industry is Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here..

Long-term earnings growth rate for Lam Research is projected to be 17.2%.

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