The need for enterprises to continue with remote working structures due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, along with the ongoing global, digital transformation, make the prospects bright for the software industry. Therefore, we think prominent software companies Oracle (ORCL) and Snowflake (SNOW) should benefit in the coming months. But which of these stocks is a better buy now? Let’s find out.Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) in Redwood (NYSE:RWT) City, Calif., and Snowflake, Inc. (SNOW) in San Mateo, Calif., are two prominent players in the software industry. ORCL provides products and services that address enterprise information technology (IT) environments. The company offers databases and relational servers, application development and decision support tools, and enterprise business applications. In comparison, SNOW provides a cloud-based data platform that enables customers to consolidate data into a single source to drive business insights, build data-driven applications and share data.
Ongoing digital transformation in almost every industry and the rising adoption of advanced cloud-based software platforms to facilitate remote working—as several parts of the world witnesses a resurgence of COVID-19 cases fueled by the virus’ Delta variant—should drive software companies' sales. The global software industry market is expected to grow at a 7.2% CAGR from 2021 - 2026. So, both ORCL and SNOW should benefit.
But while SNOW's shares have gained 2.9% in price over the past six months, ORCL has surged 36.9%. In terms of their past nine months’ performance, ORCL is a clear winner with 53.8% gains versus SNOW’s negative returns. But which of these stocks is a better pick now? Let’s find out.