Perhaps the biggest technological change of the current age is the massive shift of enterprise IT spending to the public cloud. The public cloud offers numerous benefits to companies, saving costs by eliminating the need to buy and manage one's own infrastructure, offering the ability to scale up and down as needed, and providing continuous access to the latest storage and computing technologies.
According to research firm Canalys, the global cloud infrastructure-as-a-service market reached $31 billion in the first quarter of 2020, or a $124 billion annualized run-rate, and growing a whopping 34.5%, even in a pandemic-fueled quarter. That's a massive growth rate for an industry that big, and is also why the leading cloud stocks are some of the best opportunities for the long-term Foolish investor.
If you're looking to play the cloud revolution in August, here are a few of the best-looking bets in this red-hot sector right now.