Soft-drink giant Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) always faced a plethora of rivals, but none of them could match Coke's incredible brand power. E-commerce veteran Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) has carved out a similar space for itself in the booming market for cloud computing services. Amazon Web Services is the first name on everybody's lips in that sector.<\/p>\n
\"You can't beat the real thing,\" which is exactly what Coke has been calling itself since 1969. The company backed that ambitious slogans with a combination of classic beverage flavors and an unparalleled distribution network, and Coke investors have enjoyed \"a Coke and a Smile\" with market-beating returns. If you invested $10,000 in Coca-Cola in 1988, under the official tag line of \"You can't beat the feeling,\" and reinvested your dividends in more Coke stock along the way, that investment would be worth $391,000 today:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
KO Total Return Price data by YCharts.<\/p>\n
Amazon arguably bootstrapped the cloud computing industry in 2006. When Amazon Web Services (AWS) hit the market, Amazon saw it as a way to make some bonus cash from its excessive portfolio of technology assets. The idea hit a nerve in the IT sector, and AWS eventually grew into a serious profit center. Amazon culled 37% of its total 2019 sales from AWS, and the division also generated 63% of the company's operating profits last year.<\/p>\n
The platform's share of the cloud infrastructure market landed at 32% in 2019, according to technology analyst firm Canalys. Runner-up Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure lagged far behind with an 18% share. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) are stuck in single-digit territory. I suppose you could call Azure the Pepsi (NASDAQ:PEP) of the cloud computing market, and the rest barely rise above the level of store-brand knockoff sodas.<\/p>\n
Image source: Getty Images.<\/p>\n
Investors are often looking for \"the next Amazon\" of other markets, and the company blazed a trail for others to follow in online retail operations. So I realize the irony in highlighting Amazon as \"the Coca-Cola of\" anything, but the company truly deserves this badge of honor in the explosive cloud computing sector. Carving out a large market share with a defensible brand as the market crystallizes will serve Amazon well for decades to come, just like Coca-Cola's brand power has carried that company through decades of market turmoil and an ever-changing swarm of potential challengers.<\/p>\n
Reaching that lofty level in two very different industries is a grand achievement and one more reason to buy Amazon stock today.<\/p>\n
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Amazon Stock Is the Coca-Cola of Cloud Computing - Motley Fool<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Soft-drink giant Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) always faced a plethora of rivals, but none of them could match Coke's incredible brand power. Continue reading