By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter

Lite-On Technology Corp () yesterday reported its highest earnings per share (EPS) in five years for the October-to-December quarter, thanks to an improved product mix and operating efficiency, the electronic components supplier said in a statement.

The company posted fourth-quarter net profit of NT$2.51 billion (US$90.05 million), up 25 percent from a year earlier, but down 19 percent from the previous quarter on revenue of NT$44.57 billion. It was also up 8 percent year-on-year and 6 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Lite-On attributed the annual increases to steady growth in demand for products used in optoelectronics, cloud computing, 5G, artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) and automotive applications.

Photo: Chen Rou-chen, Taipei Times

EPS reached NT$1.11 in the quarter, the highest for the October-to-December period over the past five years, as gross margin and operating margin improved to 17.3 and 8.1 percent respectively, up from 16.2 and 4.4 percent a year earlier.

That brought last years total net profit to NT$13.89 billion, up 39 percent from 2020, with EPS rising from NT$4.31 to NT$6.01, a record, Lite-On said.

Gross margin increased 1.1 percentage points annually to 18.5 percent, while operating margin rose 1.4 percentage points to 7.9 percent, it said.

Due to continually optimizing our product mix, improving our flexibility and response times through smart manufacturing and supply-chain management, and boosting our operational efficiency, 2021 resulted in a record profit margin and EPS, the statement said.

Lite-On reported revenue of NT$164.83 billion for the whole of last year, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

The increase is as high as 10 percent if a business transfer in 2020 is excluded, said the company, which sold its solid-state drive business to Japans Kioxia Holdings Corp on July 1, 2020.

Last year, Lite-Ons optoelectronics segment contributed 20 percent of its total revenue, while the cloud computing and AIoT segment contributed 27 percent, and the information technology and consumer electronics segment contributed 53 percent.

The company continues to implement a market-oriented strategy, and expanded research and development by more than 20 percent last year, especially in optoelectronics, cloud computing, automotive electronics, and 5G and AIoT products, Lite-On president Anson Chiu () said.

Although its business model has shifted from original equipment manufacturing and original design manufacturing, the company aims to offer customers a systematic solution through in-house product development, Chiu said.

Automotive electronics and 5G/AIOT products continued to obtain customer certifications in the past two years, Chiu said in the statement. As market momentum continues to grow, they will become the growth drivers for Lite-On.

The company also aims to expand into smart grid solutions for household energy management in the medium to long term, creating a new growth driver, it said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

Read the original post:
Lite-On reports highest EPS in five years for Q4 - Taipei Times

Compared to the previous generation, todays generation of startups are increasingly cloud-centric. The previous generation of dotcoms had to suffer the economics and complexities of deploying, managing, and scaling their own servers, networks, and data centers.

In contrast, todays generation grew up in the just-in-time, pay-for-what-you-need, and scale-up-on-demand world that is cloud native.

Also see: Why the Future of Computing is at the Edge

But over the last two years, businesses have largely opted for edge-enabled, serverless infrastructures. This means there are no servers to manage; no locations to spin up; and most importantly, no cloud computing contracts to analyze.

With edge-enabled, serverless infrastructures, businesses can benefit from faster and more stable API performance and a decreased need in infrastructure support and annual spend.

As a software practitioner for more than two decades, I have been through more paradigm shifts in computing than I can count. But I can confidently say this: The future of computing for an entire generation of companies will be edge-native, and the traditional cloud is the platform that will lose.

Also see: Top Edge Computing Companies

One of the main problems with paradigm shifts is that there are so many new technologies that emerge in the early stages. The same has been true for edge computing, with numerous companies offering edge-compute solutions that run on new infrastructures, telecommunications providers, and even cloud-computing companies.

When we talk about edge computing companies, were describing the ability to run code at the network edgespecifically the content delivery network (CDN) providers.

CDNs have been around since the beginning of the Internet. The major players (Akamai, Limelight, Cloudflare, Verizon Edgecast, and Fastly) have been helping customers ensure content is delivered quickly to customers by ensuring a large distributed global cache of servers.

In the old model, these providers simply stored data for companies, ensuring that as customers visited websites or downloaded software, the response times were fast because the server itself had the content as close to the customer as possible.

Also see: Will Edge Computing Devour the Cloud?

One change is that these server resources and the content delivery network itself are now programmable. This allows companies to move core API services off of centralized cloud servers and onto the existing globally distributed networks that the CDNs operate.

With edge solutions, companies that could only run servers in limited locations now have the ability to run APIs at a much larger scale, increasing user response speeds and the companys global footprint.

The second major change is how the code itself is deployed. With cloud computing, youre renting a server and running your code on it. With edge computing, you simply deploy your code to the platform, and the code is automatically run on the nearest server across the regions.

This idea, called serverless compute, is also offered by the cloud providers (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud functions, and Azure Functions). But with the edge platforms, these functions now run across a global fleet of servers with zero management overhead.

Changes in the technology landscape are dictated by the economics they offer, not just the innovation behind the product.

When cloud computing came to market, the economic advantage was instantly obvious. Cloud computing gives users the ability to swap high upfront investments in their own server and network infrastructures for zero upfront. They use on-demand leases of compute power that can be paid with a credit card. The adoption was driven by economics, not the technology.

With edge computing, we are seeing similar economic staying power. Cloud-computing companies buy server and data center infrastructure in bulk to support resales as capacity. Edge platforms, like CDNs, are using edge computing to drive additional value on existing infrastructure, which in turn lowers the cost required to provide compute services to customers.

CDNs are fundamentally simple servers: They hold copies of data (storage/memory), they look up requests for said data (CPU), and then return the data to the user (network). There are also a number of free CPU cycles available throughout the day, as most retrieve and transmit actions require less CPU power than running a full database engine.

With serverless models, CDN providers are able to further monetize their existing capacity, allowing for meaningful economic impacts downstream.

As companies expand globally, cloud-based bandwidth costs will only increase, whereas such costs are not even a factor in edge-native pricing. In addition, edge-native solutions dramatically lower management costs (no servers to monitor), scale rapidly at a global level (code runs near users automatically), and simplify billing.

For startups looking to offer low-cost solutions on a global scale, the simplicity and economics of the edge-native model is compelling. As the next generation of startups comes of age, we expect to see many adopt a cloud-free model.

Weve seen the future of the cloudand it lives on the edge. For businesses, this is a faster, more scalable, and dramatically cheaper solution to modern computing needs.

Also see: Why Cloud Means Cloud Native

About the Author:

Jake Loveless, CEO, Edgemesh

Read more here:
Why Edge Computing Will Overtake the Cloud | eWEEK - eWeek

Salesforce, the worlds largest cloud-based software company, is reportedly working on its own NFT product, called the NFT Cloud.

Salesforces CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor revealed the plans to the companys employees during a sales kickoff on Wednesday, sources close to the matter revealed.

The companys co-CEOs shared their vision for an NFT cloud service that would enable artists to create content and release it onto NFT marketplaces. People that reportedly attended the meeting told CNBC that they referenced the NFT collection Pepsi released last December, saying that the Mic Drop collection is an example of a good foray into the industry.

NFTs issued through Salesforces NFT cloud platform could be released to marketplaces like OpenSea, where they could access billions of dollars worth of liquidity.

According to CNBCs source, Salesforce also said that it could integrate the tool into its own ecosystem and enable all of the NFT transactions to be more easily managed. A marketplace owned and operated by Salesforce would then remove the need to have the platform connected to OpenSea and potentially transfer all that trading volume directly to Salesforce.

And while the cloud computing giants foray into NFTs is the first time the company has dipped its fingers in the new asset class, comments and actions from Salesforces top executives hinted at this months ago.

Mathew Sweezy, the director of market strategy at Salesforce, said that 2022 sill see pioneering brands explore adding additional utility through NFTs.

To unlock their full potential, brands are going to have to start creating utility via the token, Sweezey wrote in a blog post. In 2022, youre going to hear a lot more about NFTs, and there will be winners and losers.

Sweezey said the latest project from Time magazine was a great example of how NFTs can be used beyond the novelty phase. Last spring, Time released TIMEPieces, a collection of NFTs giving owners access to magazine content and events.

Salesforces interest in the NFT space stems back to the release of TIMEPieces, as the magazine is owned by Marc Benioff and his wife. In November, Time established a partnership with Galaxy Digital to add Ethereum (ETH) to its balance sheet, making it the first leading media company to do so.

CryptoSlate Newsletter

Featuring a summary of the most important daily stories in the world of crypto, DeFi, NFTs and more.

Access more crypto insights and context in every article as a paid member of CryptoSlate Edge.

On-chain analysis

Price snapshots

More context

Continued here:
Cloud computing giant Salesforce is working on an NFT platform - CryptoSlate

According to one source, it is estimated that the global cloud computing market could exceed $900 billion by 2026. Even if this estimate is a bit aggressive, there is no question that the market is vast and growing fast.

Some major players dominate the sector, but there are also niche players. This assortment offers investors a massive opportunity and a plethora of options to play this red-hot market, as these three stocks show.

Image source: Getty Images.

When most people think of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), they likely think of the incredible e-commerce business and Amazon Prime, but its cloud business is increasingly the key to its success. Instead of seeing Amazon as an e-commerce business with a cloud segment attached, many investors are starting to see that it is actually the other way around. And the recent earnings release illustrates this point.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is its cloud computing business, and the segment has grown from $35 billion in net sales in 2019 to over $62 billion in 2021 -- a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 33%.

The segment's growth is also accelerating. Year over year, revenue growth for 2021 was 37%. Even better, the segment is highly profitable. In 2021, AWS produced an operating margin of 30%, as shown below.

Data source: Amazon. Chart by author.

Amazon's total sales were $470 billion in 2021, an increase of 22%. So the company still derives most of its revenue from sources other than AWS. However, AWS is much more profitable than the rest of the business. In fact, this segment was responsible for a whopping 74% of operating income in 2021, despite accounting for only 13% of sales.

AWS is a terrific reason to be bullish on Amazon stock for years to come.

Like Amazon, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) is a titan in the cloud services industry. The company recently released its full-year 2021 earnings, and the results were spectacular across the board. Total revenue grew to $258 billion, a 41% increase over 2020. Results for 2020 were dampened by COVID-19's negative effect on advertising spending, so it is essential to keep this increase in context. Looking back to 2019, the CAGR in sales is still impressive at 26%. Diluted earnings per share in 2021 were equally remarkable at $112.20.

The Google Cloud segment is growing rapidly. Total cloud sales in 2021 reached $19.2 billion, up from $13.1 billion in 2020 and $8.9 billion in 2019. Unlike AWS, Google Cloud is not yet profitable, posting an operating loss of $3.1 billion in 2021. However, this loss narrowed significantly from 2020, which may indicate that the segment will scale to profitability soon. In the meantime, Alphabet has the advantage of its highly profitable advertising business to power its income.

The stock appears reasonably valued with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just over 25. As shown below, this is a lower P/E than it has traded for since the stock market's recovery from the March 2020 crash.

GOOG PE ratio. Data by YCharts.

Alphabet has also announced that the stock will have a 20-for-1 split in July. This is exciting news for investors who may find it challenging to accumulate shares due to their high price.

A burgeoning cloud segment and high-octane advertising business make it an excellent stock for long-term investors.

DigitalOcean Holdings (NYSE:DOCN) offers a chance for more adventurous investors to buy shares of a smaller, growing cloud enterprise. In many ways, DigitalOcean is everything that Google and Amazon are not.

Its target market is small to medium-size businesses, whereas Amazon and Google are geared more toward large corporations. Simplicity, straightforward pricing, and excellent customer service are how DigitalOcean seeks to separate itself from the pack. The company estimates that it will have a $116 billion addressable market by 2024 within its target market.

The company has experienced rapid growth in recent years, going from $203 million in annual revenue in 2018 to an estimated $427 million in fiscal 2021. This is a CAGR of over 28%. Along with this, DigitalOcean reports adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) that went from $39 million to $130 million in the same period. Perhaps most encouraging is that revenue growth is accelerating and is expected to hit 34% in 2021. The chart below shows the company's revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and revenue growth rate over the past several years.

Data source: DigitalOcean. Chart by author.

The stock has been decimated recently along with the general market sentiment away from growth stocks. This might offer long-term investors a compelling entry point. The stock currently trades over 55% down from its 52-week high. A small growth stock like DigitalOcean also carries more risk than megacaps like Amazon and Google, so investors should trade according to their risk tolerance.

The cloud computing business is booming, and should continue to do so for many years. Investors have several options to take advantage of this, including megacaps with wide-ranging services and niche providers that focus on small and mid-size companies. All three of the above stocks should serve long-term investors well over the next several years.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

Read more:
3 Top Cloud Stocks to Buy in February - The Motley Fool