Stocks with Clouded Futures: AKAM, CRM, VMW, RHT, LLNW

The cloud stocks have all been on a tear since the beginning of the year. Last week Linux provider Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) reported results that were simply in line with analyst estimates. The stock was down 0.41% last trading day. There's no telling how these stocks will end for the year as they have run up so much. However with the speed and amount of growth that they pack, each cloud stock could be poised for another strong year. Last trading day Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was almost flat, down 0.07%, VMWare (NYSE: VMW) rose 0.64%, Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) fell 1.41%, and Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) dropped 0.17%. These stocks are all starting to level out which could mean that investors are getting ready to buy these fast growers again.

Cloud Stocks Take A Hit: CRM, VMW, LLNW, RHT

The cloud plays were down today as Linux provider Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) reported results in line with analyst estimates. The company earned an adjusted 20 cents per share. The stock was down 2.65% in late trading. Other cloud plays followed suit. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was down 2.45%, VMWare fell 0.9%, and Limelight Networks plummeted 3.3%. These stock have all run up big, though some investors believe that they can still end the year with a bang.

A Dark Cloud Covers Market: CRM, AKAM, LLNW, VMW, NFLX

At the close of Friday's trading session, the cloud computing sector took a hit. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was down 1.47% to close at $115.01. Content delivery network specialist Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) finished 1.33% lower to close at $49.77. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) shook the sector when investors realized that Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) was providing Netflix with a large chunk of business. Akamai shareholders were disappointed on the news. Limelight Networks was down 2.92% to close at $7.64, however the stock was up enormously earlier in the week. Finally, virtual machine maker VMWare weighed down on the cloud sector by closing down 2.74% to $80.99 per share.

The cloud stocks are up drastically since the beginning of the year ranging from 55% in CRM to 98% in LLNW. Will these stocks continue to lag the market, or will this week prove to be much more lucrative for the clouds?

Puffy White Clouds: LLNW, NFLX, LVLT, AKAM, CRM, EQIX

Cloud computing stock Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW) skyrocketed 17.27% today after Mad Money's Jim Cramer interviewed the CEO last night on his show. He highlighted that Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) was a large customer of Limelight which helps to deliver their movies. Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) fell over 4% today as mixed rumours stated that Netflix had dropped the company as a service provider. However in other reports, Netflix indicated that relationships were still strong with the CDN provider.

Cloud computing guru Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was up $0.27 today closing at $114.77 per share. Data center expert Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) fell 1.78% today. The stock was hammered in early October after the company missed investor expectations.

Communications company Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT) was up 18.64% after a deal between Netflix was confirmed. Netflix has been the center of attention today. Level 3 also experienced flash-crash type trading mid-day.

Limelight (NASDAQ: LLNW) in the Spotlight (NYSE: CRM) (NYSE: VMW)

Limelight Networks reports earnings on Friday. Consensus estimates are for -$0.01 per share on revenue of $47.81 million. The provider of content delivery services over networks has been heated along with the other cloud computing stocks such as Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) and VMWare (NYSE: VMW).

Though Limelight Network's market cap is much smaller, the stock price is up 15% in the last month, and closed Friday at $6.79.

No More Rain Clouds (NYSE: CRM)

Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is on the move again. The stock jumped over 5.5% today and continued to go up after hours. The favorite among cloud computing plays plummeted last week after Equinix (EQIX) a data centres services company guided lower in the revenues department. Investors have begun bringing their money back into the cloud computing stocks as they shrugged off the idea that perhaps Salesforce.com and other cloud plays may not be affected in the same way as Equinix was.

Salesforce.com employs cloud computing concepts to help companies save money on storage space, electricity, and cooling for example, buy moving their data to a central cloud server, which is essentially shared. Salesforce.com also runs its own software to aid companies in customer relationship management. Salesforce provides statistics and methods of communication to allow its clients to operate at maximum efficiency.

The stock price closed at $105.47 in yesterday's trading.

10% off the price of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

Salesforce.com (CRM) has had a remarkable run-up this past year, gaining over 50% since January. The stock recently hit its 52-week high on September 20th, just one month after it had reported very positive quarterly results.

Since then however, the stock has sold off more than $10 per share and today trades around the $111 range. In the short term, the stock’s nearly vertical rise may be causing investors to take profits on the company. Everyone who owns the stock is at a profit of they bought before the last quarter was announced. The long term prospects of the company are still intact and are better than ever. We live in an era where companies want to cut costs and need to have up-to-date data and information on the products they sell and on the services they offer. This is where Salesforce.com comes in, providing enterprise cloud computing applications to help companies with CRM or customer relationship management. Salesforce.com is growing rapidly and companies discover the benefits it has to offer and the costs that can be saved.