Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in English We recently published a list of 10 Best Hardware Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) stands against other best hardware stocks to buy now. The computer hardware industry comprises personal computers, PC peripherals, storage devices, and servers for the high-growth data center industry. According to a report by The Business Research Company, the computer hardware industry was valued at $714.8 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% to reach $761 billion by 2025. The market is expected to expand further at a CAGR of 6.3% to reach $972 billion by 2029 eventually. The historic growth factors including the globalization of the supply chain, the rise of the internet, and the revolution in personal computing are still valid. It has been further boosted by the latest trends such as edge and quantum computing, the rise of AI and data centers, and hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The global PC market is one of the largest components of the hardware industry. According to a January 9 report by IDC, the PC shipments grew 1.8% during Q4 of 2024, with global volumes reaching 68.9 million. Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers noted that overall the market is experiencing slower growth, however, the fourth quarter was aided by the Chinese government subsidies. The report also pointed out increased concern regarding the increased threats of new tariffs back in January 2025, noting that many brands experienced pull-ins during December as a preventive measure to get ahead of the tariffs. However, a more recent report published by IDC on April 8, revealed that the PC shipment market remained unaffected by the tariffs as the shipments grew by 4.9% during the first quarter of 2025. Jean Philippe Bouchard, research vice-president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers noted that these increased shipments were largely a result of the entire ecosystem trying to accelerate the deliveries to avoid the first round of tariffs. He noted that although the market remained largely unaffected by the first round, however, the second round announced on April 2 could lead to an inflationary impact, thereby negatively impacting the shipments in the following quarters. To curate the list of the 10 best hardware stocks to buy now, we used the Finviz stock screener and Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 hedge funds database. Firstly, we aggregated a list of computer hardware stocks using the screener and sorted the list by market capitalization. Next, we ranked these stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). Is NetApp, Inc. (NTAP) The Best Hardware Stock To Buy Now? A multi-monitor workstation displaying data-centric services. Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) is an intelligent data infrastructure company that serves enterprises through its data management products and solutions. It operates through two segments including Hybrid Cloud Solutions and Public Cloud Services. The Hybrid Cloud segment provides hardware and software aimed at modernizing data centers, whereas the Public Cloud Services provides solutions for major public clouds including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. During the fiscal third quarter of 2025, NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) reported net revenues of $1.64 billion, reflecting a 2% increase year-over-year. This growth was driven by growth in the Public Cloud segment which improved 15% during the same time. More notably, the company’s All-Flash Array annualized net revenue grew 10% to reach $3.8 billion. It also introduced new products during the quarter including, the all-new AFF A-Series and C-Series systems, and also enhanced StorageGRID object storage capabilities. Management expects fourth-quarter revenues between $1.65 billion – $1.80 billion. NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) is one of the best hardware stocks to buy now. Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in its Q3 2024 investor letter: “With regard to sales, we exited NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), an enterprise data storage and solutions company. Shares had moved into the higher end of our range of fair value on strong earnings results and enthusiasm about the long-term growth potential from artificial intelligence for the company’s storage solutions.” Overall, NTAP ranks 7th on our list of best hardware stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of NTAP to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NTAP but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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