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Here are a few Nasdaq updates I’ve observed in software this year. Earlier in 2024, I was initially focused on cybersecurity threats in financial services. ISMG has several great events and roundtables if you want to learn more about the industry. It’s the best way to learn the latest security threats and how executives are handling them.

But since June, I’ve had to focus more on A.I. technologies since the applications have ramped up. Personally I don’t have time to master the hardware and software but I am a power user in many cases. Particularly when it comes to financial technologies.

So let’s continue with the Nasdaq breakdown as I cover several popular names from the index.

The current future of Crowdstrike

This is one of my biggest surprises for 2024. The software malfunction was a major concern for investors and customers earlier this year. Once Elon mentioned he’s uninstalling Crowdstrike from all of his companies, you know the software glitch was a real threat.

Cybersecurity is one of those products everyone needs but doesn’t know how it works. I’m in the same boat because the threats continue rising. Even though new security threats keep popping up, I’ve found that industry is cyclical within product segments.

For example, Crowdstrike specializes in endpoint protection. This is important and you can observe the customer backlog below. There is significant demand for this product segment. However, network security and cloud security were popular before endpoint security. The market demands are constantly changing. If you invest in the space, you need to be aware of these changes.

Amazon’s advancements in A.I.

It has been great to see Amazon provide more transparency with AWS financials. The important factor here are the reinvestment levels. If you look at the financials, you will notice that top-line revenue is growing at a rapid pace. In fact, it is outpacing operating income by a significant margin. This is positive for investors.

Amazon is notorious for investing all free cash flow at the highest level. This is how they drive growth across the board. Right now Amazon is doing the same with AWS. In a recent interview, Amazon's current CEO, Andy Jassy, mentioned their partnership with Nvidia is doing well. This suggests that they must be buying a lot of GPUs.

Cisco is the acquisition powerhouse

In June, I wrote about Cisco’s A.I. investment fund. But now I want to highlight their revenue segments. First, everyone is familiar with Cisco’s networking revenue. I’m not sure why FinChat doesn’t show prior years, because networking products are Cisco’s core business.

I was surprised to learn about how much service revenue they have been producing. However, what Cisco investors need to observe most is the security revenue. The 2024 jump is from the $28b Splunk acquisition. It was announced on September 21, 2023, and completed on March 18, 2024. That’s impressive speed when you think about speed and scale.

Cisco is a $233b giant so cybersecurity has become a meaningful offering for them. I’m not sure about what they will do in A.I. but it’s probably on their roadmap.