Some of the biggest brains in medical science are racing to find a vaccine that could save millions of lives.

They are also trying to unlock all the mysteries surrounding not just the disease but its global trajectory and the paths to possible mutations.

To date, scientists have published more than 23,000 scholarly articles on these related topics.

But the need to sort through this sheer volume of data makes fighting the coronavirus a challenge too big for the human mind to solve alone. Even a top-notch team can’t make sense of it all.

Luckily, they don’t have to thanks to a new Big Data model known as Coronascape, which could prove invaluable for both researchers and savvy tech investors alike.

See, the market for data analysis is set to be worth $229.4 billion by 2025.

And I have a way for you to invest in the sector with a tech leader beating the broad market by 265%…

Modern Data Management

As I said, 23,000 papers are way too many for a single team to grasp.

But it’s even harder than it sounds. That’s because many of those papers include huge lists of genes, proteins, and other biological compounds that enable COVID to do its damage, or help the body defend against it.

With hundreds of entries each, there’s just too much information for anyone to grasp.

Enter Coronascape. It’s based on the Metascape Big Data model created last year by researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and the University of California, San Diego.

Metascape is a free, online tool that uses Big Data to discover and visualize connections and shared pathways between 40 different sets of biological data.

So far, it’s been used in over 1,200 scientific publications.

Coronscape is an evolution of that system. It lets scientists upload datasets from their own COVID research, and with one click show them exactly how their findings interact with previous research.

So instead of pouring over every one of the 23,000 papers and the hundreds of genes and proteins they identify, researchers can let Big Data do the heavy lifting.

Coronascape spits out an easy-to-read report that gives them a bird’s-eye view of how the virus works, how their research fits with other papers, and where potential targets for fighting the virus are.

As you can imagine, the potential here is huge, not to mention potentially lifesaving. The moneymaking potential is huge as well, practically wherever the fight against COVID 19 is concerned.

In fact, the worldwide Big Data market is growing at a rapid pace. Research firm Market Data Forecast predicts that market will grow from $138.9 billion last year to $229.4 billion by 2025.

Which is why I want to talk with about Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM).

Intelligent Analytics

Now, I know most investors think of Salesforce only for its customer relationship management (CRM) tools.

And they’re right. Cloud-based CRM is where Salesforce has made its name, as the company’s stock ticker suggests.

Its history as a cloud-based firm has come in handy during the COVID shutdowns with millions of folks working from home.

But there’s so much more than that to this aggressive leader.

See, understanding data is central to running a good business and doing a great job for your clients. Salesforce provides a bevy of Big Data tools to customers, which is why I continue to recommend the stock.

Take the firm’s Einstein Analytics engine, for example.

Using easy-to-track AI models, Einstein Analytics plugs into a company’s datasets. It shows the executives what the unseen trends in the business are, why they’re happening, and what to do about them.

Much like Coronascape, Einstein Analytics does things that even teams of humans could never do.

Not because it’s smarter, but because it can cross-reference and compare thousands if not millions of more data points than a human could ever hope to grasp at once.

And with its simple and visual AI model creation tool, Einstein Analytics allows any employee to create an AI that will help with their specific problem – without having to wait for the IT team.

The Customer Cloud

But as you know, Salesforce is built for its CRM system. The firm’s main product is a cloud-based case and task management platform that stores and updates all the important information about a company’s customers.

It includes automatic rules for when a customer or their case gets escalated to another team, perhaps because they’re having a problem with a product, or are a particularly loyal customer.

The product also lets customers themselves track any problems they’ve submitted to Salesforce. This handy tool lets everyone from marketing to product development have access to the same information at pretty much the same time.

Salesforce also provides employee coaching and training platforms. Importantly, these now also include COVID functions such as employee contact tracing, emergency response, and retraining.

Now, I first recommended Salesforce back in December 2015. Since then, the stock is up 234%.

Compare that to the S&P 500, which has grown just 64% in the same period, meaning we beat the benchmark by 265.5%.

But don’t worry. I still see plenty of upside ahead.

Per-share earnings are growing by 38% a year. That puts them on pace to double in less than two years.

But let’s be conservative, and instead forecast 100% profits in four years.

Salesforce’s big win during this COVID pandemic shows the importance of taking the long view on the road to wealth that is high tech.

Cheers and good investing,

— Michael A. Robinson

Source: Strategic Tech Investor