One of the hottest trends for investors looking for upside in this topsy-turvy market is 5G technology.

Since 2010, most smartphones have run on 4G. Make no mistake, 4G was a revolutionary technology that brought video streaming, conference calls, and a variety of fast telecom services into the palms of your hands.

But 5G will change the future of wireless on a scale that you’ll have to see to believe…

5G technology will use a higher frequency band as compared to 4G. This frequency band will allow data to be transferred faster and smoother than its predecessor.

In fact, in some tests, 5G has performed up to 200 times faster than 4G LTE.

We’ve discussed a variety of ways to tap into 5G through network developers, chip manufacturers, and software designers.

But today, I’m going to examine a secret “backdoor” 5G stock to buy that is poised to surge in the months ahead.

This company didn’t pop up on our radar like all the other 5G stocks. Instead, I uncovered it by tapping into the Money Morning Stock VQScore™, a proprietary ranking system that tells you when to buy or sell a stock.

VQScore tracks thousands of publicly traded companies. Based on a combination of technical, fundamental metrics and our very own quantitative formula, it has proven to beat Wall Street analysts in identifying stocks poised to break out.

In fact, there are countless cases where VQScore identified breakout stocks months before Wall Street analysts issued an upgrade…

So far in 2019, we’ve made 53% on Churchill Downs Inc. (NASDAQ: CHDN), 92% on Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RH), and even 134% on SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG).

Today, I’m going to discuss the opportunity ahead for a 5G stock that earned a “Strong Buy” VQScore this week.

It’s All About Data Storage

Wall Street has been busy assigning upgrades to the telecom companies poised to sell 5G wireless services. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T), and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) have all earned upgrades and higher price targets.

But these upgrades have only proven to offer the potential upside of 10% or 15% for each stock since they’re all mega-cap companies.

I don’t know about you, but those returns don’t excite me.

Instead, I’ve identified a mid-cap stock that could quickly gain 50% over the next 12 months thanks to its niche role in the 5G space and other advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.

I’m talking about NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP). This is a data storage firm whose infrastructure is critical to these emerging technologies. With improved wireless and fiber frequencies comes higher quality audio, video, and communications performance. But the files that transfer – particularly video in HD quality – are massive in size.

Gone are the days when a simple grainy picture was measured in kilobytes on your flip phone.

Today’s smartphones require immense size – full gigabytes. A simple 15-minute video today made on your phone will need at least 2 GB of storage before transfer.

When 5G rolls out and accompanies higher performance cameras, file sizes will only grow larger.

This creates an incredible level of demand for file storage on devices and cloud services. And it’s where NetApp is poised to shine.

NetApp is a provider of cloud-based flash storage solutions for firms working in the advanced worlds of 5G and artificial intelligence. In May, it launched a new midrange, end-to-end NVMe AFF A320 storage system called NetApp ONTAP 9.6. Now, let me explain why this is important…

Given the massive amount of data that will be disseminated across many 5G platforms, companies are going to require cloud-data centers to operate at a breakneck pace.

The amount of data used to process the Internet of Things, technologies like autonomous cars, e-health services, virtual reality, and conferencing will require fast and reliable communications around the clock.

Flash devices, like the ones produced by NetApp, will dramatically reduce data access time and help smooth out the communications required for these advanced technologies to function. These devices provide a significant amount of support and flexibility to data centers to ensure that autonomous cars stay on the road, 5G transfers go undisturbed, and the backbone of the 5G revolution remains strong.

The more data needed to transfer, store, and process, the better companies with backend services like NetApp will perform. And demand is poised to surge in the years ahead.

We can see that demand building for NetApp’s stock when we analyze its VQScore.

Our VQScore system ranks stocks from 1 to 4.9. The higher the score, the more likely it is that the stock will break out in the months ahead.

This week, NTAP registered a top score of 4.9.

Right now, the stock trades at $51 per share.

Our 12-month outlook puts shares at $80 by this time next year as 5G rolls out and institutional investors begin to back the stock. That figure represents a potential upside of nearly 57%.

— Garrett Baldwin

Source: Money Morning