Headquarters: Westford, Mass. Price: $41.33 Market capitalization: $1.7 billion 52-week range: $22.71 - $41.86 Annual sales: $396.6 million Estimated earnings growth: 16.0 percent in the fiscal year that ends in March 2015; 15.4 percent in the year that ends in March 2016
At 23 times estimated earnings, NetScout (NTCT) is a bit more expensive than the tech behemoths but nowhere near as pricey as the upstarts. NetScout provides software and services that allow a customer to detect technical problems by watching how traffic progresses through its computer network. For years, NetScout's primary service alerted corporate tech administrators to errors and glitches with servers, switches and software.
Last year, NetScout introduced a product that helps companies enhance network performance -- not just detect problems. The company also started using its data analytics recently to find cyber-criminals attempting to scale corporate firewalls.
Matt Robison, an analyst with Wunderlich Securities, thinks this winning combination of products and services will help fuel steady double-digit-percentage earnings growth. NetScout's shares took a mild hit during the growth-stock selloff in March and early April, but they now trade at record highs.
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