NetApp (NTAP) is having a good week. On Wednesday, the data management company reported fiscal first-quarter results that beat expectations and offered an outlook that made investors smile. Then on Thursday, it dropped some news with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that could make life easier for enterprises looking to move their data to the cloud. Shares were up about 1.4% to $183.26 in afternoon trading.
The AWS news: AWS Transform, an agentic AI service that automates workload discovery, planning, and cloud migration, now supports Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP. That means customers can move their attached storage from on-premises or other cloud environments directly to Amazon FSx for ONTAP, which is a fully managed service that combines NetApp's ONTAP capabilities with AWS's scalability and reliability.
What's the big deal? Previously, if you wanted to migrate block storage to AWS, you might have needed intermediate storage platforms or separate migration tools. Now, with this integration, you can move block storage alongside compute and networking in the same migration wave. That eliminates extra steps, reduces costs, and lowers the risk of something going wrong during the move.
For customers coming from NetApp ONTAP or other on-premises block storage, this means a smoother path to a production-ready cloud environment. After migration, they get built-in data protection, rapid cloning for dev and test environments, support for multiple application types, and storage-efficiency features. It's a nice value-add for NetApp and AWS customers alike.
Now, about those earnings. NetApp reported adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share for its fiscal 2027 first quarter, up 66% year over year. That beat the consensus estimate of $2.12. Revenue came in at $2.03 billion, up 30% and above the Street's $1.84 billion forecast. The company also raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $9.73 to $10.03 per share, well above the $9.01 analysts were expecting. Revenue guidance was bumped to $7.98 billion to $8.23 billion, compared with the $7.54 billion consensus.
Analysts took notice. Wedbush's Matt Bryson kept a Neutral rating but raised his price target from $150 to $170. Susquehanna's Mehdi Hosseini also stayed Neutral but lifted his target from $185 to $195. Not exactly ringing endorsements, but the direction is positive.
If you're an ETF investor, NetApp's weight in certain funds is worth watching. The GraniteShares 2x Long NTAP Daily ETF (NTAL) has a 66.75% weight in the stock. That's a leveraged single-stock ETF, so it's a bit of a special case. But also, the SEI QiM US Large Cap Value Active ETF (SEIV) holds NTAP at 2.34%, and the Counterpoint Quantitative Equity ETF (CPAI) has a 2.45% weight. Because NTAP carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows for these ETFs will likely force automatic buying or selling of the stock. So, if you're watching NTAP, keep an eye on those fund flows too.
Overall, NetApp is riding a wave of good news. The AWS integration expands its cloud migration capabilities, and the earnings report shows solid growth. The stock's move higher on Thursday suggests investors are on board. Whether the analysts' price targets are high enough remains to be seen, but for now, NetApp is looking pretty good.
