Data's 'Big Bang' Is Here

• Year-to-date, data plays, notably Tableau Software Inc (NYSE: DATA), Splunk Inc (NASDAQ: SPLK), and Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX), have underperformed.
• Credit Suisse said that each name has sales, earnings, quality and momentum that should lead it to outperform moving forward.
• Credit Suisse forecasted that Lam Research has 54 percent upside (to $105), Tableau Software has 50 percent upside (to $130) and Splunk has 43 percent upside (to $85).

Credit Suisse offered three picks for playing the global transition to big data – Lam Research, Tableau Software and Splunk.

Credit Suisse's Farhan Ahmad said that Lam Research has pulled back nearly 20 percent from recent highs, providing an attractive entry point for longer-term investors. The company should "continue to outgrow the market," leading 2016 revenue expectations higher in the next six months. Among the major semicaps, Credit Suisse said it expects Lam Research to "benefit the most from higher levels of Memory spending."

On Tableau Software, Credit Suisse's Philip Winslow said that the "potential for increased adoption of business intelligence solutions" offered a "sizeable opportunity to meaningfully increase the market." That is good for Tableau, who Winslow said would be able to sustain "robust revenue growth and profitability." Additionally, Winslow forecasted that Tableau 9.0 would be a "game-changer" in the market.

Finally, Splunk is "uniquely positioned" as a "key, next-generation unified data platform," said Winslow who reiterated that the company has "disruptive technology." That should lead the company to significant and sustained revenue growth. Further, Winslow argued that the company can expand its product set and establish itself as a key platform for developers and partners.