Should You Buy DigitalOcean Stock After Its 12-Month Gain of 360%? An Upcoming Event on Aug. 4 Might Hold the Answer.

DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) is currently building artificial intelligence (AI) data centers as fast as it can to meet soaring demand for computing capacity from its customers, many of which are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company's revenue growth is accelerating, which has fueled a staggering 360% increase in its stock over the last 12 months.

DigitalOcean will release its operating results for the second quarter on Aug. 4, and they could determine whether the stock's upward momentum continues. Should investors be buying at the current price?

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Demand is off the charts for DigitalOcean's AI data centers

The cloud computing industry is dominated by trillion-dollar companies like Amazon and Microsoft, but those giants typically chase the customers with the highest spending potential. That leaves SMBs somewhat underserved, but DigitalOcean has filled this gap in the market by offering those smaller companies affordable cloud services with highly personalized support and a simple interface for ease of use.

It is applying that same blueprint to its new platform, which it calls AI-Native Cloud. It features five distinct layers to help DigitalOcean customers develop and deploy AI software. The foundational layer is infrastructure, which includes 20 data centers (and growing) housing thousands of the latest chips from suppliers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

Businesses can rent computing capacity from those data centers through AI-Native Cloud, and the platform's other four layers provide the tools to develop usable AI software. Those tools include ready-made large language models (LLMs) from companies like Anthropic, which can serve as the foundation for powerful AI chatbots and AI agents.

On July 7, DigitalOcean announced that it ended Q2 with a whopping $800 million in remaining performance obligations (RPO), which was a tenfold increase from the year-ago period. RPO is usually defined as the value of signed contracts for services that haven't been delivered yet, so this metric can be a good predictor of future revenue. Simply put, it appears several DigitalOcean customers are lining up to rent more data center capacity from the company once it comes online.

The upcoming Aug. 4 report could be another blockbuster

DigitalOcean generated $257.9 million in revenue during Q1, which was a 22% increase from the prior-year period. It was the third straight quarter in which that growth rate accelerated, and based on the company's July 7 update, revenue apparently soared at an even faster rate of 29% during Q2.

DigitalOcean also ended Q1 with a record $1.03 billion in annual run-rate revenue (ARR). AI customers accounted for $170 million of that total, up by a staggering 221% year over year. I would expect the company to report a similarly strong AI result on Aug. 4.

Guidance will be another key point of focus for Wall Street. The company previously said it expects to deliver overall revenue growth of 50% during 2027, but in its recent update, management told investors it plans to revise that forecast higher in the Q2 report because the business is carrying so much momentum.

Should investors buy DigitalOcean stock right now?

DigitalOcean is firing on all cylinders right now, but there is a hitch for investors considering adding this stock to their portfolio today. It's trading at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 15.4, which is significantly higher than its long-term average of 8.5 since going public in 2021.

However, based on DigitalOcean's 2027 revenue guidance, its forward P/S ratio is just 8.1. This is where the Aug. 4 report could be important. If management meaningfully revises the company's 2027 revenue growth forecast higher, then its forward P/S ratio might actually be much lower than 8.1. If that's the case, the stock might actually be cheap right now for any investors willing to hold it for at least the next 18 months.

DOCN PS Ratio data by YCharts.

DigitalOcean stock may be up by 360% over the last 12 months, but it's down 25% from its recent peak. This dip might be a good buying opportunity heading into the Aug. 4 report, but investors who add it now must be willing to hold the stock over at least the medium term -- but the longer the better -- to maximize their chances of positive returns.

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, DigitalOcean, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.