By samdizzy

Sure, the media is guilty of hyping cloud computing. But apparently investors love the hype, too. So far in 2010, cloud computing stocks are up a stunning 50 percent, according to the Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index. Here’s a look at the index along with the biggest year-to-date cloud computing winners.

First, a little background. The Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index tracks 20 publicly held cloud computing companies. The index was previously known as the SaaS 20 Stock Index, and previously lived on our sister sites (MSPmentor and The VAR Guy). We’re moving the index, effective immediately, to its new home here on Talkin’ Cloud.

Our goal is not to make buy, sell or hold recommendations. Rather, we want to cut through the cloud computing hype by closely tracking pure cloud companies — everyone from Amazon.com (AMZN) to Vocus Inc. (VOCS).

So far in 2010, the Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index is up 48.49 percent. The biggest winners include VMware (up 102%), Savvis Inc. (up 96%), Salesforce.com (up 94%), Terremark Worldwide (up 88%), and SuccessFactors (up 88%).

Pretty spectacular. But we wonder if cloud stocks are overheated — especially as the cloud computing noise spills over from this week’s DreamForce conference in San Francisco and into mainstream TV ads from Microsoft (“To the Cloud“).

Looking ahead, contributing associate blogger Matt Weinberger will begin writing the weekly Talkin’ Cloud Stock Index blog entry after the market close each Friday. Matt looks forward to tracking the trends with you.

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