Analyst outfit Barron's has been shuffling its tarot cards and has predicted that Red Hat shares could rise 30 percent in a year as more companies use its server software.

Red Hat, which distributes its own flavour of Linux, is growing its apps business which generated roughly 15 percent of annual revenue last year.

Red Hat's apps business consists of an open-sourced platform for cloud computing called OpenStack; virtualization software which helps companies make better use of their hardware; and storage software. Red Hat is trying to use its strength in Linux to sell through products from its apps business to clients, Barron's said.

Revenue from Red Hat's apps business last year rose 46 percent and made up the highest percentage yet of the company's total revenue.  Barron's appears to think that things will get even better for the company in the next year.