Q3 Tech Stock Winners And Losers: Vertiv And Splunk Up, Quantum And Lumen Technologies Down

Here’s a look at the tech industry companies that saw the biggest share price gains and losses in the third quarter of 2023 including Vertiv, Splunk, Dell Technologies, Domo, Lumen Technologies and Quantum.

Q3 Stock Prices A Mixed Bag

The economic uncertainty that has plagued the U.S. economy overall in 2023, including across the IT industry, continued through the third quarter amid rising interest rates and unclear signs as to whether a recession is on the horizon.

The wave of layoffs that swept through the IT vendors in late 2022 and the first half of 2023 continued in the third quarter as businesses prepared for a possible economic downturn.

The economic uncertainty was reflected in the stock prices of IT vendors. Among the 57 companies on the CRN watch list, 32 saw the price of their shares decline during the third calendar quarter (July 1 to Sept. 30) while 25 recorded share price increases. That’s a significant change from the first six months of the year during which only nine companies saw the value of their shares decline.

For the third quarter of 2023 the Dow Jones index was down 2.62 percent to 33,507.5 (its Sept. 29 close) while the tech-heavy NASDAQ was down 4.12 percent to 13,219.32.

Here’s a look at the biggest stock price gainers and losers in the third quarter of 2023. We start with the 10 biggest gainers, counting down to the IT vendor with the biggest stock price gain as of Sept. 29. Then we list the 10 companies whose stock price declined the most during the period, concluding with the IT vendor with the biggest loss.

The rankings are based on the closing share prices on June 30, 2023 and the closing share prices on Sept. 29, 2023. The market capitalizations are as of Sept. 29, 2023.

Gainers No. 10: F5 Networks

CEO: Francois Locoh-Donou

June 30, 2023, Close: $146.26

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $161.14

Change: +10.17%

Market Capitalization: $9.56 billion

For the first nine months (ended June 30, 2023) of its fiscal 2023 F5 Networks, a developer of application security and multi-cloud management technology, reported revenue of $2.11 billion, up 5.5 percent from just under $2 billion the company recorded in the first nine months of fiscal 2022. For the nine-month period the company reported net income of $242.8 million, up more than 4 percent from $232.8 one year earlier.

The company will report its fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2023 financial results on Oct. 24.

Gainers No. 9: SentinelOne

CEO: Tomer Weingarten

June 30, 2023, Close: $15.10

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $16.86

Change: +11.66%

Market Capitalization: $4.99 billion

In the two years between SentinelOne’s IPO in June and mid-2023 the company lost about 80 percent of its market capitalization. That spurred reports that the company could be acquired by one or more private equity firms.

But last week at the 2023 XChange Best of Breed Conference SentinelOne co-founder and CEO Tomer Weingarten said his company was “fully committed” to staying independent and had “zero reasons” to consider selling the company.

In August SentinelOne said it had ended its partnership with cloud security startup Wiz in the wake of speculation that Wiz might try to acquire SentinelOne.

The company’s shares have largely held in the $14 to $17 per share range through the summer and fall.

For the first six months (ended July 31, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 SentinelOne reported revenue of $282.8 million, up 56 percent from $180.8 million in the first half of fiscal 2023. The company’s net loss increased to $196.4 million from $186.1 million one year before.

Gainers No. 8: Informatica

CEO: Amit Walia

June 30, 2023, Close: $18.50

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $21.07

Change: +13.89%

Market Capitalization: $6.07 billion

In June data management platform developer Informatica struck a deal to acquire Privitar, a developer of secure data access, data privacy and policy management software. The value of the acquisition was not disclosed. (The acquisition was completed Aug. 2.)

For the first six months of 2023 Informatica reported revenue of $741.4 million, up just under 1 percent from $734.4 million in the first half of 2022. The company’s bottom line showed a $268.8 million loss for the six-month period compared to $33.7 million loss one year earlier.

Gainers No. 7: CrowdStrike

CEO: George Kurtz

June 30, 2023, Close: $146.87

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $167.38

Change: +13.96%

Market Capitalization: $39.97 billion

In September CrowdStrike, a fast-growing company in the endpoint detection and response cybersecurity technology space, struck a deal to acquire Bionic in a move that will expand CrowdStrike’s cloud-native application security capabilities.

For the first six months (ended July 31) of fiscal 2024 CrowdStrike reported revenue of $1.42 billion, up more than 39 percent from $1.02 billion in the first half of fiscal 2023. The company reported a profit of $8.96 million for the six-month period compared to a $80.81 million loss one year before.

Gainers No. 6: VMware

CEO: Rangarajan Raghuram

June 30, 2023, Close: $143.69

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $166.48

Change: +15.86%

Market Capitalization: $71.88 billion

VMware is being acquired by Broadcom, which is paying $61 billion in cash or stock and assuming $8 billion in VMware debt. VMware stockholders have the option to receive $142.50 in cash or 0.252 Broadcom shares for each share of VMware. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of October.

Gainers No. 5: Western Digital

CEO: David Goeckeler

June 30, 2023, Close: $37.93

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $45.63

Change: +20.30%

Market Capitalization: $14.69

For the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter (ended June 30) data storage technology developer Western Digital reported revenue of $2.67 billion, down 41 percent from $4.53 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. The company reported a net loss of $730 million for the quarter compared to a $301 million net profit one year before.

For all of fiscal 2023 the company reported revenue of $12.32 billion, down 34.5 percent from $18.79 billion in fiscal 2022. The company reported a $1.73 billion loss for the year compared to net profit of $1.50 billion one year before.

Gainers No. 4: Nutanix

CEO: Rajiv Ramaswami

June 30, 2023, Close: $28.05

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $34.88

Change: +24.35%

Market Capitalization: $8.36 billion

During a fiscal 2023 fourth quarter earnings call on Aug. 30 Nutanix executives said they had gone from “burning cash” three years earlier to generating positive free cash flow - $200 million during the fiscal year. The company also announced that it planned to repurchase shares worth up to $350 million.

For the fiscal fourth quarter Nutanix reported that revenue rose 28.2 percent to $494.2 million from $385.5 million one year before. For the entire 2023 fiscal year revenue rose 17.7 percent to $1.86 billion from $1.58 billion in fiscal 2022.

Gainers No. 3: Dell Technologies

CEO: Michael Dell

June 30, 2023, Close: $54.11

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $68.90

Change: +27.33%

Market Capitalization: $49.84 billion

In late July Dell said that Co-COO Chuck Whitten, who had held that position since 2021, would leave the company in August. CEO Michael Dell said Whitten’s departure was part of a leadership restructuring that was necessary to move the company forward.

In July Dell announced a deal to buy Moogsoft, a provider of AI-driven provider of intelligent monitoring software for DevOps and ITOps.

For the first six months (ended Aug. 4) of its fiscal 2024 Dell reported revenue of $43.86 billion, down 17 percent from $52.54 billion in the first half of fiscal 2023. Net income for the six-month period was $1.03 billion, down 34 percent from one year earlier.

Gainers No. 2: Splunk

CEO: Gary Steele

June 30, 2023, Close: $106.09

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $145.25

Change: +37.85%

Market Capitalization: $24.66 billion

On Sept. 21 Cisco Systems said it had reached a deal to acquire unified security and observability platform developer Splunk for $157 per share in cash or approximately $28 billion.

Splunk shares surged from their Sept. 20 close of $119.59 per share to a high of $145.81 on the day of the acquisition announcement and have hovered in the range of $144 to $146 since then.

Gainers No. 1: Vertiv

CEO: Giordano Albertazzi

June 30, 2023, Close: $24.77

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $37.20

Change: +50.18%

Market Capitalization: $14.16 billion

Vertiv recorded more than 50 percent growth in its stock price in the third quarter, putting the manufacturer of IT power, cooling and infrastructure management systems at the top of our stock price watch list.

In August Vertiv said that for its 2023 second quarter (ended June 30) revenue grew 24 percent year over year to $1.73 billion. The company raised its guidance for all of 2023 to between $6.71 billion and $6.91 billion.

Losers No. 1: Rackspace Technology

CEO: Amar Maletira

June 30, 2023, Close: $2.72

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $2.35

Change: -13.60%

Market Capitalization: $507.34 million

Cloud computing service provider Rackspace Technology shares are the first on our watch list of companies whose stock price declined in the third calendar quarter.

Rackspace reported revenue of $1.51 billion for the first six months of 2023, down 2.8 percent from $1.55 billion in the first half of 2022. The company reported a $639.2 million net loss for the six-month period compared to a $79.1 million loss one year earlier.

The price of Rackspace shares has continued to decline since the end of September, closing below $1.35 per share on Oct. 13.

Losers No. 2: BlackBerry

CEO: John Chen

June 30, 2023, Close: $5.53

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $4.71

Change: -14.83%

Market Capitalization: $2.75 billion

On Oct. 4 BlackBerry said that a review of the company’s portfolio of businesses, undertaken under the name Project Imperium by the board of directors on May 1, 2023, concluded that separating the company’s IoT and cybersecurity business units into two independently operated entities was “the optimal strategic direction” for BlackBerry. The ultimate goal is an IPO for the IoT business.

For the first six months (ended Aug. 31, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 BlackBerry reported revenue of $505 million, up 4.7 percent from $336 million in the first six months of fiscal 2023.

The company’s net loss for the six-month period was $53 million compared to the $235 million loss recorded in the first six months of fiscal 2023.

Losers No. 3: OpenText

CEO: Mark Barrenechea

June 30, 2023, Close: $41.55

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $35.10

Change: -15.52%

Market Capitalization: $9.52 billion

OpenText became one of the world’s largest information management and security software companies at the start of 2023 when it completed its $5.8 billion acquisition of Micro Focus, a leading U.K.-based software vendor.

For its fiscal 2023 fourth quarter (ended June 30, 2023) OpenText reported revenue of $1.49 billion, up 65.2 percent from $902.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. The company reported a $48.7 million loss for the quarter compared to net income of $102.2 million one year before.

For all of fiscal 2023 OpenText reported total revenue of $4.49 billion, up 28.4 percent from $3.49 billion in fiscal 2022. Net income for the year was $150.4 million, down from $397.1 million one year earlier.

Losers No. 4: MongoDB

CEO: Dev Ittycheria

June 30, 2023, Close: $410.99

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $345.86

Change: -15.85%

Market Capitalization: $24.68 billio

On Oct. 2 next-generation database developer MongoDB said the company had hired Jim Scharf as chief technology officer, charged with leading the company’s global engineering organization. Scharf previously worked at Amazon Web Services for 17 years, including serving as general manager for the company’s Amazon DynamoDB database offering.

For the first six months (ended July 31, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 MongoDB reported revenue of $792.1 million, up 34.5 percent from $589.1 million in the first half of fiscal 2023. The company reported a $91.8 million loss for the period compared to a $196.2 million loss one year before.

Losers No. 5: Confluent

CEO: Jay Kreps

June 30, 2023, Close: $35.31

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $29.61

Change: -16.14%

Market Capitalization: $8.96 billion

In August Confluent, a leading developer of data streaming technology, said it had promoted Rohan Sivaram to chief financial officer, replacing Steffan Tomlinson who left the company for another opportunity.

Sivaram, who had worked at Confluent for three years, previously led the company’s FP&A, investor relations, treasury and business operations teams. Before joining Confluent in 2020 he worked at Palo Alto Networks for six years.

For the first six months of 2023 (ended June 30) Confluent reported revenue of $363.6 million, up nearly 37 percent from $265.5 million in the first half of 2022. The company reported a net loss of $256.0 million for the six-month period compared to a $230.6 million loss one year before.

The company will report its third-quarter results on Nov. 1.

Losers No. 6: HP Inc.

CEO: Enrique Lores

June 30, 2023, Close: $30.71

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $25.70

Change: -16.31%

Market Capitalization: $25.40

In August CEO Enrique Lores said the company’s recovery from a slump in PC and printer sales was slower than expected.

For the company’s fiscal 2023 third quarter (ended July 31) HP reported revenue of $13.20 billion, down just under 10 percent from $14.65 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2022. The company’s net earnings in the quarter declined nearly 32 percent to $766 million from $1.12 billion one year before.

Losers No. 7: Fortinet

CEO: Ken Xie

June 30, 2023, Close: $75.59

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $58.68

Change: -22.37%

Market Capitalization: $46.08 billion

During its Q2 earnings call on Aug. 3 cybersecurity tech developer Fortinet said sales in its second quarter (ended June 30) took a hit as enterprise customers postponed a significant number of deals amid the economic uncertainty. That caused the company’s stock price to plunge from its $75.76 close on Aug. 3 to below $57 per share at the close of trading on Aug. 4.

For the first six months of 2023 (ended June 30) Fortinet reported revenue of $2.56 billion, up early 29 percent from $1.98 billion in the first half of 2022. Net income for the six-month period soared to $514.0 million from $311.9 million one year earlier.

Fortinet plans to announce its third quarter results on Nov. 2.

Losers No. 8: Domo

CEO: Josh James

June 30, 2023, Close: $14.66

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $9.81

Change: -33.08%

Market Capitalization: $353.97 billion

For the first six months (ended July 31) of the company’s fiscal 2024 business analytics software developer Domo reported revenue of $159.1 million, up 6 percent from just under $150 million in the first half of fiscal 2023. The company reported a $40.5 million net loss for the six-month period compared to a $60.0 million loss one year before.

Losers No. 9: Lumen Technologies

CEO: Kate Johnson

June 30, 2023, Close: $2.26

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $1.42

Change: -37.17%

Market Capitalization: $1.43 billion

Lumen Technologies (formerly CenturyLink) has been exiting or winding down specific businesses over the last two years as part of a plan to focus on more strategic IT services such as Network-as-a-Service, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and fiber. Earlier this month Lumen sold off select Content Delivery Network (CDN) service contracts to Akamai Technologies.

For the first six months of 2023 (ended June 30) Lumen reported operating revenue of $7.40 billion, down 20 percent from $9.29 billion in the first six months of 2022. The company reported a $8.23 billion net loss for the period – due to a second quarter goodwill impairment charge of $8.79 billion for the decline in the price of the company’s shares – compared to net income of $943 million in the first half of 2022.

Lumen will announce its third quarter results on Oct. 31.

Losers No. 10: Quantum

CEO: Jamie Lerner

June 30, 2023, Close: $1.08

Sept. 29, 2023, Close: $0.61

Change: -43.52%

Market Capitalization: $57.98 million

Data management and storage technology developer Quantum recorded the biggest decline in its stock price among all the IT vendors on our watch list during the third calendar quarter.

For the first quarter (ended June 30) of its fiscal 2024 Quantum reported revenue of $91.8 million, down more than 5.4 percent from $97.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. The company reported a total comprehensive loss of $10.3 million for the quarter compared to a $11.5 million loss one year before.