The Best And The Worst Tech Stocks Of 2022 (So Far)

It’s been a rough six months for stock markets and IT stocks have been hit particularly hard. Here’s a look at the (few) companies whose share price increased in the first half of 2022 and the 10 companies with the biggest share price declines.

Tech Stocks Tumble As Stock Markets Plummet

For stock markets, the first six months of 2022 was the worst first half of a year since 1970. The major stock indices have been on a downward trajectory since the start of the year, driven by economic uncertainty, inflation, ongoing supply chain issues and other forces.

Between the start of the trading year on Jan. 3 and the close of trading on June 30, the Dow Jones fell 15.27 percent to close at 30,775.43, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 29.90 percent to close at 11,028.74.

Of all 59 tech stocks in the CRN watch list, only four recorded price gains in the first half of 2022—two of which were due to pending acquisition deals. The remaining 55 saw the value of their shares fall, nearly all by double-digit percentages and 10 losing more than 50 percent of their total value.

Major IT vendors like Apple (down 23 percent), Microsoft (down 23 percent), and Cisco Systems (down 32 percent) largely saw the price of their shares decline between 20 percent and 40 percent in the first half of 2022. Younger companies and/or companies that have gone public in recent years generally suffered the biggest declines of 40 percent or more.

Here‘s a look at the biggest stock price winners and losers in 2021. We start with the four companies that recorded share price gains in the first six months of 2022, counting down to the IT vendor with the biggest stock price gain.

Then we list the 10 companies whose stock prices declined the most, concluding with the IT vendor with the biggest loss.

The rankings are based on the opening share prices on Jan. 3, 2022, and the stock closing prices on June 30, 2022.

Stock Price Gainers

Gainers No. 4: Citrix Systems

CEO: Bob Calderoni

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $94.60

June 30, 2022, Close: $97.17

Change: +2.72%

Under a deal disclosed on Jan. 31 Citrix Systems will be acquired by private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital for $100 per share.

Citrix shareholders approved the acquisition in April. Once the acquisition is complete, the plan calls for merging Citrix with Tibco Software, which Vista has owned since 2014. The deal closing is imminent.

Citrix shares, which began the year at $94.60, surged to more than $100 per share once the deal was announced and largely stayed in the $101 to $102 range through early June. The price briefly dipped below $90 per share in mid-June before recovering and hovering in the $96 to $98 range for the rest of the month, making it one of the few stock price gainers in the first half of the year

Citrix’s market capitalization stood at $12.3 billion as of June 30.

Gainers No. 3: Check Point Software Technologies

CEO: Gil Shwed

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $115.95

June 30, 2022, Close: $121.78

Change: +5.03%

In February cybersecurity platform developer Check Point Software Technologies reported that revenue grew 5 percent in 2021 to $2.17 billion. But net income for the year declined nearly 4 percent year over year to $815.6 million.

In April the company reported that revenue in its first quarter ended March 31 grew 7 percent year over year to $543 million. Net income, however, declined by more than 7 percent to $169.4 million.

Check Point’s market capitalization stood at $15.6 billion as of June 30.

Gainers No. 2: IBM

CEO: Arvind Krishna

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $134.07

June 30, 2022, Close: $141.19

Change: +5.31%

Completing its spinoff of IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl in November 2021, IBM has since reported steady revenue growth, including revenue from its hybrid cloud platform, Red Hat software, consulting services, and product sales to Kyndryl.

In its first quarter ended March 31, IBM reported revenue of $14.20 billion, up nearly 8 percent year over year. Net income, however, declined more than 23 percent to $733 million.

In January IBM struck a deal to sell its health-care data and analytics assets, including Health Insights, MarketScan and Micromedex, to global investment firm Francisco Partners.

IBM’s market capitalization stood at $126.6 billion as of June 30.

Gainers No. 1: Mandiant

CEO: Kevin Mandia

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $17.54

June 30, 2022, Close: $21.82

Change: +24.40%

Security incident response superstar Mandiant recorded the biggest share price gain in the first half of 2022 among all companies on the CRN watch list.

On March 8 Mandiant said it agreed to be acquired by Google for $5.4 billion. That $23-per-share deal represented a 57 percent premium over the company’s share price prior to Feb. 7. (Mandiant’s stock price surged more than 20 percent on Feb. 8 following a report that Microsoft was considering an acquisition bid for the company.)

Mandiant’s stock price increased to around $22 per share when the Google deal was announced and has stayed there for the four months since. The acquisition is expected to close later this year.

In late 2021 Mandiant sold its network, endpoint and email security product business to Symphony Technology Group for $1.2 billion.

Mandiant’s market capitalization stood at $5.1 billion as of June 30.

Stock Price Decliners

Decliners No. 1: Zscaler

CEO: Jay Chaudhry

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $322.60

June 30, 2022, Close: $149.51

Change: -53.65%

For the first nine months ended April 30 of its fiscal 2022, Zscaler, a developer of zero-trust cloud security technology, reported revenue of $772.9 million, up 62 percent year over year. The company reported a loss of $292.6 million for the period.

Zscaler’s market capitalization stood at $21.2 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 2: Nutanix

CEO: Rajiv Ramaswami

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $31.91

June 30, 2022, Close: $14.63

Change: -54.15%

For the first nine months ended April 30 of its fiscal 2022, Nutanix reported revenue of $1.20 billion, up 19 percent year over year. The provider of hybrid/multi-cloud systems reported a loss of $646.5 million for the period.

In February Nutanix launched a new core-based pricing and metering model for its software portfolio. The company also streamlined its 15 products and brands into just five offerings.

Nutanix’s market capitalization stood at $3.3 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 3: SentinelOne

CEO: Tomer Weingarten

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $52.00

June 30, 2022, Close: $23.33

Change: -55.13%

For its fiscal 2023 first quarter ended April 30, 2022, endpoint security vendor SentinelOne reported revenue of $78.3 million, up more than 109 percent year over year. The company reported an $89.8 million loss for the quarter.

SentinelOne struck a deal in March to acquire Attivo Networks for $616.5 million in a move to extend identity threat detection and response, identity infrastructure assessment. and identity cyber deception capabilities to its Singularity platform. The acquisition was completed May 4.

SentinelOne’s market capitalization stood at $6.5 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 4: UiPath

Co-CEOs: Daniel Dines, Robert Enslin

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $43.81

June 30, 2022, Close: $18.19

Change: -58.48%

For its fiscal 2023 first quarter ended April 30, 2022, robotic process automation software developer UiPath reported revenue of $245.0 million, up nearly 32 percent year over year. The company also reported that it had cut its quarterly loss nearly in half, year over year, to $122.6 million.

On April 27 UiPath announced that former Google executive Robert Enslin would join the company as co-CEO, effective May 16. He works alongside founder and Co-CEO and Daniel Dines.

UiPath’s market capitalization stood at $9.9 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 5: Snowflake

CEO: Frank Slootman

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $341.00

June 30, 2022, Close: $139.06

Change: -59.22%

Shares of fast-growing data cloud service provider Snowflake have been on a roller coaster since the company’s blockbuster IPO in September 2020. But that ride has been mostly downhill since early 2022 with the company’s shares losing nearly 60 percent of their value.

For its fiscal 2023 first quarter ended April 30, 2022, Snowflake reported revenue of $422.4 million, up 84.5 percent year over year. The company also reduced its quarterly loss to $165.8 million.

Snowflake’s market capitalization stood at $44.2 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 6: Cloudflare

CEO: Matthew Prince

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $131.07

June 30, 2022, Close: $43.75

Change: -66.62%

In February Cloudflare, a provider of web security and performance services, struck a deal to buy email defense company Area 1 Security for $162 million. (The acquisition was completed April 1.) Also in February the company acquired cloud access security broker startup Vectrix.

Last month Cloudflare was in the headlines when a company system outage caused major global internet disruptions for more than an hour.

For its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended March 30, Cloudflare reported revenue of $212.2 million, up nearly 54 percent year over year. The company reported a loss of $41.4 million for the quarter.

Cloudflare’s market capitalization stood at $14.3 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 7: Vertiv

CEO: Rob Johnson

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $25.17

June 30, 2022, Close: $8.22

Change: -67.34%

Vertiv entered 2022 having just completed its $1.8 billion acquisition of E&I Engineering Ireland Limited and its affiliate Powerbar Gulf. The acquisition, announced in September 2021 and completed in November, strengthened the company’s portfolio of in-building power train offerings for data centers and vital commercial and industrial markets.

For its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended March 31, Vertiv reported revenue of $1.16 billion, up more than 5 percent year over year. The company reported net income of $8.5 million for the quarter.

Vertiv’s market capitalization stood at $3.1 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 8: Confluent

CEO: Jay Kreps

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $76.62

June 30, 2022, Close: $23.24

Change: -69.67%

Confluent, a developer of software for real-time, streaming data processing (or “data in motion” as the company describes it), went public just over one year ago with its shares trading at $44. The company’s share price peaked above $93 on Nov. 1 and has been largely declining since.

For its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended March 31, Confluent reported revenue of $126.1 million, up 64 percent year over year. The company reported a loss of $113.0 million for the quarter.

Confluent’s market capitalization stood at $6.5 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 9: MicroStrategy

CEO: Michael Saylor

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $550.61

June 30, 2022, Close: $164.30

Change: -70.16%

MicroStrategy is a long-time major player in the enterprise business intelligence and data analytics arena.

For its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended March 31, MicroStrategy reported revenue of $119.3 million, down 2.9 percent year over year.

MicroStrategy is also deeply involved in Bitcoin cybercurrency and calls itself the leading publicly traded corporate investor in Bitcoin. The company said that in the first quarter it held more than 129,200 Bitcoins worth—as of March 31—nearly $2.90 billion. Also during the quarter the company issued its first Bitcoin-backed term loan.

The significant decline in Microstrategy’s share price likely reflects the company’s position in Bitcoin digital assets. Bitcoin prices have plunged this year from around $47,700 on Jan. 1 to around $20,000 on July 5.

MicroStrategy’s market capitalization stood at $1.9 billion as of June 30.

Decliners No. 10: Quantum

CEO: Jamie Lerner

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $5.55

June 30, 2022, Close: $1.42

Change: -74.41%

Quantum, a developer of data storage and management technology and products, suffered the biggest share price decline on a percentage basis in the first half of 2022 among all the companies on the CRN watch list.

In June Quantum reported that revenue in its fiscal 2022 ended March 31, was $372.8 million, up nearly 7 percent year over year. The company reported a loss of $32.3 million for the year compared with a $35.5 million loss in fiscal 2021.

Quantum’s market capitalization stood at $144.6 million as of June 30.