Biggest Tech Stock Winners And Losers In 2023

Here’s a look at the tech industry companies that saw the biggest share price gains and losses in 2023 including Nvidia, Vertiv, MicroStrategy, Quantum, Lumen Technologies and Rackspace.

A Stock Price Recovery Year

Tech companies had a challenging 2023 with the uncertain economy and with many of the biggest players in the IT industry laying off thousands of workers. But when it came to their stock prices, it was a good year for most IT companies.

Of the 57 IT vendors currently on the CRN watch list, only nine recorded stock price declines between the opening bell on Jan. 3 and the close of trading on Dec. 29. Five of those were double-digit percentage drops – the biggest losing nearly 68 percent of the company’s share value in 2023.

Among the 48 companies that saw their stock price rise during the year, all but five ended the year with double-digit gains in their stock price – and seven recorded gains greater than 100 percent.

The year marked a significant change from all of 2022 when only seven IT vendors on the CRN watch list recorded share price gains. (And several of those were due to acquisitions that locked in price premiums offered by the acquiring companies.) The rest recorded share price declines for the year – with many companies’ shares losing more than half their value in 2022.

Among the IT industry’s biggest companies reporting stock price gains in 2023 – but not cracking the top 10 – were Dell Technologies (up 88.61 percent), Intel (85.77 percent), ServiceNow (78.82 percent), Amazon (77.79 percent), Alphabet/Google (56.89 percent), Microsoft (54.70 percent), SAP (48.59 percent), Apple (47.78 percent), Oracle (27.84 percent), IBM (15.91 percent), Cisco Systems (5.56 percent) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (5.53 percent).

For all of 2023 the Dow Jones index was up 13.70 percent in 2023 to close at 37,689.54 on Dec. 29 while the tech-heavy NASDAQ was up 42.13 percent to close at 15,011.35.

Here’s a look at the biggest stock price gainers and losers in 2023. We start with the 10 biggest gainers, counting down to the IT vendor with the biggest stock price gain. Then we list the nine companies whose stock price declined during the year, concluding with the IT vendor with the biggest loss.

The rankings are based on the percentage change between the opening share prices on Jan. 3, 2023, and the closing share prices on Dec. 29, 2023. The market capitalizations are as of Dec. 29, 2023.

Gainers No. 10: Zscaler (ZS)

CEO: Jay Chaudhry

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $114.72

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $221.56

Change: +93.13%

Market Capitalization: $32.87 Billion

Zscaler starts off our list of IT companies with the biggest stock price gains in 2023. The cloud security service provider recorded a share price gain of more than 93 percent during the year.

Earlier in 2023 Zscaler launched its Risk360 tool for risk quantification and visualization that aims to help businesses and organizations make better and faster decisions about reducing security risk.

In November Zscaler hired former ServiceNow executive Mike Rich as chief revenue officer and president of global sales, and former Twilio and Microsoft executive Joyce Kim as chief marketing officer. The hires come as Zscaler looks to grow beyond $5 billion in annual recurring revenue.

For its fiscal 2023 (ended July 31) Zscaler reported revenue of $1.62 billion, up more than 48 percent from $1.09 billion in fiscal 2022. The company’s net loss during the year narrowed to $202.3 million from $390.3 million one year before.

For the first quarter (ended Oct. 31, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 Zscaler reported revenue of $496.7 million, up nearly 40 percent from $355.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. The company recorded a $33.5 million net loss compared to a $68.2 million loss one year prior.

Gainers No. 9: Salesforce (CRM)

CEO: Marc Benioff

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $135.19

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $263.14

Change: +94.64%

Market Capitalization: $254.72 Billion

Salesforce maintained solid growth in 2023, although not at quite the torrid pace of previous years as sales slowed amid the year’s economic uncertainty.

In January the company said it would layoff around 7,000 people or about 10 percent of its workforce. “As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we’re now facing, and I take responsibility for that,” said CEO Marc Benioff in a letter to employees. “The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions.”

The company, nevertheless, announced in July that starting in August it would increase the price of its software products by an average of 9 percent.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 Salesforce reported revenue of $25.57 billion, up more than 11 percent from $22.97 billion in the first three quarters of fiscal 2023. The company report net income of $2.69 billion for the three-quarter period compared to $306 million one year before.

The company forecast that for all of fiscal 2024 (ending Jan. 31) revenue will be between $34.75 billion and $34.80 billion compared to the $31.35 billion it generated in fiscal 2023.

Throughout 2023 Salesforce launched a number of generative AI-focused products including EinsteinGPT in March and the AI Cloud in June. In August, during the company’s Q2 earnings call, Benioff said the company was aiming to be not just the industry’s No. 1 CRM vendor but also the No. 1 AI CRM provider.

Gainers No. 8: Broadcom (AVGO)

CEO: Hock Tan

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $565.00

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $1,116.25

Change: +97.57%

Market Capitalization: $522.56 Billion

On Nov. 22 Broadcom closed its $69 billion acquisition of virtualization giant VMware, one of the largest acquisitions in the history of the IT industry, 18 months after first announcing the deal.

Through late 2022 and much of 2023 Broadcom worked to secure approval for the deal from government regulators in the U.S., the U.K., the European Union and China.

Broadcom, a provider of semiconductors and infrastructure products, previously acquired storage networking company Brocade Communications Systems in 2017 and software giant CA Technologies in 2018.

Much of the gain in Broadcom’s share price came after May 1 with the stock peaking at $1,129.74 on Dec. 11.

For its fiscal 2023 (ended Oct. 29) Broadcom reported revenue of $35.82 billion, up nearly 8 percent from $33.20 billion in fiscal 2022. Net income for the year was $14.08 billion, up 25.5 percent from $11.22 billion one year earlier.

Gainers No. 7: MongoDB (MDB)

CEO: Dev Ittycheria

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $199.45

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $408.85

Change: +104.99%

Market Capitalization: $29.51 Billion

Next-generation database developer MongoDB has been aggressively establishing and expanding strategic alliances with major cloud platform companies, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Alibaba, over the last couple of years. In June the company launched an AI initiative with Google Cloud.

MongoDB has been especially successful with its MongoDB Atlas cloud database and suite of related data services for building data-intensive applications.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 MongoDB reported revenue of $1.23 billion, up nearly 33 percent from $922.7 million in the first three quarters of fiscal 2023. The company reported a net loss of $121.1 million for the three-quarter period compared to a $281.0 million loss one year before.

Gainers No. 6: Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

CEO: Nikesh Arora

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $141.32

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $294.88

Change: +108.66%

Market Capitalization: $92.98 Billion

Palo Alto Networks has achieved significant momentum in the red-hot cybersecurity arena. The company develops a leading enterprise cybersecurity platform that provides cloud and network security and endpoint protection – including key growth areas such as AI-based SASE, zero trust and XDR (extended detection and response) tools. The company also offers AI-powered Security Operations Center automation capabilities.

In December Palo Alto Networks closed its acquisitions of Talon Cyber Security, a secure web browser provider, and Dig Security, which develops data security posture management technology.

For all of fiscal 2023 (ended July 31) Palo Alto Networks reported revenue of $6.89 billion, up more than 25 percent from $5.50 billion in fiscal 2022. Net income for the year was $439.7 million compared to a $267.0 million loss one year before.

For its fiscal 2024 first quarter (ended October 31, 2023) Palo Alto Networks reported revenue of $1.88 billion, up 20 percent from $1.56 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. Net income for the quarter was $194.2 million compared to $20.0 million one year earlier.

Gainers No. 5: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

CEO: Lisa Su

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $66.00

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $147.41

Change: +123.35%

Market Capitalization: $238.14 Billion

The technology momentum chip designer AMD has built up in recent years continued in 2023 with the company launching new processors for PCs and data center systems as it competed against long-time rival Intel and more recent competitor Nvidia.

In June, for example, the company debuted new Instinct MI300X and EPYC 97X4 processors with an eye on expanding its offerings for AI and cloud computing tasks. In September it launched new EPYC server CPUs targeting edge and cloud tasks, and in October unveiled the Threadripper 7000 series of PC CPUs.

In August AMD acquired Mipsology in a move to compete with Nvidia in AI inference technology. And in October it bought Nod.ai, a developer of compiler software for optimizing AI solutions.

But AMD’s performance in 2023 was bumpy, especially early in the year when the company’s sales took a hit from the sluggish PC market and a slowdown in products for data centers.

In May AMD reported that revenue in its first quarter declined year over year for the first time in nearly four years due to a steep decline in sales for client CPUs and slowing demand for data center and gaming chips. That followed record revenue in 2022, largely due to surging sales of the company’s EPYC processors for data center systems.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 AMD reported revenue of $16.51 billion, down more than 8 percent from $18.00 billion in the first three quarters of 2022. Net income for the three-quarter period was $187 million compared to $1.30 billion one year before.

Gainers No. 4: CrowdStrike (CRWD)

CEO: George Kurtz

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $107.50

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $255.32

Change: +137.51%

Market Capitalization: $61.31 Billion

CrowdStrike has been one of the fastest growing players in the crowded IT security arena with its cloud security, identity protection and next-generation SIEM offerings.

The company debuted a number of new products and services during the year including its managed extended extension and response offering in April and its Charlotte GenAI assistant for security analysts.

In September CrowdStrike struck a deal to acquire Bionic, a pioneer in the application security posture management space.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31) of its fiscal 2024 CrowdStrike reported revenue of $2.21 billion, up nearly 38 percent from $1.60 billion in the first three quarters of fiscal 2022. The company reported net income for the three-quarter period of $35.6 million compared to a $135.8 million loss one year before.

Gainers No. 3: Nvidia (NVDA)

CEO: Jensen Huang

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $148.51

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $495.22

Change: +233.46%

Market Capitalization: $1.23 Trillion

Nvidia’s stock skyrocketed in value in 2023, driven by the wave of generative AI applications like ChatGPT that drove demand for the company’s data center GPUs.

The meteoric rise in the price of Nvidia shares boosted the chip company’s value over the $1 trillion mark, putting the chip designer in the same exclusive club as Amazon, Apple, Google (Alphabet) and Microsoft.

Much of Nvidia’s share price growth came in the first half of 2023 – the company topped the list of stock price gainers on the CRN watch list for the first six months of the year.

During the year Nvidia was seemingly everywhere among the IT industry’s biggest server and cloud vendors, earning more revenue from data center products than long-time leader Intel. In November, for example, Amazon Web Services became the first cloud service provider to use Nvidia’s Grace Hopper Superchip advanced AI processor, launching a new EC2 instance for handling generative AI applications.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 29, 2023) of its fiscal 2024 Nvidia reported revenue of $38.82 billion, up 85.5 percent from $20.92 billion in the first three quarters of fiscal 2023. Net income for the three quarters skyrocketed to $17.48 billion from $2.95 billion one year earlier.

Gainers No. 2: Vertiv (VRT)

CEO: Giordano Albertazzi

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $13.86

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $48.03

Change: +246.54%

Market Capitalization: $18.32 Billion

Giordano Albertazzi took over as Vertiv CEO in January 2023 following a succession plan announced the previous October. Until July 1 he also retained the President – Americas post he had held since March 2022. Altogether Albertazzi worked at the company for more than two decades, including holding several top executive positions overseeing the EMEA operations for Vertiv and before that Emerson Network Power (which rebranded as Vertiv in December 2016).

In May London, U.K.-based Vertiv named Anand Sanghi as the new president of the company’s Americas operations, effective July 1. Sanghi had been serving as president of the company’s Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and India (ASI) operations. He has worked at Vertiv and Emerson for 29 years.

In December Vertiv expanded its portfolio of liquid cooling technology by acquiring CoolTera Ltd., a U.K. developer of coolant distribution infrastructure for data centers.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 Vertiv reported sales of just under $5 billion, up 24 percent from $4.04 billion in the first nine months of 2022. Net income for the period was $227.6 million compared to $50.0 million the year before.

Gainers No. 1: MicroStrategy (MSTR)

CEO: Phong Le

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $145.67

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $631.62

Change: +333.60%

Market Capitalization: $10.56 Billion

MicroStrategy recorded the biggest share price gain in 2023 among all the companies on the CRN stock watch list.

MicroStrategy is a leading company in the data analytics space, offering products for both enterprise and embedded analytics. In November the company said its MicroStrategy One analytics platform was available through the AWS Marketplace.

The Tysons Corner, Va.-based company is also a major investor in Bitcoin and much of the rise in the company’s stock in 2023 can be attributed to the increase in Bitcoin’s value since the start of the year.

MicroStrategy began investing in Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2020 and has since acquired more than 189,000 Bitcoin worth about $8.7 billion. The price of Bitcoin surged this year from around $16,675 on Jan. 2 to $42,288 on Dec. 31.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 MicroStrategy reported revenue of $371.8 million, up 1.4 percent from $366.7 million in the first three quarters of 2022. The company reported net income of just under $340 million (including a $403.9 million income tax benefit) for the three quarters compared to a $1.22 billion loss one year before.

Losers No. 1: Extreme Networks (EXTR)

CEO: Ed Meyercord

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $18.50

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $17.64

Change: -4.65%

Market Capitalization: $2.29 Billion

Extreme Networks is the first on our list of IT companies whose share price declined in 2023.

In November Extreme Networks debuted its ExtremeCloud Universal Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), a cloud-based offering that combines network, application and device all with a single tool.

For its fiscal 2023 (ended June 30) Extreme Networks reported revenue of $1.31 billion, up 18 percent from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2022. Net income for the year was $78.1 million, up 76 percent from $44.3 million one year before.

For the first quarter (ended Sept. 30) of its fiscal 2024 Extreme Networks reported revenue of $353.1 million, up nearly 19 percent from $297.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. Net income for the quarter was $28.7 million, up 128 percent from $12.6 million one year earlier.

Losers No. 2: Verizon Communications (VZ)

CEO: Hans Vestberg

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $39.77

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $37.70

Change: -5.20%

Market Capitalization: $158.50 Billion

Verizon continued to lean on its core networking, cloud and wireless strengths in 2023 while the telecommunications giant saw declines in its Verizon Business operations.

In August Verizon exited the crowded videoconferencing market by closing down BlueJeans, the videoconferencing service it had owned since 2020. The company took a one-time charge of $179 million related to the BlueJeans shutdown.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 Verizon reported total operating revenue of $98.84 billion, down 2.7 percent from $101.58 billion in the first three quarters of 2022. Net income was down 2.5 percent for the three-quarter period to $14.67 billion from $15.05 billion one year before.

The company will report its 2023 fourth quarter and full-year financial results on Jan. 23.

Losers No. 3: Juniper Networks (JNPR)

CEO: Rami Rahim

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $32.24

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $29.48

Change: -8.56%

Market Capitalization: $9.4 Billion

In October Juniper Networks said it was conducting a round of layoffs and carrying out a $59 million restructuring plan as the company realigned around its long-term growth opportunities, such as its enterprise networking business and the Juniper Mist AI portfolio.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 Juniper Networks reported revenue of $4.20 billion, up 9 percent from $3.85 billion in the first three quarters of 2022. The company reported net income of $185.9 million for the three-quarter period, down 36 percent from $290.6 million one year earlier.

(On Jan. 9, after the period covered by this analysis, Juniper Networks struck a deal to be acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise for $40 per share in an all-cash deal valued at $40 billion.)

Juniper Networks will release its fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full-year results on Jan. 30.

Losers No. 4: AT&T (T)

CEO: John Stankey

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $18.51

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $16.78

Change: -9.35%

Market Capitalization: $119.98 Billion

Under a strategy launched several years ago AT&T has doubled down on its telecommunications strategy focused on the company’s nationwide 5G wireless network and its fiber assets.

In January AT&T said it would invest heavily in the buildout of its 5G infrastructure and fiber network through a joint venture with private equity partner BlackRock.

For the first three quarters of 2023 AT&T reported operating revenue of $90.41 billion, up 1.1 percent from $89.40 billion in the first three quarters of 2022.Net income for the three-quarter period was $12.06 billion, down nearly 19 percent from $14.84 billion one year earlier.

AT&T will release its 2023 fourth quarter and full-year financial results on Jan. 24.

Losers No. 5: Netgear (NTGR)

CEO: Patrick Lo

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $18.27

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $14.58

Change: -20.20%

Market Capitalization: $431.69 Million

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 1) of 2023 Netgear reported revenue of $552.2 million, down more than 19 percent from $683.4 million in the first three quarters of 2022. The company reported a net loss of $103.1 million for the quarter compared to a $62.9 million loss one year ago.

Losers No. 6: Domo (DOMO)

CEO: Josh James

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $14.63

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $10.29

Change: -29.67%

Market Capitalization: $376.80 Million

Domo is a leading developer of mobile, cloud-based business intelligence and data visualization tools.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31) of the company’s fiscal 2024 Domo reported revenue of $238.8 million, up 4.3 percent from $229.0 million in the first three quarters of fiscal 2023. The company’s net loss in the three-quarter period narrowed to $56.9 million from $85.7 million one year before.

Losers No. 7: Rackspace Technology (RXT)

CEO: Amar Maletira

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $3.02

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $2.00

Change: -33.77%

Market Capitalization: $432.81 Million

Multi-cloud service provider Rackspace entered 2023 working to recover from an extensive ransomware attack in December 2022 that caused widespread service outages for thousands of customers. In January the company confirmed that hackers had obtained customer data in the attack.

During the company’s first-quarter earnings call CEO Amar Maletire called 2023 “a transformation year” for the business.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 Rackspace reported revenue of $2.24 billion, down more than 4 percent from $2.34 billion in the first three quarters of 2022. The company’s net loss for the three-quarter period totaled $865.8 million compared to a $590.8 million loss one year before.

Rackspace’s stock was on a downward slide through much of the first half of the year, hitting a low of $1.13 per share in May, before rebounding during the summer to as high as $2.72 before retreating again late in the year.

Losers No. 8: Lumen Technologies (LUMN)

CEO: Kate Johnson

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $5.30

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $1.83

Change: -65.47%

Market Capitalization: $1.85 Billion

Telecommunications company Lumen Technologies, formerly CenturyLink, has struggled against financial headwinds in recent years and had the second biggest stock price decline during 2023 – more than 65 percent – among all companies on the CRN watch list.

Kate Johnson, who was appointed Lumen president and CEO in September 2022, declared 2023 to be a “reset year” as the company looks to return to growth while continuing to divest itself of non-core businesses.

In February the company announced a number of changes to its executive ranks, including bringing on tech veterans Sham Chotai as executive vice president of product and technology and Jay Barrows as executive vice president of enterprise sales and public sector. In May the company hired Kye Prigg as executive vice president of enterprise operations. The company said the moves would better position it for growth and to place more of an emphasis on customer experience. And in December the company hired AI expert Satish Lakshmanan as the company’s Chief Product Officer.

Lumen is betting heavily on its Lumen Internet OnDemand Network-as-a-Service platform, launched in July, as part of the company’s turnaround strategy. In September the company also enhanced its SASE portfolio for partners selling network-adjacent services.

In October Lumen sold its content delivery service contracts to Akamai Technologies and in November completed the previously announced sale of its EMEA business to London-based Colt Technology Services. On Oct. 31 Lumen said it would layoff 4 percent of its workforce amid a $7-billion debt restructuring.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2023 Lumen Technologies reported operating revenue of $11.04 billion, down 19 percent from $13.68 billion in the first three quarters of 2022. The company reported an $8.3 million loss for the three-quarter period compared to net income of $1.5 million one year before.

Losers No. 9: Quantum (QMCO)

CEO: Jamie Lerner

Jan. 3, 2023, Opening: $1.08

Dec. 29, 2023, Close: $0.35

Change: -67.69%

Market Capitalization: $33.17 Million

Quantum’s stock lost more than two-thirds of its value in 2023, the biggest percentage loss among all the companies on the CRN watch list.

On Nov. 17 Quantum, whose stock trades on the Nasdaq exchange, said it had received notification from Nasdaq that the company was not in compliance with Nasdaq rules because of delays in Quantum filing its 10-Q quarterly report for the fiscal 2024 second quarter ended Sept. 30.

Just four days earlier Quantum had filed a notification of a late filing for the 10-Q and was postponing its second quarter earnings announcement and conference call, typically held during the second week of November. The company intended to file a plan on or before Jan. 16 to regain compliance and was seeking up to 180 days from the quarterly report’s original due date to May 7, 2024, to regain compliance.

For its fiscal 2024 first quarter (ended June 30, 2023) – the last quarter reported by the company – Quantum reported revenue of $91.8 million, down 5 percent from $97.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. The company reported a $10.6 million net loss for the quarter compared to a $10.2 million loss one year before.

Quantum, headquartered in San Jose, Calif., provides a platform and services to orchestrate, protect and enrich data across its lifecycle. In November the company said its new Quantum Myriad all-flash, scale-out file and object storage software platform, was generally available.

On Nov. 16 Quantum said it had appointed Jan Spanjaard, who previously led the company’s EMEA sales, as chief revenue officer. He replaced CRO John Hurley who was leaving the company in December “to pursue personal and philanthropic interests.”