The Best (And Worst) 1Q Technology Stocks

Best (And Worst) Of Technology Stocks

The list of best tech stocks in the first quarter looks a bit like the 2012 list flipped upside down. Traditional Wall Street darlings like Apple and VMware fared poorly, while companies that struggled last year, like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, were among the best performers. Here's a closer look at the best and worst stocks of the first quarter.

Apple

CEO: Tim Cook
Dec. 31, 2012: $532.17
Mar. 28, 2013: $442.66
Change: -16.8%


Apple typically shows up on the other end of these reports among the highest-growing stocks. But not this time. Apple's stock fell almost 17 percent in the first quarter, including a startling $64 (more than 10 percent) on Jan. 24 after the company reported flat profits for its first fiscal quarter.

VMware

CEO: Pat Gelsinger
Dec. 31, 2012: $94.14
Mar. 28, 2013: $78.88
Change: -16.2%


Like Apple, VMware has been a Wall Street darling for some time, but investors were not kind to the virtualization giant in the first quarter as its stock dropped 16 percent, including more than $21 on Jan. 29 after the company said it planned a reorganization.

Netgear

CEO: Patrick Lo
Dec. 31, 2012: $39.43
Mar. 28, 2013: $33.51
Change: -15.0%


The last week of January was a tough one for many companies and Netgear was no exception. Its shares lost more than $4 (or 10 percent) after the company said it planned to buy the Sierra Wireless AirCard business. In late March, the company rolled out a new series of NAS appliances to go with its latest ReadyNAS operating system.

Juniper Networks

CEO: Kevin Johnson
Dec. 31, 2012: $19.67
Mar. 28, 2013: $18.54
Change: -5.7%


Juniper shares closed over $20 as recently as March 18, but lost more than 6 percent of their value in the last two weeks of the quarter. Earlier in March it was reported that longtime channel veteran Frank Vitagliano was leaving the company after seven years.

EMC

CEO: Joe Tucci
Dec. 31, 2012: $25.30
Mar. 28, 2013: $23.89
Change: -5.6%


EMC was a fairly stable stock in the first quarter, trading between $23 and $25 for much of the quarter, settling at $23.89 at the end after hitting $25.62 just a couple weeks earlier. Meanwhile, Gartner reported that the storage giant continued to outperform its competition in terms of sales.

Red Hat

CEO: James Whitehurst
Dec. 31, 2012: $52.96
Mar. 28, 2013: $50.56
Change: -4.5%


Red Hat shares reached a high of $56.90 on Feb. 1 and fell below $50 in March before rebounding slightly. Overall, shares fell 4.5 percent in the first quarter. Perhaps the second quarter looms better now that the company has hired ex-Microsoft executive Radhesh Balakrishnan to take over its global virtualization infrastructure business.

Oracle

CEO: Larry Ellison
Dec. 31, 2012: $33.32
Mar. 28, 2013: $32.33
Change: -3.0%


Oracle shares fell 3 percent in the first quarter despite the company unveiling new Sparc T5 and M5 servers that CEO Larry Ellison bills as the world's fastest.

Check Point Software Technologies

CEO: Gil Shwed
Dec. 31, 2012: $47.64
Mar. 28, 2013: $46.99
Change: -1.4%


Check Point shares reached a high of $52.72 on Feb. 27 before slipping below the $50 mark on March 18. Its stock continued to fall and its March 28 closing price was near the low point of the entire quarter.

Websense

CEO: Gene Hodges
Dec. 31, 2012: $15.04
Mar. 28, 2013: $15.00
Change: -0.3%


Websense shares had crossed the $16 mark in January, but lost more than 10 percent of their value on Jan. 30 after missing earnings expectations.

SAP

CEOs: Bill McDermott/Jim Hagemann Snabe
Dec. 31, 2012: $80.38
Mar. 28, 2013: $80.54
Change: 0.2%


SAP becomes the first company on this list to show an increase -- albeit a slight one -- in its stock price for the first quarter. In early March, SAP released its new Business One application, which provides solution providers with a way to sell high-speed computing to SMB customers.

NetApp

CEO: Tom Georgens
Dec. 31, 2012: $33.55
Mar. 28, 2013: $34.16
Change: 1.8%


NetApp shares passed the $36 mark in February, before losing more than $2 per share before the end of the quarter. Still, the company showed a 1.8 percent increase for the first three months of 2013. In March, the company detailed its new FlashRay flash storage strategy.

Quantum

CEO: John Gacek
Dec. 31, 2012: $1.24
Mar. 28, 2013: $1.28
Change: 3.2%


Quantum shares closed at $1.44 as recently as March 15 before losing more than 10 percent of their value over the last two weeks of March. Overall, the company's shares increased slightly in the first quarter.

Intel

CEO: Paul Otellini
Dec. 31, 2012: $20.62
Mar. 28, 2013: $21.84
Change: 5.9%


Like many companies this quarter, Intel suffered its biggest one-day loss -- and largest trading volume -- a day after announcing earnings. But overall, the stock was relatively stable, trading between $20 and $22 for the quarter. The company made recent headlines by saying it planned to offer a $599 Ultrabook by the holiday season.

Advanced Micro Devices

CEO: Rory Read
Dec. 31, 2012: $2.40
Mar. 28, 2013: $2.55
Change: 6.3%


Early in the quarter, AMD said it was suing four former employees who left to work for Nvidia.

Shares reached a high of $2.85 after that and they finished at $2.55 in the quarter for a 6.3 percent increase compared to the end of 2012.

Cisco Systems

CEO: John Chambers
Dec. 31, 2012: $19.65
Mar. 28, 2013: $20.90
Change: 6.4%


Cisco shares enjoyed a slow, steady rise for most of the first quarter, peaking with a $21.93 close on March 15. In late March, the company redesigned its Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) program.

Salesforce.com

CEO: Marc Benioff
Dec. 31, 2012: $168.10
Mar. 28, 2013: $178.83
Change: 6.4%


Salesforce.com shares reached $185.94 on March 11 before dropping to $171.23 just eight days later. The stock gained some momentum back before the end of the quarter to end with a 6.4 percent gain for the quarter. The company added mobile capabilities to its Chatter social network in mid-March.

Microsoft

CEO: Steve Ballmer
Dec. 31, 2012: $26.71
Mar. 28, 2013: $28.61
Change: 7.1%


Sales of Microsoft's Surface tablets were slower than expected, but the company still managed to impress Wall Street enough to earn a 7.1 percent increase in its stock for the first quarter.

Brocade Communications

CEO: Michael Klayko
Dec. 31, 2012: $5.33
Mar. 28, 2013: $5.77
Change: 8.3%


Brocade unveiled Fibre Channel management tools in late March, capping a quarter that saw investors increase the company's stock by 8.3 percent.

Lenovo Group

CEO: Yang Yuanqing
Dec. 31, 2012: $18.30
Mar. 28, 2013: $20.10
Change: 9.8%


Lenovo was one of several companies that reportedly looked at Dell's books during the quarter, though they didn't make a formal offer for the company. Shares increased nearly $1.50 on Feb. 5, but fell below the $20 mark in late March before gaining some momentum back at the end of the quarter.

Citrix Systems

CEO: Mark Templeton
Dec. 31, 2012: $65.62
Mar. 28, 2013: $72.15
Change: 10.0%


Citrix becomes the first company on the list to register double-digit growth for its shares in the first quarter. Shares reached a high of $74.65 on March 11 before losing some momentum in the last three weeks of the quarter. In March, the company expanded the scope of its NetScaler application delivery controller to include monitoring and troubleshooting of mobile, virtual desktop and web application traffic.

IBM

CEO: Virginia Rometty
Dec. 31, 2012: $191.55
Mar. 28, 2013: $213.30
Change: 11.4%


IBM shares gained nearly $8 on Jan. 23 after reporting strong financials and gained another $10 over March to close up nearly $22 for the quarter. Meanwhile, the company was one of several companies reported to be in talks to acquire SoftLayer Technologies last month.

Lexmark International

CEO: Paul Rooke
Dec. 31, 2012: $23.19
Mar. 28, 2013: $26.40
Change: 13.8%


Lexmark shares had approached the $28 mark in late January before losing more than $4 on Jan. 29 after announcing its year-end financials. The company's stock rebounded to get nearly back to that mark, ending the quarter with a 13.8 percent increase.

CA Technologies

CEO: Mike Gregoire
Dec. 31, 2012: $21.98
Mar. 28, 2013: $25.18
Change: 14.6%


CA rolled out the latest version of its CloudMinder identity and access management (IAM) service solution in February. Meanwhile, the company's stock rose steadily through the first three months of 2013, closing nearly 15 percent higher than the end of last year.

Motorola Solutions

CEO: Greg Brown
Dec. 31, 2012: $55.68
Mar. 28, 2013: $64.03
Change: 15.0%


Motorola shares increased 15 percent in the first quarter, this after a solid 22 percent increase for 2012.

FalconStor

CEO: James McNiel
Dec. 31, 2012: $2.33
Mar. 28, 2013: $2.68
Change: 15.0%


In January, FalconStor reached a settlement stemming from 2010 bribery charges against its founder and two sales representatives.

The company's stock increased more than 10 percent over a two-day period in mid-January and ended the quarter with a 15 percent increase in its share price.

CommVault Systems

CEO: N. Robert Hammer
Dec. 31, 2012: $69.66
Mar. 28, 2013: $82.00
Change: 17.7%


CommVault added more than 300 enhancements to its Simpana 10 platform compared to the previous version. Twice during the first quarter CommVault saw shares increase more than $5 in a single day (Jan. 30 and March 14). Overall, shares increased nearly 18 percent.

Western Digital

CEO: John Coyne
Dec. 31, 2012: $42.49
Mar. 28, 2013: $50.29
Change: 18.4%


Western Digital acquired Arkeia Software in January as part of an SMB data-protection push. Even though shares dropped $2.51 on Jan. 29, the company's stock regained momentum toward the end of the quarter and closed more than 18 percent higher than at the end of 2012.

NetSuite

CEO: Zach Nelson
Dec. 31, 2012: $67.30
Mar. 28, 2013: $80.06
Change: 19.0%


NetSuite acquired Retail Anywhere in January to help expand its SuiteCommerce line. Meanwhile, its stock enjoyed a steady climb over the quarter with its quarter-end price of $80.06, representing the highest close over the first three months of the year.

QLogic

CEO: H.K. Desai
Dec. 31, 2012: $9.73
Mar. 28, 2013: $11.60
Change: 19.2%


QLogic shares jumped nearly $1 on Jan. 25 and shares stayed between $11 and $12 the rest of the quarter. Meanwhile, the company unveiled a flash-based caching SAN adapter in late March.

Seagate Technology

CEO: Stephen Luczo
Dec. 31, 2012: $30.42
Mar. 28, 2013: $36.56
Change: 20.2%


After earning the distinction of the best technology stock tracked by CRN in 2012, Seagate continued with further solid growth on Wall Street in the first quarter of 2013.

Panasonic

CEO: Joe Taylor
Dec. 31, 2012: $6.07
Mar. 28, 2013: $7.33
Change: 20.8%


Panasonic shares closed as high as $8.03 on Feb. 7, but lost nearly $1 per share before climbing back a bit. Still, the company showed a 20.8 percent stock increase in the first quarter.

BlackBerry

CEO: Thorsten Heins
Dec. 31, 2012: $11.87
Mar. 28, 2013: $14.45
Change: 21.7%


BlackBerry shares were all over the map in the first quarter, closing at $17.90 on Jan. 22 before falling to $12.98 on Jan. 31, then hitting $16.96 on Feb. 7, down to $12.58 on March 5 and $16.16 on March 21. The quarter closed with the stock on a downhill ride to close at $14.45. All told, the company showed a 21.7 percent increase. In March, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing told a Paris newspaper that a deal for BlackBerry "could possibly make sense," raising BlackBerry's stock.

Xerox

CEO: Ursula Burns
Dec. 31, 2012: $6.82
Mar. 28, 2013: $8.60
Change: 26.1%


Xerox was a poor-performing stock in 2012, losing 14 percent of its value. But 2013 has been a happy new year for the company, as shares increased 26 percent during the first quarter. In February, Xerox launched its ConnectKey platform that allows VARs to embed apps around mobility, cloud, big data and other workflow areas.

Symantec

CEO: Steve Bennett
Dec. 31, 2012: $18.82
Mar. 28, 2013: $24.68
Change: 31.1%


Investors still love Symantec. After its stock increased 20 percent in 2012, Symantec saw its shares increase an additional 31 percent through the first three months of 2013. The company told solution providers at XChange that it is simplifying more than 200 point products into three solution sets.

Dell

CEO: Michael Dell
Dec. 31, 2012: $10.14
Mar. 28, 2013: $14.33
Change: 41.3%


Dell shares fell nearly 31 percent in 2012, which apparently made it an attractive price for management to look at a leveraged buyout. Since reports of a go-private deal first started circulating, Dell's stock has increased. It closed the quarter above the proposed $13.65 price from Silver Lake Partners as investors believe the final purchase price will go higher.

Hewlett-Packard

CEO: Meg Whitman
Dec. 31, 2012: $14.25
Mar. 28, 2013: $23.84
Change: 67.3%


After seeing its stock drop nearly in half in 2012, Hewlett-Packard has had a much more favorable relationship with investors this year. HP's stock increased by two-thirds in the first quarter, including more than $2 per share on Feb. 22, a day after the company announced its first-quarter earnings.