The Biggest Tech Stocks Winners And Losers In 2022

Here is a look at the technology company stocks that recorded the biggest price gains and declines in 2022. Take a look to see how the shares of leading IT companies like IBM, VMware, Rackspace and Zoom performed during the year.

Turbulent 2022 Was A Tough Year For Tech Stocks

Last year was the worst year for U.S. stocks since 2008 in the midst of “The Great Recession” with the S&P 500 down nearly 20 percent for the year and the Dow down close to 9 percent.

The year was especially tough for tech stocks, which generally had one of their worst years ever. The tech-heavy NASDAQ ended 2022 down more than 33 percent.

It’s no surprise, then, that among the 60 publicly traded IT vendor companies on CRN’s watch list, only seven recorded an increase in their share price in 2022. And several of those were due to acquisition deals that pushed up stock prices.

The trend in tech stock prices was otherwise down for the year amidst an uncertain economy, inflation, rising interest rates and the COVID-19 pandemic that just wouldn’t go away. Most companies on the CRN watch list recorded hefty double-digit percent declines in their stock prices during the year with 17 losing more than half of their value.

Here’s a look at the biggest stock price winners and losers in 2022. We start with the seven winners, counting down to the IT vendor with the biggest stock price gain during the year. 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 Dec. 30, 2022.

Gainers No. 7: Hewlett Packard Enterprise

President and CEO: Antonio Neri

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $15.89

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $15.96

Change: +0.44%

Fueled by demand for its GreenLake edge-to-cloud service platform, HPE reported revenue of $28.50 billion for its fiscal 2022 (ended Oct. 31), up 2.6 percent from $27.78 billion one year earlier. Net income for the fiscal year was $868 million, down from $3.43 billion in fiscal 2021.

Gainers No. 6: IBM

CEO: Arvind Krishna

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $134.07

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $140.89

Change: +5.09%

Last year marked IBM’s first full year after the spinoff of its infrastructure services business as Kyndryl.

IBM acquisitions in 2022 included digital transformation specialist Octo, hybrid cloud consultant Dialexa, data observability provider Databand.ai, Azure consultancy Neudesic, and sustainability analytics company Envizi.

For the first nine months of 2022 (ended Sept. 30) IBM reported revenue of $43.84 billion, up nearly 8 percent from $40.66 billion in the same period of 2021. But the company reported a loss of $1.07 billion for the nine months (due to a one-time, non-cash pension settlement charge of $5.9 billion) compared to income of $3.41 billion one year before.

IBM is scheduled to release its 2022 fourth quarter and full-year financial results on Jan. 25.

Gainers No. 5: VMware

CEO: Raghu Raghuram

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $116.00

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $122.76

Change: +5.83%

In May, virtualization tech giant VMware struck a deal to be acquired by semiconductor and infrastructure software company Broadcom for $61 billion, based on VMware’s May 25 closing price of $120.54.

Under the agreement VMware shareholders will receive either $142.50 in cash or 0.2520 shares of Broadcom common stock for each share of VMware stock. VMware’s share price had been climbing for about a week prior to the announcement as reports of a pending deal circulated.

VMware’s stock price in 2022 peaked at $131.99 on June 3 and then sunk to a low of $105.77 on Oct. 11 before breaking above $120 by year’s end.

The deal has run into potential hurdles from both U.S. and European regulators. But Broadcom and VMware have expressed confidence that they can complete the acquisition this year.

Gainers No. 4: Check Point Software Technologies

CEO: Gil Shwed

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $115.95

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $126.16

Change: +8.81%

For the first nine months of 2022 security technology developer Check Point Software Technologies reported revenue of $1.69 billion, up nearly 8 percent from $1.57 billion in the same period of 2021. Net income for the nine months was $527.0 million, down more than 5 percent from $555.9 million one year before.

Check Point will announce its 2022 fourth quarter and full year results on Feb. 13.

Gainers No. 3: Citrix Systems

CEO: Tom Krause

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $94.60

Sept. 30, 2022, Close: $104.00

Change: +9.94%

On Jan. 31, confirming reports that had been circulating for weeks, Citrix Systems announced a deal to be acquired and taken private in a all-cash deal with Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital, the latter an affiliate of Elliott Management.

Under the agreement Citrix shareholders received $104 per share for their Citrix stock, putting the deal’s price tag at $16.5 billion. The plan included combining Citrix with data integration and analysis software provider Tibco Software, which Vista Equity Partners had owned since 2014.

The acquisition was completed on Sept. 30 and Citrix shares ceased trading that day.

Gainers No. 2: Extreme Networks

CEO: Edward Meyercord

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $15.56

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $18.31

Change: +17.67%

For all of fiscal 2022 (ended June 30) Extreme Networks reported revenue of $1.11 billion, up more than 10 percent from $1.01 billion in fiscal 2021. Net income surged to $44.3 million from $1.9 million one year before.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2023 (ended Sept. 30, 2022) the company reported revenue of $297.7 million, up 11 percent from $267.7 one year before.

Extreme Networks will report its FY 2023 second quarter results on Jan. 25.

Gainers No. 1: Mandiant

CEO: Kevin Mandia

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $17.54

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $23.00

Change: +31.13%

Cybersecurity services provider Mandiant was acquired by Google Cloud in a $5.4 billion all-cash deal that was announced March 8, 2022.

The $23 per share acquisition price was a 57 percent premium to the “undisturbed 10-day trailing volume weighted average price as of Feb. 7, 2022,” according to the companies, the last full trading day before published market speculation about the potential acquisition.

The per-share deal price was 31.13 percent above the Jan. 3, 2022, opening price for Mandiant’s shares, making it the biggest gainer among all the companies on the CRN watch list.

The acquisition closed Sept. 12, 2022, and trading of Mandiant shares ceased that day.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said his company is using Mandiant to “reinvent” its security service offerings for its customers.

Losers No. 1: Zoom Video Communications

CEO: Eric Yuan

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: 184.44

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: 67.74

Change: -63.27 %

After peaking above $478 per share in November 2020 when demand for Zoom Communications’ video conferencing services exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company’s share price has been on a fairly steady retreat with the company’s stock losing more than 63 percent of its value between the start and finish of 2022.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31) of its fiscal 2023 Zoom reported revenue of $3.28 billion, up more than 8 percent from $3.03 billion in the first three quarters of fiscal 2022. But net income for the three-quarter period was $207.7 million, down from $884.6 million one year before due to increased spending on sales and marketing and for research and development.

Losers No. 2: BlackBerry

CEO: John Chen

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $9.32

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $3.26

Change: -65.02%

BlackBerry reported revenue of $505 million for the first three quarters (ended Nov. 30) of the company’s fiscal 2023, down more than 5 percent from $533 million in the same period in fiscal 2022. The company reported a $239 million net loss for the period compared to a $132 million net loss one year before.

BlackBerry has been aggressively pushing into the MSSP market and their SMB and mid-market customers with its Cylance cybersecurity portfolio.

Losers No. 3: Zscaler

CEO: Jay Chaudhry

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $322.60

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $111.90

Change: -65.31%

In October Zscaler, a developer of zero trust cloud security, said that President Amit Sinha had accepted a CEO post at a privately held tech company and would resign effective Oct. 21. He continues to serve on the company’s board.

In September Zscaler acquired ShiftRight and would integrate its security workflow automation technology into the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform.

For all of fiscal 2022 (ended July 31) Zscaler reported revenue of $1.09 billion, up 62 percent from $673.1 million in fiscal 2021. The company’s net loss widened in fiscal 2022 to $390.3 million from $262.0 million one year before.

Losers No. 4: Cloudflare

CEO: Matthew Prince

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $131.07

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $45.21

Change: -65.51%

In April, content delivery network services provider Cloudflare completed its $162 million acquisition of email security provider Area 1 Security. That followed Cloudflare’s acquisition of cloud access security broker startup Vectrix in February.

For the first nine months (ended Sept. 30) of 2022, Cloudflare reported revenue of $700.5 million, up percent from $462.8 million in the same period in 2021. The company reported a $147.5 million net loss for the nine months compared to a $182.8 million net loss one year before.

Losers No. 5: Confluent

CEO: Jay Kreps

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $76.62

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $22.24

Change: -70.97%

Data streaming platform developer Confluent went public in 2021 and, like many publicly traded tech companies, its stock was on a downward slide for the first four months of 2022, reaching $21.13 per share on May 1.

For the first nine months (ended Sept. 30) of 2022 Confluent reported revenue of $417.3 million, up nearly 56 percent from $267.9 million in the first nine months of 2021. The company’s net loss widened to $346.7 million during the nine-month period compared to a $228.4 million net loss one year before.

Confluent will report its 2022 fourth quarter and full year results on Jan. 30.

Losers No. 6: UIPath

Co-CEOs: Daniel Dines and Rob Enslin

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $43.81

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $12.71

Change: -70.99%

UIPath, a developer of business process automation software, went public in April 2021 in one of that year’s biggest software company IPOs. But the company’s share price has been on a downward trajectory from its 2021 high near $80 and has hovered below $14 since Sept. 1, 2022.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31, 2022) of its fiscal 2023 UIPath reported revenue of $750.0 million, up 25.5 percent from $602.6 million in the first three quarters of fiscal 2022. The company’s net loss for the three-quarter period declined to $300.7 million from $462.5 million one year before.

Losers No. 7: Domo

CEO: John Mellor

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $49.71

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $14.24

Change: -71.35%

Domo is a provider of business analytics and data application software.

For the first three quarters (ended Oct. 31) of the company’s fiscal 2023 Domo reported revenue of $229.0 million up nearly 22 percent from $188.0 million in the first three quarters of fiscal 2022. The company reported a net loss of $68.9 million for the three-quarter period compared to a net loss of $85.7 million one year earlier.

Losers No. 8: MicroStrategy

President and CEO: Phong Le

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $550.61

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $141.57

Change: -74.29%

MicroStrategy develops software for enterprise and embedded business analytics. The company is also a major player in the Bitcoin market, calling itself the world’s largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin owner with holdings of 130,000 Bitcoins.

For the first nine months (ended Sept. 30) of 2022 MicroStrategy reported revenue of $366.7 million, down 2.5 percent from $376.2 million in the first nine months of 2021. The company reported a net loss of $1.22 billion for the three-quarter period (including a $1.09 billion charge for digital asset impairment losses) compared to a $445.5 million net loss one year before.

Losers No. 9: Rackspace Technology

CEO: Amar Maletira

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $13.52

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $2.95

Change: -78.18%

Multi-cloud and private cloud services provider Rackspace was in the news in December 2022 when it was the victim of a ransomware attack that caused a significant disruption to its hosted Exchange service.

In May Rackspace said a review of the company concluded that a potential sale of the company or parts of the business was a strategic option.

On September 26 Amar Maletira, previously Rackspace’s president and CFO, was named the company’s new CEO, effectively immediately. He replaced Kevin Jones who took on the role of operating advisor with Rackspace investor Apollo Global Management.

For the first three quarters (ended Sept. 30) of 2022 Rackspace reported revenue of $2.34 billion, up nearly 5 percent from $2.23 billion in the first three quarters of 2021. For the three-quarter period the company reported a net loss of $590.8 million compared to a $135.4 million net loss one year before.

Losers No. 10: Quantum

CEO: Jamie Lerner

Jan. 3, 2022, Opening: $5.55

Dec. 30, 2022, Close: $1.09

Change: -80.36%

Quantum, a developer of data storage and management devices and systems, as well as video surveillance systems, recorded the biggest stock price decline in 2022 among all the tech companies on the CRN watch list. The company’s shares lost more than four-fifths of their value in 2022 and finished out the year just above $1.

For the first six months (ended Sept. 30) of its fiscal 2023 Quantum reported revenue of $196.2 million, up nearly 8 percent from $182.3 million in the first half of fiscal 2022. But the company reported a net loss of $24.7 million for the six-month period compared to a $13.6 million net loss one year before.

Supply chain disruptions hindered revenue growth, especially earlier in the year. In June Quantum launched a series of cost-reduction programs designed to reduce expenses by $1.5 million to $2.0 million per quarter.

The company will report its fiscal 2023 third quarter results on Feb. 2.