Software stocks

The best software stocks depend on your portfolio and investment goals — while volatility can be ideal for day traders, long-term investors will want to look to stocks with steadier gains over time.

How to buy software stocks

Sign up with an online broker or platform to invest in one of more of these software stocks.

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Use our comparison table to narrow down top brokers by fees and bonuses.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for the stock you're interested in. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol, like ADSK or CTXS. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Invest in the computer industry today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until the stock reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy fractional shares, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of a software company. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the computer sector as a whole — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Compare software stocks

We round up a selection of stocks in or related to the computer industry, weighting the list more heavily towards popular mid- and large-cap US stocks.

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1. Autodesk (ADSK)

Autodesk, Inc. provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software and services worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BIM 360, a construction management cloud-based software; AutoCAD, a software for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD LT, a drafting and detailing software; computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing; Fusion 360, a 3D CAD, CAM, and computer-aided engineering tool; and Industry Collections tools for professionals in architecture, engineering and construction, product design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment collection industries.

Autodesk stock opened the day at $297.27 after a previous close of $300.16. The latest price was $290.20 (25 minute delay). Autodesk is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD3.8 billion and employs 11,500 staff.

• Market capitalization: $64,636,907,520
• P/E ratio: 54.1085
• PEG ratio: 2.1149

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2. Citrix Systems (CTXS)

Citrix Systems, Inc. , an enterprise software company, provides workspace, app delivery and security, and professional services worldwide. The company offers workspace services, including Citrix Workspace; Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops; Citrix Content Collaboration, a cloud-based file sharing and storage solution, which provides enterprise-class data services on various corporate and personal mobile devices for businesses; Citrix Endpoint Management for mobility and device management capabilities; Citrix Analytics for Security that assesses the behavior of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, and Citrix Workspace users and applies actions to protect sensitive corporate information; Citrix Analytics for Performance that uses machine learning to quantify user experience; Citrix Secure Workspace Access, which provides an end-to-end solution to implement Zero Trust principles; and Citrix Secure Internet Access, which provides a solution that protects direct internet access for branch and remote workers using unsanctioned apps.

Citrix Systems stock opened the day at $139.93 after a previous close of $140.50. The latest price was $138.85 (25 minute delay). Citrix Systems is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.2 billion and employs 9,000 staff.

• Market capitalization: $16,996,700,160
• P/E ratio: 34.5563
• PEG ratio: 2.2631

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3. ANSYS (ANSS)

ANSYS, Inc. develops and markets engineering simulation software and services worldwide. The company offers ANSYS Workbench, a framework upon which its engineering simulation technologies are built; multiphysics software to simulate the interactions between structures, heat transfer, fluids, and electronics in a unified engineering simulation environment; high-performance computing product suite, which delivers cross-physics parallel processing capabilities for simulation software; and structural analysis product suite that provides simulation tools for product design and optimization.

ANSYS stock opened the day at $371.74 after a previous close of $373.93. The latest price was $364.47 (25 minute delay). ANSYS is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1.7 billion and employs 4,800 staff.

• Market capitalization: $31,945,617,408
• P/E ratio: 73.7666
• PEG ratio: 5.191

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4. Cadence Design Systems (CDNS)

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. provides software, hardware, services, and reusable integrated circuit (IC) design blocks worldwide. The company offers functional verification services, including emulation and prototyping hardware.

Cadence Design Systems stock opened the day at $145.67 after a previous close of $147.26. The latest price was $141.94 (25 minute delay). Cadence Design Systems is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.7 billion and employs 8,800 staff.

• Market capitalization: $41,190,883,328
• P/E ratio: 69.9526
• PEG ratio: 5.0396

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5. DocuSign (DOCU)

DocuSign, Inc. provides cloud based software in the United States and internationally. The company provides e-signature solution that enables businesses to digitally prepare, sign, act on, and manage agreements.

DocuSign stock opened the day at $229.47 after a previous close of $231.93. The latest price was $223.30 (25 minute delay). DocuSign is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1.5 billion and employs 5,630 staff.

• Market capitalization: $44,178,534,400
• PEG ratio: 4.2902

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6. Intuit (INTU)

Intuit Inc. provides financial management and compliance products and services for consumers, small businesses, self-employed, and accounting professionals in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Small Business & Self-Employed, Consumer, and Strategic Partner.

Intuit stock opened the day at $390.48 after a previous close of $382.82. The latest price was $398.77 (25 minute delay). Intuit is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$7.7 billion and employs 10,600 staff.

• Market capitalization: $114,344,632,320
• P/E ratio: 63.7204
• PEG ratio: 3.027

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7. Workday (WDAY)

Workday, Inc. provides enterprise cloud applications worldwide. Its applications help its customers to manage critical business functions and optimize their financial and human resources.

Workday stock opened the day at $248.29 after a previous close of $242.71. The latest price was $257.84 (25 minute delay). Workday is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$4.3 billion and employs 12,500 staff.

• Market capitalization: $61,969,862,656
• PEG ratio: 4.7483

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8. HubSpot (HUBS)

HubSpot, Inc. provides a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform for businesses in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's CRM platform includes marketing, sales, service, and content management systems, as well as integrated applications, such as search engine optimization, blogging, website content management, messaging, chatbots, social media, marketing automation, email, predictive lead scoring, sales productivity, ticketing and helpdesk tools, customer NPS surveys, analytics, and reporting.

HubSpot stock opened the day at $470.29 after a previous close of $452.42. The latest price was $482.17 (25 minute delay). HubSpot is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$883 million and employs 4,225 staff.

• Market capitalization: $24,603,527,168
• PEG ratio: 5.5532

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9. ServiceNow (NOW)

ServiceNow, Inc. provides enterprise cloud computing solutions that defines, structures, consolidates, manages, and automates services for enterprises worldwide. It operates the Now platform that offers workflow automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, performance analytics, electronic service catalogs and portals, configuration management systems, data benchmarking, encryption, and collaboration and development tools.

ServiceNow stock opened the day at $493.93 after a previous close of $474.83. The latest price was $508.28 (25 minute delay). ServiceNow is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$4.5 billion and employs 13,096 staff.

• Market capitalization: $109,688,528,896
• P/E ratio: 948.0508
• PEG ratio: 3.2597

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10. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook. com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for small and medium businesses, large organizations, and divisions of enterprises.

Microsoft Corporation stock opened the day at $260.19 after a previous close of $260.74. The latest price was $258.74 (25 minute delay). Microsoft Corporation is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$153.3 billion and employs 163,000 staff.

• Market capitalization: $1,957,206,032,384
• P/E ratio: 38.6909
• PEG ratio: 2.3542

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11. Adobe (ADBE)

Adobe Inc. operates as a diversified software company worldwide. Its Digital Media segment provides tools and solutions that enable individuals, teams, and enterprises to create, publish, promote, and monetize their digital content.

Adobe stock opened the day at $523.13 after a previous close of $525.08. The latest price was $516.17 (25 minute delay). Adobe is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$13.7 billion and employs 22,516 staff.

• Market capitalization: $244,081,147,904
• P/E ratio: 44.4567
• PEG ratio: 2.5865

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12. VMware (VMW)

VMware, Inc. provides software in the areas of hybrid and multi-cloud, modern applications, networking, security, and digital workspaces in the United States and internationally. It offers VMware multi-cloud solutions, including VMware vSphere, a data center infrastructure that provides the fundamental compute layer and utilizes its hypervisor software, a layer of software that resides between the operating system and system hardware to enable compute virtualization; vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to all applications running on vSphere; and vRealize Cloud Management solutions that manages hybrid and multi-cloud environments running in virtual machines and containers, as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a hybrid cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with vRealize Cloud Management into an integrated stack and delivers enterprise-ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds.

VMware stock opened the day at $148.00 after a previous close of $145.84. The latest price was $148.76 (25 minute delay). VMware is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$11.8 billion and employs 32,300 staff.

• Market capitalization: $67,072,880,640
• P/E ratio: 32.9383
• PEG ratio: 1.3693

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13. Splunk (SPLK)

Splunk Inc. provides software and cloud solutions that deliver and operationalize insights from the data generated by digital systems in the United States and internationally. The company offers Splunk Platform, a real-time data platform comprising collection, streaming, indexing, search, reporting, analysis, machine learning, alerting, monitoring, and data management capabilities.

Splunk stock opened the day at $134.49 after a previous close of $134.25. The latest price was $132.90 (25 minute delay). Splunk is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.2 billion and employs 6,500 staff.

• Market capitalization: $22,451,679,232
• PEG ratio: 12.0576

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14. Zoom Video Communications (ZM)

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. provides a video-first communications platform in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers Zoom Meetings that offers HD video, voice, chat, and content sharing through mobile devices, desktops, laptops, telephones, and conference room systems; Zoom Phone, an enterprise cloud phone system that provides secure call routing, call queuing, call detail reports, call recording, call quality monitoring, voicemail, switch to video, and other services, as well as inbound and outbound calling services; and Zoom Chat enables to share messages, images, audio files, and content in desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices for meeting and phone customers.

Zoom Video Communications stock opened the day at $327.52 after a previous close of $329.95. The latest price was $324.33 (25 minute delay). Zoom Video Communications is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.7 billion and employs 4,422 staff.

• Market capitalization: $96,934,428,672
• P/E ratio: 146.5497
• PEG ratio: 5.2351

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15. Zendesk (ZEN)

Zendesk, Inc. , a software development company, provides software as a service solutions for organizations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Its flagship product is Zendesk Support, a system for tracking, prioritizing, and solving customer support tickets across various channels.

Zendesk stock opened the day at $125.99 after a previous close of $127.44. The latest price was $127.65 (25 minute delay). Zendesk is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1 billion and employs 4,130 staff.

• Market capitalization: $17,887,873,024
• PEG ratio: 3.1781

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Bottom line

While it’s possible to turn a profit investing in software stocks, keep in mind that — like any investment — software stocks are not immune to risk. These stocks are subject to fluctuating conditions — both in the market and in the computer industry, so carefully vet your picks before you invest. And if you’re new to investing, or if it’s been awhile since you’ve taken a critical look at your investing accounts, compare brokers to make sure you’re getting the best features in your trading account.