15 top software stocks to buy in 2024

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.

15 popular software stocks picks to buy in 2024

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.

1. Autodesk (ADSK)
2. Citrix Systems (CTXS)
3. ANSYS (ANSS)
4. Cadence Design Systems (CDNS)
5. DocuSign (DOCU)
6. Intuit (INTU)
7. Workday (WDAY)
8. HubSpot (HUBS)
9. ServiceNow (NOW)
10. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
11. Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE)
12. VMware (VMW)
13. Splunk (SPLK)
14. Zoom Video Communications (ZM)
15. Zendesk (ZEN)

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The software stocks industry is affected by a range of complex factors such as trade policies, regulations, and fluctuating supply and demand. So when considering software stocks to buy, it's important that you have access to vital information about a company's financial health, leadership team, and market positioning.

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How to invest in software stocks

1. Choose an online stock trading platform. Choose from our Top Picks above, use our comparison table below or jump straight to the best stock trading apps of 2024.
2. Sign up for an account. Provide your personal information and sign up.
3. Set up a funding method to pay for the transaction. Deposit funds into your account by linking your banking information.
4. Choose the stocks you want to buy. Search for the stock by name or ticker symbol like ADSK or CTXS.
5. Place your order. Buy the stock. It's that simple.

Take a deeper dive into software stocks

If you're interested in investing in the computer industry, take a closer look at what companies in this industry do and how the stocks have historically performed. Keep in mind that positive past performance doesn't guarantee that a stock will continue to rise in the future.

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1. Autodesk (ADSK)

Autodesk, Inc. provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment technology solutions worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BuildingConnected, a SaaS preconstruction solution; 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 $217.35 after a previous close of $217.93. The latest price was $214.15 (25-minute delay). Autodesk is listed on the NASDAQ and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD5.5 billion.

• Market capitalization: $46,312,599,552
• P/E ratio: 51.5476
• PEG ratio: 1.4222

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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; Collaborative Work Management; Citrix Content Collaboration, a cloud-based file sharing, digital transaction, and storage solution, which provides enterprise-class data services on various corporate and personal mobile devices; 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, which uses machine learning to quantify user experience; Citrix Secure Workspace Access that 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 is listed on the NASDAQ and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.3 billion.

• Market capitalization: $13,183,351,808
• P/E ratio: 39.8084
• PEG ratio: 2.1602

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3. ANSYS (ANSS)

ANSYS, Inc. develops and markets engineering simulation software and services for engineers, designers, researchers, and students in the United States, Japan, Germany, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers structural analysis product suite that provides simulation tools for product design and optimization; the Ansys Mechanical product, an element analysis software; LS-DYNA solver for multiphysics simulation; and power analysis and optimization software suite.

ANSYS stock opened the day at $325.14 after a previous close of $325.97. The latest price was $324.37 (25-minute delay). ANSYS is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.3 billion and employs 6,200 staff.

• Market capitalization: $28,328,849,408
• P/E ratio: 56.6318
• PEG ratio: 2.0866

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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 $282.47 after a previous close of $281.76. The latest price was $280.21 (25-minute delay). Cadence Design Systems is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$4.1 billion and employs 11,200 staff.

• Market capitalization: $77,936,623,616
• P/E ratio: 74.6475
• PEG ratio: 2.8449

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5. DocuSign (DOCU)

DocuSign, Inc. provides electronic signature solution in the United States and internationally. The company provides e-signature solution that enables sending and signing of agreements on various devices; Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), which automates workflows across the entire agreement process; Document Generation streamlines the process of generating new, custom agreements; and Gen for Salesforce, which allows sales representatives to automatically generate agreements with a few clicks from within Salesforce.

DocuSign stock opened the day at $56.60 after a previous close of $56.71. The latest price was $56.92 (25-minute delay). DocuSign is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.8 billion and employs 6,840 staff.

• Market capitalization: $11,926,395,904
• P/E ratio: 161.2778
• PEG ratio: 0.5285

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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 four segments: Small Business & Self-Employed, Consumer, Credit Karma, and ProTax.

Intuit stock opened the day at $623.50 after a previous close of $630.88. The latest price was $630.76 (25-minute delay). Intuit is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$15.1 billion and employs 18,200 staff.

• Market capitalization: $170,333,634,560
• P/E ratio: 62.143
• PEG ratio: 1.8188

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7. Workday (WDAY)

Workday, Inc. provides enterprise cloud applications in the United States and internationally. Its applications help its customers to plan, execute, analyze, and extend to other applications and environments to manage their business and operations.

Workday stock opened the day at $257.99 after a previous close of $256.82. The latest price was $255.23 (25-minute delay). Workday is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$7.3 billion and employs 18,800 staff.

• Market capitalization: $68,626,972,672
• P/E ratio: 49.5558
• PEG ratio: 2.2573

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8. HubSpot (HUBS)

HubSpot, Inc. , together with its subsidiaries, 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 Hub, a toolset for marketing automation and email, social media, SEO, and reporting and analytics; Sales Hub offers email templates and tracking, conversations and live chat, meeting and call scheduling, lead and website visit alerts, lead scoring, sales automation, pipeline management, quoting, forecasting, and reporting; Service Hub, a service software designed to help businesses manage, respond, and connect with customers; and Content Management Systems Hub enables businesses to create new and edit existing web content.

HubSpot stock opened the day at $661.64 after a previous close of $651.78. The latest price was $652.30 (25-minute delay). HubSpot is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.2 billion and employs 7,663 staff.

• Market capitalization: $32,120,031,232
• PEG ratio: 6.3357

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9. ServiceNow (NOW)

ServiceNow, Inc. provides end to-end intelligent workflow automation platform solutions for digital businesses in the North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates the Now platform for end-to-end digital transformation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation, process mining, performance analytics, and collaboration and development tools.

ServiceNow stock opened the day at $753.97 after a previous close of $740.95. The latest price was $740.41 (25-minute delay). ServiceNow is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$9 billion and employs 22,668 staff.

• Market capitalization: $152,177,803,264
• P/E ratio: 87.6864
• PEG ratio: 2.8853

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10. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services. This segment also provides LinkedIn; and dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics 365, a set of intelligent, cloud-based applications across ERP, CRM, power apps, and power automate; and on-premises ERP and CRM applications.

Microsoft Corporation stock opened the day at $409.56 after a previous close of $407.57. The latest price was $406.89 (25-minute delay). Microsoft Corporation is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$227.6 billion and employs 221,000 staff.

• Market capitalization: $3,068,028,518,400
• P/E ratio: 37.299
• PEG ratio: 2.1026

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11. Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE)

Adobe Inc. , together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified software company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Digital Media, Digital Experience, and Publishing and Advertising.

Adobe Systems Incorporated stock opened the day at $472.94 after a previous close of $472.90. The latest price was $474.23 (25-minute delay). Adobe Systems Incorporated is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$19.9 billion and employs 29,945 staff.

• Market capitalization: $211,984,629,760
• P/E ratio: 45.2371
• PEG ratio: 1.7588

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12. VMware (VMW)

VMware, Inc. provides software solutions in the areas of modern applications, cloud management and infrastructure, networking, security, and 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 vSAN and VxRail, which offers holistic data storage and protection options to applications running on vSphere; as well as VMware Cloud Foundation, a cloud platform that combines its vSphere, vSAN, and NSX with VMware Aria Cloud Management into an integrated stack that delivers ready cloud infrastructure for private and public clouds.

VMware stock opened the day at $142.67 after a previous close of $149.91. The latest price was $142.48 (25-minute delay). VMware is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$13.6 billion and employs 38,300 staff.

• Market capitalization: $61,521,440,768
• P/E ratio: 42.9157
• PEG ratio: 2.7166

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13. Splunk (SPLK)

Splunk Inc. , together with its subsidiaries, develops and markets cloud services and licensed software solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers unified security and observability platform, including Splunk Security that helps security leaders fortify their organization's digital resilience by mitigating cyber risk and meeting compliance requirements; and Splunk Observability, which provides visibility across the full stack of infrastructure, applications, and the digital customer experience.

Splunk stock opened the day at $156.90 after a previous close of $156.51. The latest price was $156.90 (25-minute delay). Splunk is listed on the NASDAQ and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$4.2 billion.

• Market capitalization: $26,443,769,856
• P/E ratio: 103.2237
• PEG ratio: 1.8084

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14. Zoom Video Communications (ZM)

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. provides unified 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; and Zoom Chat enables users to share messages, images, audio files, and content in desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Zoom Video Communications stock opened the day at $61.91 after a previous close of $61.62. The latest price was $61.13 (25-minute delay). Zoom Video Communications is listed on the NASDAQ, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$4.5 billion and employs 7,420 staff.

• Market capitalization: $18,232,156,160
• P/E ratio: 28.6377
• PEG ratio: 4.7503

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15. Zendesk (ZEN)

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

Zendesk is listed on the NYSE, has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$1.6 billion and employs 6,440 staff.

• Market capitalization: $9,625,960,448
• PEG ratio: 2.5608

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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.

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