5 tech stocks you should have bought in 2021

On Dec 21, 2021

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2021 was an interesting year for tech stocks, with fairly conservative gains compared to 2020.

Last year saw giant leaps in the performance of companies that benefitted from the pandemic.

Many of these were in the tech business and offered software and hardware solutions that made it possible for people to stay in touch or continue conducting business despite severe limits on movements.

For example, Zoom’s shares skyrocketed 500% in one year as demand for its video conferencing app reached unprecedented levels, with many more people working from home.

The content delivery network and DDoS mitigation provider Cloudflare also had shares surging 350% as businesses increased their online presence to continue serving customers unable or reluctant to go to shops in person.

Video conferencing app Zoom became the go-to communication app for many home users and small businesses in 2020

In 2021, tech’s gains were more muted, as investors and the general public started coming to terms with the type of future Covid-19 will create, and everyday life starts to show a semblance of normality.

Nonetheless, a few tech companies have performed splendidly in 2021 when considering a longer-term investment view.

GPU manufacturer Nvidia is the top performer among major tech businesses listed on the New York-based Nasdaq stock exchange for 2021 and the only returning entry from last year’s best performers.

With soaring demand for its graphics cards among gamers and cryptocurrency miners and above-expected performance in its venture into the cloud market, Nvidia came close to replicating its 2020 increases.

Its shares climbed 130% from $131 to $302 between the close of markets on Monday, 4 January 2021 and Friday 10 December 2021.

That means $1000’s worth of Nvidia shares from 4 January were worth about $2,300 on 10 December.

Nvidia RTX 3080 TI GPU — Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card

The second best major performer is Fortinet, well known for its wide range of cybersecurity solutions for businesses, including physical network firewalls, antivirus software, and intrusion prevention systems.

Fortinet shares jumped from $146 to $333 in the year-to-date up to 10 December 2021, showing remarkable growth of 129%.

The other biggest climbers this year were financial software company Intuit, well-known for its QuickBooks accounting software, network switch manufacturer Arista networks, and data storage company Seagate.

The latter has seen massive revenue growth as demand for cloud data storage increased while consumers also showed strong interest in its storage drives for video and image applications.