# How Cloudflare (NET) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/net
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on NET alone. It places NET (Cloudflare, Inc.) against 20+ popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where NET stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: NET's full trading record, from September 2019 through September 2026. The crash tests reach back to 2000 using older funds and the S&P 500. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** Over the past 6 months, NET rose 42.3% against 9.1% for the S&P 500 and 11.2% for the Nasdaq 100. Its cloud computing peers split over the past 6 months: CRWD (CrowdStrike) rose 110%, while AKAM (Akamai Technologies) fell 8.2%.
- **Stock or market?:** NET lagged its own industry over the past 3 months, rising 7.0% while the cloud computing ETF SKYY (First Trust Cloud Computing ETF) rose 19.5%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Its cloud computing peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: ZS (Zscaler) rose 43.2%, while CSCO (Cisco Systems) fell 3.2%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** NET has run far ahead of the market, rising 36.8% over the past year against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (391% against 89.3%). NET finished ahead of the S&P 500 in both 2024 and 2025.
- **Long term:** NET turned $10,000 into $16,600 over the past 5 years, against $18,200 in the S&P 500.
- **In a crash:** The 2022 bear market took 69.5% off NET, against 24.5% for the S&P 500. That was more than CSCO (Cisco Systems, 35.4%) but less than OKTA (76.4%). NET fell further than the S&P 500 in two of the last three sell-offs, including the 2022 bear market (69.5% against 24.5%).
- **Diversification:** Over 5 years NET kept more of the market's gains than of its losses: in the S&P 500's rising months it gained 1.2 times as much as the index, and in falling months it lost 72% as much, with a beta of 1.64.
- **Better options**
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** CIBR (First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, cybersecurity) and CACI (CACI International, cybersecurity theme) earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years. CIBR returned 14.1% a year at 26.1% volatility, against 10.7% a year at 69.1%.
  - **Whole market:** 989 of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them NVDA (NVIDIA), AAPL (Apple) and GOOG (Alphabet).

## How much would $10,000 in NET have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in NET over the past 7 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of NET over the same span and NET's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in NET at the end of September 2019 would have grown to $187,012 by September 2026, more than the $28,402 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of NET, and NVDA finished highest, at $528,672.

## NET at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- NET's deepest decline since it began trading in 2019 was 82.6%, from November 2021 to November 2022. It took about three years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over six full calendar years, NET's best was 2020, when it returned 345%, and its worst was 2022, when it lost 65.6%. It lost money in one of those years.
- NET is 19.2% below its all-time high.

- Type: Stock, Technology (Software - Infrastructure)
- Trading since: September 13, 2019
- Market value: $104B
- Volatility (5 years): 69.1%; Sharpe ratio: 0.49
- Worst decline ever: −82.6%, from November 18, 2021 to November 9, 2022; back at its high by September 8, 2025

| Period | NET total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −17.1% |
| 3 months | +7.0% |
| 6 months | +42.3% |
| year to date | +48.7% |
| 1 year | +36.8% |
| 3 years | +391% |
| 5 years | +66.1% |

## NET against the whole market

Where NET ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does NET rank among all stocks?

This section ranks NET on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- NET's 3-year return ranks in the top 5% of the 3,017 stocks worth at least $300 million with 3 years of history.
- NET is among the more volatile stocks: its price swings rank in the bottom 14% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million, where the top is the calmest.

| Measure | NET | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +36.8% | 805 of 3,287 (top 25%) |
| 3-year return | +391% | 154 of 3,017 (top 6%) |
| 5-year return | +66.1% | 938 of 2,893 (top 33%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 69.1% | 2,486 of 2,893 (top 86%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.49 | 945 of 2,893 (top 33%) |

### What has beaten NET on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- 738 stocks and 251 ETFs worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than NET over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is 27% of the 3,633 screened.
- Among those with at least half NET's swings, CLS has the best return for its risk: 101% a year at 59.7% volatility, 14% less than NET's 69.1%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.47 against 0.49 for NET.
- Among NET's popular alternatives, NVDA, PANW and CSCO are in the region. NVDA earned 58.0% a year against 10.7% a year for NET, at 51.9% volatility, 25% less than NET's 69.1%.

### Is there a better investment than NET?

The table below lists investments that beat NET over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among NET's popular alternatives, CRWD, GOOG and CSCO earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years. CRWD returned 26.3% a year at 52.7% volatility, against 10.7% a year at 69.1%.
- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, CIBR (cybersecurity) and CACI (cybersecurity theme) earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years. CIBR returned 14.1% a year at 26.1% volatility, against 10.7% a year at 69.1%.
- Across the whole market, 989 of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them NVDA, AAPL and GOOG.

The 15 strongest of 989 investments that beat NET over the past 5 years, out of 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million.

| Investment | Group | Annual return (5 years) | Volatility | Sharpe | Worst decline (10 years) | 5Y return | Correlation with NET | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NET: Cloudflare, Inc. (this page) |  | +10.7% | 69.1% | 0.49 | −82.6% | +66.1% |  |  |
| [MU](https://easycompare.io/research/mu): Micron Technology, Inc. | Semiconductors | +68.1% | 57.1% | 1.20 | −57.6% | +1,244% | 0.14 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [AMD](https://easycompare.io/research/amd): Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | Semiconductors | +35.7% | 57.6% | 0.82 | −65.5% | +359% | 0.35 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [DELL](https://easycompare.io/research/dell): Dell Technologies Inc. | Computer Hardware | +55.2% | 54.4% | 1.08 | −59.6% | +800% | 0.16 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [AAPL](https://easycompare.io/research/aapl): Apple Inc. | Computer Hardware | +18.5% | 28.0% | 0.75 | −38.5% | +133% | 0.25 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [ASX](https://easycompare.io/research/asx): ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. | Semiconductors | +48.8% | 43.0% | 1.15 | −52.5% | +631% | 0.16 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [TSM](https://easycompare.io/research/tsm): Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited | Semiconductors | +31.5% | 38.5% | 0.91 | −56.6% | +293% | 0.25 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [LLY](https://easycompare.io/research/lly): Eli Lilly and Company | Pharmaceuticals | +40.7% | 32.8% | 1.21 | −34.5% | +451% | -0.04 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [RVMD](https://easycompare.io/research/rvmd): Revolution Medicines, Inc. | Biotechnology | +48.8% | 62.1% | 0.95 | −73.3% | +630% | 0.10 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [WMT](https://easycompare.io/research/wmt): Walmart Inc. | Discount Retail | +20.8% | 22.6% | 0.96 | −25.7% | +158% | 0.10 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [BRK-B](https://easycompare.io/research/brk-b): Berkshire Hathaway Inc. | Insurance | +13.4% | 17.1% | 0.82 | −29.6% | +87.8% | -0.01 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [HSBC](https://easycompare.io/research/hsbc): HSBC Holdings plc | Banks | +33.1% | 25.9% | 1.24 | −62.3% | +318% | 0.05 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [JNJ](https://easycompare.io/research/jnj): Johnson & Johnson | Pharmaceuticals | +12.7% | 17.9% | 0.76 | −27.4% | +82.1% | -0.22 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [COST](https://easycompare.io/research/cost): Costco Wholesale Corporation | Discount Retail | +17.4% | 22.9% | 0.82 | −31.4% | +123% | 0.31 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [QQQ](https://easycompare.io/research/qqq): Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 | US Large-Cap Growth | +14.5% | 23.0% | 0.71 | −35.1% | +97.2% | 0.49 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |
| [MRK](https://easycompare.io/research/mrk): Merck & Co., Inc. | Pharmaceuticals | +16.3% | 24.8% | 0.74 | −43.4% | +113% | -0.12 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Smaller losses in recent crashes |

## NET against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against NET, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do NET's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- Nine of the 20 popular alternatives, led by NVDA, PANW and CRWD, were both more rewarding and calmer than NET over the past 5 years, earning a higher annual return with lower volatility.
- Over the past 5 years, NET returned 10.7% a year, less than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (69.1% against 17.1%).

### Has NET consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares NET with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over seven periods from one month to five years.

- CRWD outperformed NET in every long-term period and in all but one short-term period, the most consistent record in the group.
- Only one of the 20 popular alternatives, CRWD, outperformed NET in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes.
- NVDA, PANW and CSCO earned more for the risk they took than NET (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in their worst decline of the past 10 years.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | Periods ahead of NET | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NET: Cloudflare, Inc. (this page) | +36.8% | +391% | +66.1% |  |  | 0.49 |
| [CRWD](https://easycompare.io/research/crwd): CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | +80.6% | +409% | +221% | 5/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term | all-weather | 0.71 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | +18.8% | +425% | +884% | 1/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 1.14 |
| FFIV: F5, Inc. | +54.0% | +208% | +120% | 5/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.67 |
| [PANW](https://easycompare.io/research/panw): Palo Alto Networks, Inc. | +60.6% | +180% | +299% | 4/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.86 |
| [FTNT](https://easycompare.io/research/ftnt): Fortinet, Inc. | +101% | +203% | +156% | 4/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.65 |
| NTNX: Nutanix, Inc. | −0.1% | +90.0% | +88.3% | 3/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.50 |
| [CSCO](https://easycompare.io/research/csco): Cisco Systems, Inc. | +53.8% | +118% | +118% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.73 |
| [MSFT](https://easycompare.io/research/msft): Microsoft Corporation | +3.8% | +66.6% | +80.3% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.56 |
| [GOOG](https://easycompare.io/research/goog): Alphabet Inc. | +31.2% | +148% | +138% | 1/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.71 |
| OKTA: Okta, Inc. | +120% | +157% | −24.3% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.21 |
| [DDOG](https://easycompare.io/research/ddog): Datadog, Inc. | +64.1% | +198% | +61.4% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.45 |
| DT: Dynatrace, Inc. | +27.0% | +37.4% | −16.9% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.12 |
| S: SentinelOne, Inc. | +28.4% | +37.7% | −64.8% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | -0.01 |
| ZS: Zscaler, Inc. | −29.9% | +32.3% | −27.9% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.18 |
| FSLY: Fastly, Inc. | +167% | +50.5% | −55.3% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.26 |
| GDDY: GoDaddy Inc. | −17.9% | +46.1% | +55.8% | 2/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.43 |
| DOCN: DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. | +142% | +362% | +10.1% | 2/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.39 |
| [AMZN](https://easycompare.io/research/amzn): Amazon.com, Inc. | +21.3% | +110% | +53.8% | 1/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.42 |
| [EQIX](https://easycompare.io/research/eqix): Equinix, Inc. | +22.2% | +49.1% | +37.4% | 1/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.37 |
| AKAM: Akamai Technologies, Inc. | +20.7% | −13.8% | −17.1% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.10 |

### How did NET do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2020, along with where NET ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- NET finished ahead of the S&P 500 in five of its six full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last three.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, NET finished in the top quarter in three of six years and in the bottom quarter in one. In 2025, it ranked 1 of 21.
- Among its popular alternatives, NVDA came out ahead of NET most often, in four of the six years both traded.

| Year | NET | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +83.1% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +29.3% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +84.2% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −65.6% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +73.0% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +345% | +18.3% |

## Risk and diversification

How NET has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were NET's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all five of NET's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: NET fell 36.8% from October 2025 to February 2026, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3%.
- The slowest recovery came after NET fell 82.6% from November 2021 to November 2022; it did not regain that peak until September 2025, three years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −82.6% | November 18, 2021 | November 9, 2022 | September 8, 2025 | −19.1% | 2022 bear market |
| −36.8% | October 31, 2025 | February 23, 2026 | May 7, 2026 | +0.3% |  |
| −33.9% | February 9, 2021 | March 8, 2021 | June 10, 2021 | −2.2% |  |
| −31.8% | March 5, 2020 | March 16, 2020 | March 30, 2020 | −20.7% | Covid crash |
| −30.3% | September 23, 2019 | October 22, 2019 | February 21, 2020 | +0.3% |  |

### How did NET do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far NET, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- NET fell further than the S&P 500 in two of the three crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when NET fell 69.5% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.
- Among its popular alternatives, CSCO held up best, falling less than NET in all three crashes they both traded through.
- NET began trading after the 2008 financial crisis, but eight of its popular alternatives lived through it. The mildest fall among them was MSFT's 57.9%, against 55.2% for the S&P 500.

| Crash | Dates | NET fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | not trading | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | not trading | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | not trading | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | not trading | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | not trading | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | not trading | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | not trading | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −31.8% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −69.5% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −11.1% | −3.4% |

### How closely does NET move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 5 years, NET captured 118% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 72% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.64. Its share of the market's gains was larger than its share of the losses.
- Only NTNX, CRWD and NVDA had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than NET's 1.65, out of 19 popular alternatives with the same record.
- PANW took just -13% of the S&P 500's losses, against 72% for NET, while still keeping 104% of its gains.

Measured over the past 5 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NET: Cloudflare, Inc. (this page) | 118% | 72.0% | 1.64 |
| [CRWD](https://easycompare.io/research/crwd): CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | 122% | 38.0% | 1.19 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | 259% | 152% | 2.21 |
| FFIV: F5, Inc. | 102% | 83.0% | 1.03 |
| [PANW](https://easycompare.io/research/panw): Palo Alto Networks, Inc. | 104% | −13.0% | 0.93 |
| [FTNT](https://easycompare.io/research/ftnt): Fortinet, Inc. | 119% | 75.0% | 1.03 |
| NTNX: Nutanix, Inc. | 43.0% | 2.0% | 0.63 |
| [CSCO](https://easycompare.io/research/csco): Cisco Systems, Inc. | 98.0% | 75.0% | 0.99 |
| [MSFT](https://easycompare.io/research/msft): Microsoft Corporation | 115% | 126% | 1.10 |
| [GOOG](https://easycompare.io/research/goog): Alphabet Inc. | 140% | 132% | 1.20 |
| OKTA: Okta, Inc. | 39.0% | 87.0% | 0.74 |
| [DDOG](https://easycompare.io/research/ddog): Datadog, Inc. | 112% | 119% | 1.51 |
| DT: Dynatrace, Inc. | 57.0% | 127% | 0.77 |
| S: SentinelOne, Inc. | 16.0% | 129% | 0.70 |
| ZS: Zscaler, Inc. | 39.0% | 105% | 0.93 |
| FSLY: Fastly, Inc. | 13.0% | 80.0% | 0.30 |
| GDDY: GoDaddy Inc. | 63.0% | 76.0% | 0.94 |
| DOCN: DigitalOcean Holdings, Inc. | 167% | 223% | 1.70 |
| [AMZN](https://easycompare.io/research/amzn): Amazon.com, Inc. | 125% | 170% | 1.45 |
| [EQIX](https://easycompare.io/research/eqix): Equinix, Inc. | 79.0% | 100% | 0.98 |
| AKAM: Akamai Technologies, Inc. | 66.0% | 117% | 0.62 |

### What diversifies NET?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in NET into GLD would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 20% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+25.2% for NET alone, +28.5% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of NET over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.06 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- In 2022, the one year NET lost money (-65.6%), LVHI returned +3.8%.

| Investment | Correlation with NET | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in NET's 1 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | -0.08 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 1 of 1 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.01 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 1 of 1 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.06 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 1 of 1 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | -0.07 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 1 of 1 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.35 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 0 of 1 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.17 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 0 of 1 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | -0.11 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 0 of 1 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.30 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 0 of 1 |

## Common questions

### What was NET's worst drawdown?

NET's deepest decline since it began trading in 2019 was 82.6%, from November 2021 to November 2022. It took about three years from the low to climb back to its old high. Because NET launched in September 2019, that record does not include the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis or five other sell-offs.

### What were NET's best and worst years?

Over six full calendar years, NET's best year was 2020, when it returned 345%. Its worst was 2022, with a return of -65.6%.

### Is there a better investment than NET?

Among NET's popular alternatives, CRWD, GOOG and CSCO earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years. CRWD returned 26.3% a year at 52.7% volatility, against 10.7% a year at 69.1%. Looking beyond its popular alternatives, CIBR (cybersecurity) and CACI (cybersecurity theme) earned more than NET with less volatility over the past 5 years. CIBR returned 14.1% a year at 26.1% volatility, against 10.7% a year at 69.1%.

### Is NET more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. NET's volatility over the past 5 years was 69.1%, 4.0 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, NET's return lands within 69.1% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is NET's Sharpe ratio?

NET's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.49, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so NET earned less for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is NET with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, NET's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.38 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They are only loosely linked, which makes it a real diversifier next to an index fund. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against NET instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a NET holding.

### What are the best alternatives to NET?

Of the 20 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed NET in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: CRWD.

### Did NET outperform the S&P 500?

NET finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in five of six full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +83.1%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did NET do in stock market crashes?

NET fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in one of the three major crashes it has traded through, and further in two. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when NET fell 69.5% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.

### What diversifies NET?

These had a low correlation with NET over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation -0.08), DXJ (correlation 0.01) and EMLP (correlation 0.06); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.09), CLS (correlation 0.34) and FIX (correlation 0.26). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [CrowdStrike (CRWD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/crwd)
- [NVIDIA (NVDA) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda)
- [Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/panw)
- [Fortinet (FTNT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ftnt)
- [Cisco Systems (CSCO) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/csco)
- [Microsoft (MSFT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/msft)
- [Alphabet (GOOG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/goog)
- [Datadog (DDOG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ddog)
- [Amazon.com (AMZN) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/amzn)
- [Equinix (EQIX) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/eqix)
- [Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/schd)
- [Apple (AAPL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/aapl)

## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/net
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against NET live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=NET&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research