# How Snowflake (SNOW) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/snow
> 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 SNOW alone. It places SNOW (Snowflake Inc.) against 18 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 SNOW stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: SNOW's full trading record, from September 2020 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:** SNOW has run far ahead of the market, rising 112% over the past 6 months against 9.1% for the S&P 500 and 11.2% for the Nasdaq 100. Even so, it is 20.5% below its high, bear-market territory, while the S&P 500 sits 1.3% below a record.
- **Stock or market?:** SNOW's 16.5% gain over the past 3 months is part of a broader software rally: the software ETF IGV (iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF) rose 15.0%, with MSFT (Microsoft, up 32.5%) and PLTR (Palantir Technologies, up 42.8%). Its software peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: SAP rose 44.6%, while GOOG (Alphabet) fell 4.2%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** A behind 61% of stocks worth at least $300 million over 5 years, but ahead of 74% of the stocks worth at least $300 million over 3 years. Over the past year, SNOW rose 30.1% against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (116% against 89.3%).
- **Long term:** SNOW turned $10,000 into $9,570 over the past 5 years, against $18,200 in the S&P 500.
- **In a crash:** In the 2022 bear market, SNOW fell 64.1%, against 24.5% for the S&P 500, and more than software peers such as GOOG (Alphabet, 35.0%).
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, SNOW has a correlation of 0.35 over 5 years, less closely than 61% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is some diversification, but not a hedge.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** NVDA (NVIDIA), GOOG (Alphabet) and MSFT (Microsoft) earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years. NVDA returned 58.0% a year at 51.9% volatility, against a loss of 0.9% a year at 62.6%.
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** AVGO (Broadcom, semiconductors) and MU (Micron Technology, semiconductors) earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years. AVGO returned 48.3% a year at 44.5% volatility, against a loss of 0.9% a year at 62.6%.
  - **Whole market:** 2,336 of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them NVDA (NVIDIA), AAPL (Apple) and GOOG (Alphabet).

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

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in SNOW over the past 6 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of SNOW over the same span and SNOW's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in SNOW at the end of September 2020 would have grown to $13,529 by September 2026, less than the $24,691 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- All eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of SNOW, and PLTR finished highest, at $196,893.

## SNOW 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.

- SNOW's deepest decline since it began trading in 2020 was 73.0%, from November 2021 to September 2024. It has not yet climbed back to that peak.
- SNOW is still 20.5% below its all-time high.
- Over five full calendar years, SNOW's best was 2025, when it returned 42.1%, and its worst was 2022, when it lost 57.6%. It lost money in two of those years.

- Type: Stock, Technology (Software - Application)
- Trading since: September 16, 2020
- Market value: $113B
- Volatility (5 years): 62.6%; Sharpe ratio: 0.29
- Worst decline ever: −73.0%, from November 16, 2021 to September 6, 2024; not yet back at its high

| Period | SNOW total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −5.8% |
| 3 months | +16.5% |
| 6 months | +112% |
| year to date | +47.5% |
| 1 year | +30.1% |
| 3 years | +116% |
| 5 years | −4.3% |

## SNOW against the whole market

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

### How does SNOW rank among all stocks?

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

- SNOW is among the more volatile stocks: its price swings rank in the bottom 19% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million, where the top is the calmest.

| Measure | SNOW | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +30.1% | 975 of 3,287 (top 30%) |
| 3-year return | +116% | 796 of 3,017 (top 27%) |
| 5-year return | −4.3% | 1,778 of 2,893 (top 62%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 62.6% | 2,356 of 2,893 (top 82%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.29 | 1,585 of 2,893 (top 55%) |

### What has beaten SNOW 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).

- 1,438 stocks and 898 ETFs worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than SNOW over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is 64% of the 3,633 screened.
- Among those with at least half SNOW's swings, FIX has the best return for its risk: 77.0% a year at 46.7% volatility, 25% less than SNOW's 62.6%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.46 against 0.29 for SNOW. BELFB earned the most, 78.0% a year, while still swinging less than SNOW (52.1% against 62.6%).
- Among SNOW's popular alternatives, NVDA, ANET and AMD are in the region. NVDA earned 58.0% a year against a loss of 0.9% a year for SNOW, at 51.9% volatility, 17% less than SNOW's 62.6%.

### Is there a better investment than SNOW?

The table below lists investments that beat SNOW 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 SNOW's popular alternatives, NVDA, GOOG and MSFT earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years. NVDA returned 58.0% a year at 51.9% volatility, against a loss of 0.9% a year at 62.6%.
- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, AVGO (semiconductors) and MU (semiconductors) earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years. AVGO returned 48.3% a year at 44.5% volatility, against a loss of 0.9% a year at 62.6%.
- Across the whole market, 2,336 of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them NVDA, AAPL and GOOG.

The 15 strongest of 2,336 investments that beat SNOW 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 SNOW | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SNOW: Snowflake Inc. (this page) |  | −0.9% | 62.6% | 0.29 | −73.0% | −4.3% |  |  |
| [DELL](https://easycompare.io/research/dell): Dell Technologies Inc. | Computer Hardware | +55.2% | 54.4% | 1.08 | −59.6% | +800% | 0.50 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [MCK](https://easycompare.io/research/mck): McKesson Corporation | Health Care Distribution | +38.7% | 25.0% | 1.44 | −38.1% | +413% | 0.08 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| INSW: International Seaways, Inc. | Oil & Gas | +56.5% | 40.5% | 1.31 | −57.4% | +839% | -0.16 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [SCCO](https://easycompare.io/research/scco): Southern Copper Corporation | Metals & Mining | +32.0% | 40.7% | 0.89 | −55.3% | +301% | 0.04 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [PSX](https://easycompare.io/research/psx): Phillips 66 | Oil & Gas | +33.2% | 32.9% | 1.04 | −64.2% | +319% | 0.03 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [E](https://easycompare.io/research/e): Eni S.p.A. | Integrated Oil & Gas | +23.0% | 25.6% | 0.94 | −61.4% | +181% | -0.20 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [HPE](https://easycompare.io/research/hpe): Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company | Computer Hardware | +32.9% | 42.2% | 0.89 | −56.9% | +315% | 0.45 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [NTAP](https://easycompare.io/research/ntap): NetApp, Inc. | Computer Hardware | +20.9% | 35.3% | 0.71 | −58.1% | +159% | 0.63 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| COKE: Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. | Food & Beverages | +41.2% | 38.0% | 1.10 | −51.7% | +461% | -0.14 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| FRO: Frontline Plc | Oil & Gas | +52.6% | 49.7% | 1.10 | −52.0% | +726% | -0.10 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| HALO: Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. | Biotechnology | +26.6% | 40.4% | 0.79 | −49.1% | +226% | -0.06 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [MPC](https://easycompare.io/research/mpc): Marathon Petroleum Corporation | Oil & Gas | +51.2% | 33.4% | 1.41 | −79.7% | +690% | 0.01 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher return in most periods |
| [PBR-A](https://easycompare.io/research/pbr-a): Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras | Integrated Oil & Gas | +51.8% | 37.5% | 1.31 | −71.7% | +705% | -0.15 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher return in most periods |
| [SGOV](https://easycompare.io/research/sgov): iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF | Treasury Bonds | +3.8% | 0.3% | 13.25 | −0.3% | +20.3% | 0.12 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline |
| HAS: Hasbro, Inc. | Toys & Games | +8.0% | 33.3% | 0.40 | −63.8% | +47.2% | -0.01 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |

## SNOW against its popular alternatives

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

### How do SNOW'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.

- 12 of the 18 popular alternatives, led by NVDA, ANET and AMD, were both more rewarding and calmer than SNOW over the past 5 years, earning a higher annual return with lower volatility.
- Over the past 5 years, SNOW returned -0.9% a year, less than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (62.6% against 17.1%).

### Has SNOW consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

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

- Only one of the 18 popular alternatives, DDOG, outperformed SNOW in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes.
- NVDA, ANET and AMD earned more for the risk they took than SNOW (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in their worst decline of the past 10 years.
- NVDA outperformed SNOW over all two long-term periods but in only one of the five short-term ones, so SNOW has had the better of it lately.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | Periods ahead of SNOW | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SNOW: Snowflake Inc. (this page) | +30.1% | +116% | −4.3% |  |  | 0.29 |
| [DDOG](https://easycompare.io/research/ddog): Datadog, Inc. | +64.1% | +198% | +61.4% | 3/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term | consistent | 0.45 |
| [PLTR](https://easycompare.io/research/pltr): Palantir Technologies Inc. | +6.1% | +1,096% | +695% | 2/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 0.95 |
| [AMD](https://easycompare.io/research/amd): Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | +122% | +425% | +359% | 2/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 0.82 |
| [GOOG](https://easycompare.io/research/goog): Alphabet Inc. | +31.2% | +148% | +138% | 2/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 0.71 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | +18.8% | +425% | +884% | 1/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 1.14 |
| [NET](https://easycompare.io/research/net): Cloudflare, Inc. | +36.8% | +391% | +66.1% | 1/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 0.49 |
| [ANET](https://easycompare.io/research/anet): Arista Networks, Inc. | +23.7% | +289% | +634% | 0/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term |  | 1.06 |
| [MSFT](https://easycompare.io/research/msft): Microsoft Corporation | +3.8% | +66.6% | +80.3% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.56 |
| [SAP](https://easycompare.io/research/sap): SAP SE | −16.6% | +81.3% | +72.6% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.52 |
| DBX: Dropbox, Inc. | +24.1% | +36.2% | +21.2% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.29 |
| [NOW](https://easycompare.io/research/now): ServiceNow, Inc. | −18.5% | +37.8% | +9.8% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.27 |
| [IBM](https://easycompare.io/research/ibm): International Business Machines Corporation | −12.5% | +93.5% | +116% | 1/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.66 |
| [AMZN](https://easycompare.io/research/amzn): Amazon.com, Inc. | +21.3% | +110% | +53.8% | 1/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.42 |
| [ORCL](https://easycompare.io/research/orcl): Oracle Corporation | −52.1% | +33.3% | +45.1% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.38 |
| DT: Dynatrace, Inc. | +27.0% | +37.4% | −16.9% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.12 |
| [CRM](https://easycompare.io/research/crm): Salesforce, Inc. | −3.9% | +21.3% | −14.8% | 2/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.12 |
| ESTC: Elastic N.V. | +14.1% | +20.1% | −43.3% | 2/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.11 |
| MDB: MongoDB, Inc. | +11.8% | +5.7% | −27.4% | 0/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.26 |

### How did SNOW do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2021, along with where SNOW ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- Among its popular alternatives, AMD came out ahead of SNOW most often, in all five years both traded.
- SNOW finished ahead of the S&P 500 in two of its five full calendar years.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, SNOW finished in the top quarter in no of five years and in the bottom quarter in two. In 2025, it ranked 6 of 19.

| Year | SNOW | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +42.1% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | −22.4% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +38.6% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −57.6% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +20.4% | +28.7% |

## Risk and diversification

How SNOW 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 SNOW's worst declines?

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

- In all five of SNOW's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: SNOW fell 73.0% from November 2021 to September 2024, while the S&P 500 rose 20.0%.
- None of these declines kept SNOW below its old high for long; the longest climb back took six months.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −73.0% | November 16, 2021 | September 6, 2024 | not yet | +20.0% | 2022 bear market |
| −51.7% | December 8, 2020 | May 13, 2021 | November 15, 2021 | +11.7% |  |
| −21.0% | October 22, 2020 | November 13, 2020 | November 25, 2020 | +3.9% |  |
| −14.4% | September 16, 2020 | September 23, 2020 | September 29, 2020 | −4.4% |  |
| −12.4% | September 29, 2020 | October 2, 2020 | October 21, 2020 | +0.4% |  |

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

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

- SNOW fell further than the S&P 500 in all two crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when SNOW fell 64.1% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.
- Among its popular alternatives, AMD held up best, falling less than SNOW in all two crashes they both traded through.
- SNOW began trading after the 2008 financial crisis, but nine of its popular alternatives lived through it. The mildest fall among them was ORCL's 41.1%, against 55.2% for the S&P 500.

| Crash | Dates | SNOW 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 | not trading | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −64.1% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −7.8% | −3.4% |

### How closely does SNOW 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.

- 13 of the 18 popular alternatives had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than SNOW's 0.62, led by ANET, NVDA and NET.
- ANET took just 58% of the S&P 500's losses, against 134% for SNOW, while still keeping 191% of its gains.
- Over the past 5 years, SNOW captured 83% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 134% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.35. Its share of the market's losses was larger than its share of the gains.

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

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SNOW: Snowflake Inc. (this page) | 83.0% | 134% | 1.35 |
| [DDOG](https://easycompare.io/research/ddog): Datadog, Inc. | 112% | 119% | 1.51 |
| [PLTR](https://easycompare.io/research/pltr): Palantir Technologies Inc. | 239% | 161% | 1.60 |
| [AMD](https://easycompare.io/research/amd): Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | 227% | 175% | 2.45 |
| [GOOG](https://easycompare.io/research/goog): Alphabet Inc. | 140% | 132% | 1.20 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | 259% | 152% | 2.21 |
| [NET](https://easycompare.io/research/net): Cloudflare, Inc. | 118% | 72.0% | 1.64 |
| [ANET](https://easycompare.io/research/anet): Arista Networks, Inc. | 191% | 58.0% | 1.60 |
| [MSFT](https://easycompare.io/research/msft): Microsoft Corporation | 115% | 126% | 1.10 |
| [SAP](https://easycompare.io/research/sap): SAP SE | 115% | 141% | 1.13 |
| DBX: Dropbox, Inc. | 68.0% | 105% | 0.63 |
| [NOW](https://easycompare.io/research/now): ServiceNow, Inc. | 85.0% | 142% | 0.99 |
| [IBM](https://easycompare.io/research/ibm): International Business Machines Corporation | 106% | 104% | 0.73 |
| [AMZN](https://easycompare.io/research/amzn): Amazon.com, Inc. | 125% | 170% | 1.45 |
| [ORCL](https://easycompare.io/research/orcl): Oracle Corporation | 159% | 213% | 1.77 |
| DT: Dynatrace, Inc. | 57.0% | 127% | 0.77 |
| [CRM](https://easycompare.io/research/crm): Salesforce, Inc. | 106% | 205% | 1.25 |
| ESTC: Elastic N.V. | 66.0% | 177% | 1.04 |
| MDB: MongoDB, Inc. | 145% | 285% | 1.74 |

### What diversifies SNOW?

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 SNOW into GLD would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 20% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+2.3% for SNOW alone, +8.1% for the mix).
- HDV made money in two of the two calendar years in which SNOW lost money.
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and EMLP have moved largely independently of SNOW over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.11 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with SNOW | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in SNOW's 2 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | -0.05 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 2 of 2 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.11 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 2 of 2 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | -0.02 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 2 of 2 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | -0.07 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 2 of 2 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.23 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 1 of 2 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.18 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 1 of 2 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | -0.10 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 1 of 2 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.32 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 1 of 2 |

## Common questions

### What was SNOW's worst drawdown?

SNOW's deepest decline since it began trading in 2020 was 73.0%, from November 2021 to September 2024. It has not yet climbed back to that peak. Because SNOW launched in September 2020, that record does not include the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis or six other sell-offs.

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

Over five full calendar years, SNOW's best year was 2025, when it returned 42.1%. Its worst was 2022, with a return of -57.6%.

### Is there a better investment than SNOW?

Among SNOW's popular alternatives, NVDA, GOOG and MSFT earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years. NVDA returned 58.0% a year at 51.9% volatility, against a loss of 0.9% a year at 62.6%. Looking beyond its popular alternatives, AVGO (semiconductors) and MU (semiconductors) earned more than SNOW with less volatility over the past 5 years. AVGO returned 48.3% a year at 44.5% volatility, against a loss of 0.9% a year at 62.6%.

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

Yes. SNOW's volatility over the past 5 years was 62.6%, 3.7 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, SNOW's return lands within 62.6% 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 SNOW's Sharpe ratio?

SNOW's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.29, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so SNOW 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 SNOW with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, SNOW's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.35 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 SNOW instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a SNOW holding.

### What are the best alternatives to SNOW?

Of the 18 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed SNOW in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: DDOG.

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

SNOW finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in two of five full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +42.1%, against +17.7% for the index.

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

SNOW fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in none of the two major crashes it has traded through, and further in two. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when SNOW fell 64.1% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.

### What diversifies SNOW?

These had a low correlation with SNOW over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation -0.05), DXJ (correlation 0.11) and EMLP (correlation -0.02); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.25), CLS (correlation 0.19) and FIX (correlation 0.11). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

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- [ServiceNow (NOW) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/now)
- [International Business Machines (IBM) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ibm)
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## Explore further

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