Things may be turning around for one of the most beaten-down parts of the stock market: software. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) is up nearly 14% over the past month. It also gained more than 4% in April, snapping a three-month decline. Still, the IGV is down 14% for the year, as investors fear artificial intelligence will take market share from many software-as-a-service companies — leading to a "SaaSpocalypse." But the recent move higher could have legs, especially as several individual stocks break out. "Software as a group is far less correlated than semiconductors recently, with some members of the index having already broken out from their respective multi-week base patterns," wrote Jason Hunter, technical strategist at JPMorgan. Hunter highlighted several software names experiencing such moves. Among them: Palo Alto Networks , Oracle , Microsoft and CrowdStrike . Oracle is the best performer of the four, rising more than 35.5% over the past month. The stock closed at $194.59 on Thursday, not far from levels last seen in January. ORCL 1Y bar ORCL 1-yr Microsoft, up 3.2% in May and 12% over the past month, is also positioning for a move higher. The stock in April broke back above $400 after tumbling below the level in mid-March. It also closed at $420.77 on Thursday, near levels not seen since February. MSFT YTD bar MSFT in 2026 Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, meanwhile, closed Thursday at their highest levels since December. The former has soared nearly 10% this month, while the latter has gained 13%.
