Looking back on software development stocks’ Q4 earnings, we examine this quarter’s best and worst performers, including Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND) and its peers.

As legendary VC investor Marc Andreessen says, "Software is eating the world", and it touches virtually every industry. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming.

The 11 software development stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2.4% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was in line.

Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 13.3% since the latest earnings results.

Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND)

Started in 1999 by David Morken who was later joined by Henry Kaestner as co-founder in 2001, Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND) provides thousands of customers with a software platform that uses its own global network to provide phone numbers, voice, and text connectivity.

Bandwidth reported revenues of $210 million, up 27% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 3%. Despite the top-line beat, it was still a slower quarter for the company with full-year guidance of decelerating revenue growth and a poor net revenue retention rate.

"2024 was a transformative year for Bandwidth, delivering record financial results and groundbreaking product innovation," said David Morken, CEO of Bandwidth.

The stock is down 19.7% since reporting and currently trades at $14.69.

Read our full report on Bandwidth here, it’s free .

Best Q4: F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV)

Initially started as a hardware appliances company in the late 1990s, F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) makes software that helps large enterprises ensure their web applications are always available by distributing network traffic and protecting them from cyberattacks.

F5 reported revenues of $766.5 million, up 10.7% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 7.2%. The business had a strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

F5 pulled off the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The market seems content with the results as the stock is up 1.5% since reporting. It currently trades at $273.88.

Is now the time to buy F5? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free .

Weakest Q4: Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Founded in 1999 by two engineers from MIT, Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM) provides software for organizations to efficiently deliver web content to their customers.