The SWT-100 Index
Since July 2006 a stock index is published on this website, to keep track of the developments of worldwide software stocks. The SWT-100 (the sweet hundred) is comprised of the shares of the world’s largest software companies that are publicly quoted.

Annual re-indexing
Every year, at the moment the new edition of the Software Top 100 is launched, the SWT-100 changes composition to keep on reflecting the share price developments of the 100 largest software companies in the world.

Index composition
The index is unweighted. Large companies have the same weight in the index as small companies. Hence the index does not reflect capitalization changes, only share price changes.
The SWT-100 is not limited to one stock exchange; companies from all over the world are used in the composition. By its nature, the SWT-100 is indifferent to currency exchange rates.


Historic developments of software shares
Over the past fifteen years, the software industry has been the best performing industry on the stock markets. Even with the industry maturing, it still outperforms all other sectors.
The chart above shows the development of the SWT-100 during the past 6 years. The SWT-100 clearly outperformed the NASDAQ: while the NASDAQ rose 29% since year-end 2002, the SWT-100 rose 95%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (not displayed) went down 2%.
In order to eliminate the effect of the credit crisis, the year-end 2006 figures can be compared to year-end 2002: at the time the NASDAQ was up 81% while the SWT-100 was up 168%.