How Did Strategy Stock Leave Its Industry Behind?
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Over the five years to October 20, 2026, one stock outperformed 117 of the 125 other companies in its industry. That stock is Strategy (MSTR), the bitcoin treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy, and its industry is Application Software. Before sizing a position on that record, an investor should understand where the gain originated. So was it the industry Strategy sits in, or Strategy itself?
How Far Strategy Is Ahead Of Its Industry
Shares of Strategy rose 88.2% over those five years, while the typical Application Software company fell 46.1%. The table below displays figures for the median company across the industry, sector and all-stock groups, alongside the S&P 500 index.
| 1-year | 3-year | 5-year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy (MSTR) | -51.9% | 310.1% | 88.2% |
| Application Software industry (median company) | -20.7% | -9.9% | -46.1% |
| Information Technology sector (median company) | -8.0% | 31.8% | -20.8% |
| All stocks in our data (median company) | -1.3% | 28.0% | -5.7% |
| S&P 500 index | 14.5% | 82.9% | 70.0% |
Stock price change to 2026-10-20, excluding dividends. Industry, sector and all-stock rows are the median company of each group.
While a position in the typical software stock lost close to half its value, an investment in Strategy nearly doubled. The resulting performance gap places Strategy ahead of all but a handful of its industry peers.
Was It Strategy’s Industry?
No, though the S&P 500 index provided a lift. The S&P 500, dominated by the largest companies, rose 70.0% over the same five years. Strategy stock still finished ahead of the index.
The company’s own industry operated as a drag. Among the 12 industries within the Information Technology sector, Application Software ranked 11th based on the typical company’s five-year return. The typical technology stock also fell. Strategy rose against the tide of its own group.
What Did Strategy’s Business Do?
Sales at Strategy remained flat. Revenue growth averaged 0.02% a year over the past three years, compared with 11.1% for the typical software company. Between 2021 and 2026, revenue slipped 1.7%.
Profit per share moved the wrong way, from a loss of $4.33 a share in the twelve months to June 2021 to a loss of $97.21 in the twelve months to June 2026. The operating margin shifted from a 14.3% profit in the twelve months to June 2021 to an 8.1% loss in the twelve months to June 2026. Over those same years, the diluted share count rose 261.7%, leaving each share with a smaller slice of a business that loses money. Strategy reported an $8.22 billion loss in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared with a $10.02 billion profit a year earlier, as the bitcoin price declined, the WSJ reported. Over the past year, the company’s net loss amounted to more than 60 times its revenue.
Running at a loss, Strategy lacks a meaningful price-to-earnings multiple to compare against the 40.5 times earnings of the typical profitable software company. Investors paid 12.8 times sales at the end of June 2021 and 61.5 times at the end of June 2026. By the October 20 close, they paid 101.0 times. Strategy’s lead came from investors paying far more for each dollar of its sales, not from its business operations.
Is Strategy Still Ahead Over The Past Year?
No. Strategy stock fell 51.9% over the year to October 20, 2026, while the typical software stock fell 20.7%. The company beat only 24.5% of its industry peers during this period, compared with 93.6% over the full five years, and now trails the majority of them.
In August, Strategy sold more than 18.2 million new shares through an at-the-market equity offering. Proactive Investors reported that the move raised money without selling any of the company’s cryptocurrency. In October, Strategy also raised its program to buy back preferred stock to $3 billion from $2 billion.
Strategy reported a diluted share count of 353 million at the end of June. That metric is the number to watch in the company’s next report, expected on or around October 29, 2026.
How To Act On MSTR?
Not necessarily on Strategy alone, if your goal is long-term wealth. Wealth is built by owning the companies that keep outperforming, the leaders of their industries, wherever they are. Strategy is one. Over the five years to October 2026, its stock rose 88.2%, ahead of 117 of the 125 other companies in Application Software, where the typical company fell 46.1%.
Finding companies like these takes comparison across industries and sectors, and that is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio does. It holds 30 quality companies in equal weight and, since its inception in September 2020, has returned more than 105%, ahead of a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap and Russell 2000. See how we find the leaders.
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