March 2025 was a rough month for the stock market. Only 23 stocks on the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index posted positive returns, leaving 76 tickers in negative territory for the month. The index itself saw a negative total return of 7.6%.
Only two of the 101 Nasdaq-100 components rose more than 10% last month. Below, I'll examine how Strategy (MSTR 0.68%) and Electronic Arts (EA 0.16%) managed to stay afloat while many of their peers struggled.
NASDAQ: MSTR
Key Data Points
Strategy: Up 12.9% in March
The software company formerly known as MicroStrategy saw double-digit gains despite a lackluster performance from the Bitcoin (BTC 0.29%) cryptocurrency. Strategy's stock tends to rise and fall alongside Bitcoin because the company has invested $35.6 billion in the largest crypto with firm intentions to keep buying more. The direct market value of that Bitcoin reserve currently accounts for more than half of Strategy's total market cap.
Strategy distanced its stock chart from Bitcoin's price trend by taking confident action in March. The company raised $711 million by issuing preferred stock with a generous dividend yield. That announcement boosted Strategy's ordinary stock price.
Another bullish bump followed two weeks later, when the company revealed the pricing and final value of that offering while raising the dividend yield from 8% to 10%. These funds were immediately used to buy more Bitcoin, as expected.
NASDAQ: EA
Key Data Points
Electronic Arts: Up 11.9% in March
Video game veteran Electronic Arts released the highly anticipated multiplayer game Split Fiction to widespread acclaim and strong sales. The title reported 2 million sales in the first week. It has a retail price of $49.95, which is about $100 million in first-week sales.
This successful release lifted Electronic Arts' stock 8.4% higher in five days, breaking a bearish market trend as the Nasdaq-100 fell 1.1% over the same period. The performance gap held steady for most of March. The company's share price even stayed firm when many high-growth Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.55%) stocks plunged in the market turmoil at the end of the month.
