ASX tech sector rises more than 7% in November and is up more than 20% YTD
Tech heavy NASDAQ rallies more than 10% in November and is up ~37% YTD
Findi leads November tech winners raising $37.6 million ahead of TSI India IPO and strong H1 FY24 results
The S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech [XIJ] index was up 7.03% in November and has now risen 21% for the year, surpassing the benchmark ASX 200 [XJO] which rose 3.81% in November and is up 0.69% YTD.
The NASDAQ index, the bellwether for the global tech sector, has also rallied by more than 37% in 2023 and is up 10% for November.
Growth sectors like tech have been gaining as it looks like central banks might be just starting to win the fight against inflation. The tech sector has been further boosted as artificial intelligence (AI) continues its run as a dominant investment theme in 2023.
Momentum for AI was sparked by the launch of ChatGPT a year ago in November 2022, which has helped fuelled growth for a wide range of tech companies including semiconductors and cloud computing.
This week US Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller was taking a dovish tone suggesting the Fed may just be done with hiking rates.
“I am increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2%,” he says.
Waller says he could see a point where the Fed might start lowering rates.
“There is no reason to say we will keep it really high,” he says.
Meanwhile in a welcome surprise back home in Australia, the latest CPI figures show that the monthly inflation rate fell to 4.9% from 5.6% in October, beating expectations.
The lower inflation rate has pundits forecasting a slim chance of the RBA lifting rates at its December meeting next Tuesday, the final for 2023.
ASX 200 Information Technology (XIJ) Vs ASX200 (XJO) YTD
Source: Market Index
Here are the top ASX Tech Winners for November 2023
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ASX-listed Indian-focused fintech Findi (ASX:FND) rose 67%. FND announced it had raised $37.6 million ahead of TSI India IPO from leading Indian investment firm Piramal Alternatives, backed by leading Canadian pension fund CDPQ.
Furthermore, the company announced statutory revenue of $31.76 million for H1 FY24, up 30.2% on pcp with EBITDA up 84.4% to $12.65 million on pcp.
Statutory net profit after tax for Q1 FY24 was $1.098 million, compared with $190k in Q1 FY23.
Whispir (ASX:WSP) rose after former Appen (ASX:APX) boss Mark Brayan-run Soprano Design lobbed an off-market takeover play for all shares in the tech company for 48c or ~$64 million.
In his AGM address this week chairman Brendan Fleiter says a special board committee of WSP’s independent directors including Sarah Morgan and himself has been formed to evaluate and respond to the offer.
Financial data provider IRESS (ASX:IRE) surged after announcing progress on its transformation strategy, along with an updated guidance for FY23 and FY24 earnings.
IRE says its transformation program has accelerated, with revenue growth in H2 of +2.6% versus H1. Cost base was more favourable in H2 compared to H1, driven by lower staff costs, and a lift in customer sentiment.
The company upgraded its guidance, increasing its FY23 underlying EBITDA estimate to $123m-$128m from its previous forecast $118m-$122m.
Global sports analytics company Catapult Group (ASX:CAT) also rose in November after announcing strong H1 FY24 results with MD and CEO Will Lopes saying “all key metrics for the first half delivered or exceeded against our expectations.”
He says the SaaS part of the business continues to be its growth engine, with annualised contract value growing by 21% on a constant currency basis year on year, and reaching nearly $124m.
“This growth, coupled with record level retention rate, meant that our SaaS revenue grew by 25% over the past 12 months,” Lopes says
He says results of a strong SaaS performance meant that during the half total revenue delivered nearly $77m, up 21% on pcp.
“More impressive, is that we were able to generate this growth while simultaneously reducing costs, significantly improving our margins, highlighting our operational leverage,” he says.
Here are the top ASX Tech Losers for November 2023
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Provider of gas flow control (GFC) solutions to the semiconductor industry Pivotal Systems Corporation (ASX:PVS) fell 75% in its last month of trade on the ASX. PVS has merged with California corporation OmegaX, Inc and was removed from the bourse on November 21.
OmegaX agreed to acquire all of the issued shares in PVS and resolve the company’s outstanding debt and preferred stock obligations for cash consideration. The transaction valued PVS at ~US$18 million.
Digital e-learning solutions provider Readcloud (ASX:RCL) fell in November. The company released its FY23 results including 25% growth in consolidated revenue and other income to $10.70m, up from $8.55m pcp. However, FY23 underlying EBITDA of $785,675 was down on the pcp figure of $822,834.
Enterprise protection software player Damstra Holdings (ASX:DTC) was down in November. The company in October announced it had received multiple takeover bids, but told the market on November 10 that Mitratech had withdrawn its proposal for 30 cents/share by way of scheme of arrangement.
The post ASX tech November winners: Indian ATMs pay out a handsome 67% for Findi, as sector stretches lead over benchmark appeared first on Stockhead.
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