A brief primer on how to win by aligning your stock with big US tech

For ASX small caps, partnering with big US tech is often a winning strategy.

History shows a strong correlation between deal announcements with the US giants (plus other global tech players), and surging share prices.

The latest example was provided by telehealth company Oneview Healthcare (ASX:ONE), which more than doubled on Monday after signing a deal with the US division of Samsung.

ONE shares have continued to climb throughout the week. The company provides a cloud-based healthcare management solution for patient communications, such as interpretation services.

Like other ASX small caps, one of the key advantages to ONE of joining forces with a major US tech conglomerate is distribution.

Samsung will take up distribution rights for the platform in the US market, expanding ONE’s addressable market to millions of customers who use Samsung devices such as tablets.

As an example of the Samsung effect, wireless technology company Etherstack (ASX:ESK) saw its share price quadruple in one day last June when it announced an integration deal with the tech giant.

However, the stock has since eased back from its post-announcement high of around $1.70 to 65c.

So while the proximity effect often prompts an intra-day surge, investors are also on the lookout for evidence the company can turn it into long-term growth.

One company that’s leveraged a longer-term partnership is workplace software company LiveTiles (ASX:LVT).

The company established its business model by facilitating an interface upgrade on the Microsoft platform for B2B clients, and it often makes new announcements in conjunction with its big US tech partner.

Last October, the two companies announced a co-marketing agreement where representatives at the software giant’s sale centres will be trained to sell core LiveTiles products.

Virtual reality company Vection Technologies (ASX:VR1) also announced a Microsoft tie-up in the December quarter, as part of a run of positive news flow that saw its stock price briefly book 10x status for some investors.

Along with distribution, ASX small caps can also leverage the huge infrastructure platforms of big US tech giants to cut costs.

For example, eSports company Emerge Gaming (ASX:ES1) last September announced a partnership with Microsoft that allowed it to leverage Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, removing the need to purchase expensive server and GPU infrastructure.

Microsoft is also engaged in a battle of its own with other behemoths such as Amazon and Google to win the cloud wars, as the entire world goes digital.

Microsoft (with Azure) and Amazon (with AWS) have grabbed the lion’s share of the market, but Google is also on the acquisition path.

Earlier this year, BNPL player Splitit (ASX:SPT) took the “distribution” strategy outlined above with Google, inking a deal to provide its services on the Google Store in Japan for all sales of Google device products.

Health tech company MyFiziq (ASX:MYQ), which saw its shares climb by as much as 1,700pc last year, has also taken the distribution path by registering its Biomorphik body-scanning app with both Google Play and the Apple Store.

And while big US tech is often happy to provide distribution services to smaller partners, not many of the major players have taken an investment in an ASX company.

However, home security provider Scout Security (ASX:SCT) counts Amazon as an investor, and it also reaps some partnership benefits.

Last August, shares in the company jumped by around 90 per cent after it announced that its wireless security platform had been integrated into Alexa Guard — the e-commerce giant’s own home-monitoring system.

Other ASX small caps to catch a tailwind from the Amazon effect include Eve Investments (ASX:EVE), which reported record Q4 sales last week that were boosted by Amazon’s online sales.

Last October, smart lighting company Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) said it booked record one-day sales in the annual Amazon Prime sales promotion.

That followed an Amazon update from MGM Wireless (ASX:MWR) in September, which announced an agreement to sell its smartphone watch through the e-commerce platform for kids in the United Kingdom.

And social commerce company Crowd Media (ASX:CM8) has also leveraged its Amazon link to sell a number of beauty products in its branding suite through Amazon’s EU marketplace.