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ASX Tech Stocks April: Sector outpaces ASX 200 by 3 to 1 in 2023 led by heavily shorted Megaport
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- The ASX tech sector rallied in April and is outpacing the ASX 200 benchmark by a factor of 3 to 1 in 2023
- Openlearning led the April winners’ table after reporting ARR rose by 19% YoY to $1.788m as at the end of Q1 FY23
- Heavily shorted Megaport rose in April after upgrading its EBITDA guidance for FY23 and FY24
There’s no doubt technology is rapidly shaping our lives and has been for some years now as we live in what is referred to as the technology age, digital age or information age.
Love it or hate it, tech has become an inescapable part of our daily lives – and the strengthening mesh is only growing tighter, as emerging tech like AI slowly makes human beings entirely redundant and eventually wipes us all out.
But that’s ages away, and in the meantime, Aussie-listed tech companies are going to continue to forge new paths through innovation, and offer investors an avenue to invest in their own future.
Recently published research by Accenture and the Tech Council shows the tech sector generated $167 billion for the Aussie economy in 2020–21, making it the third largest contributor for the year, behind market behemoths Mining and Finance.
It’s little wonder, then, that the ASX reports that more technology companies have listed on the bourse than any other sector in the past five years.
It hasn’t been an entirely smooth process for the sector, though. While Technology outperformed during the pandemic pressures of 2020–21, it led to considerable stock market declines in 2022.
But that was last year… and so far this year, the tech sector is outpacing the ASX 200 benchmark by a factor of 3 to 1, second only to gold stocks in terms of performance since the start of 2023.
Here’s the XGD Gold Index +23.6%, XTX All Tech Index +12.6%, ASX 200 +4.2% for 2023 TYD as of 1 May, 2023.
So each month, we’ll be taking a deep dive into tech, looking at the movers and shakers for one of the most exciting segments the ASX has on offer for investors.
April overview
It has been a rollercoaster ride for ASX tech investors but the sector seems to be heading in the right direction for 2023. The S&P ASX 200 Information Technology index was up 4.82% in April, second only to the S&P ASX 200 Real Estate sector up 5.14% for the month.
The tech sector has also been on a rebound on Wall Street, especially the NYSE FANG+ index.
FANG+ currently comprises big tech players including Facebook-parent Meta, Apple, Amazon, AMD, Netflix, NVIDIA, Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Tesla and cloud-computing firm Snowflake.
With a collective market value of $9.25 trillion, it is still some 25% below its late 2021 peak, but the 10 FANG+ stocks are still worth more than 26% of the entire S&P 500 as cautious optimism creeps back into the tech sector on a global scale.
Here are the top ASX tech stocks for April 2023
Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.
| Code | Company | Price | % Month | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OLL | Openlearning | 0.033 | 106% | $8,839,679 |
| EML | EML Payments Ltd | 0.720 | 69% | $269,268,573 |
| ODA | Orcoda Limited | 0.270 | 69% | $45,132,409 |
| W2V | Way2Vat | 0.013 | 69% | $2,861,975 |
| IXU | Ixup Limited | 0.045 | 67% | $46,597,170 |
| 1TT | Thrive Tribe Tech | 0.020 | 67% | $4,599,097 |
| PIL | Peppermint Innovation | 0.008 | 60% | $16,302,855 |
| SMN | Structural Monitoring Systems | 0.790 | 60% | $106,001,905 |
| ICE | Icetana Limited | 0.053 | 56% | $10,564,406 |
| NVU | Nanoveu Limited | 0.035 | 52% | $11,874,460 |
| FFT | Future First Tech | 0.030 | 50% | $21,295,097 |
| FCL | Fineos Corp Hold PLC | 1.730 | 50% | $554,301,818 |
| ID8 | Identitii Limited | 0.034 | 42% | $7,221,727 |
| IOD | Iodm Limited | 0.325 | 38% | $192,130,952 |
| NOR | Norwood Systems Ltd | 0.029 | 38% | $11,234,600 |
| EOS | Electro Optic Systems | 0.590 | 36% | $101,029,244 |
| BVS | Bravura Solution Ltd | 0.450 | 34% | $201,759,301 |
| CDA | Codan Limited | 7.290 | 34% | $1,320,715,405 |
| MP1 | Megaport Limited | 5.630 | 34% | $891,924,868 |
| LNU | Linius Tech Limited | 0.004 | 33% | $12,918,985 |
| SOR | Strategic Elements | 0.140 | 33% | $62,570,681 |
| PRO | Prophecy Internation | 0.640 | 32% | $47,110,998 |
| DSE | Dropsuite Ltd | 0.270 | 29% | $186,270,865 |
| TSK | Task Group Holdings | 0.390 | 28% | $138,395,253 |
| SMP | Smartpay Holdings | 1.450 | 28% | $345,513,196 |
| EIQ | Echoiq Ltd | 0.155 | 24% | $70,851,178 |
| DUG | DUG Tech | 1.025 | 22% | $121,076,471 |
| PPK | PPK Group Limited | 1.160 | 21% | $103,575,580 |
| ELS | Elsight Ltd | 0.340 | 21% | $51,108,658 |
| ATV | Active Port Group | 0.150 | 20% | $26,483,614 |
| FLX | Felix Group | 0.150 | 20% | $23,507,957 |
| GTK | Gentrack Group Ltd | 3.030 | 19% | $308,242,461 |
| LVT | Livetiles Limited | 0.025 | 19% | $26,179,142 |
| NOV | Novatti Group Ltd | 0.160 | 19% | $54,149,047 |
| HSC | HSC Technology Group | 0.013 | 18% | $29,622,311 |
| CAT | Catapult Grp Int Ltd | 0.780 | 17% | $190,365,150 |
| CPT | Cipherpoint Limited | 0.007 | 17% | $8,114,692 |
| CPT | Cipherpoint Limited | 0.007 | 17% | $8,114,692 |
| RCL | Readcloud | 0.071 | 16% | $8,650,448 |
| JAN | Janison Edu Group | 0.400 | 16% | $95,124,105 |
| SKF | Skyfii Ltd | 0.073 | 16% | $30,637,236 |
| CXZ | Connexion Telematics | 0.022 | 16% | $20,770,462 |
| APX | Appen Limited | 3.140 | 15% | $390,361,852 |
| BCC | Beam Communications | 0.230 | 15% | $19,877,042 |
| DCC | Digitalx Limited | 0.047 | 15% | $35,039,395 |
| DXN | DXN Limited | 0.004 | 14% | $6,885,259 |
| MOB | Mobilicom Ltd | 0.008 | 14% | $10,613,414 |
| ADA | Adacel Technologies | 0.645 | 14% | $49,182,438 |
| NXT | Nextdc Limited | 11.480 | 14% | $5,251,293,909 |
Leading the ASX tech winners’ list in April and rising 106% was OpenLearning (ASX:OLL) which reported its platform’s SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased by 19% YoY to $1.788m as at the end of Q1 FY23.
ARR per customer increased 36% YoY to $7,948, driven by new customer subscriptions and increased usage from existing customers.
OLL also inked a distribution and SaaS reseller agreement with ECA to launch OpenLearning India during the quarter, which will bring the company’s SaaS platform and a marketplace of short courses, micro-credentials, and online degrees to the Indian market.
India has one of the world’s largest higher education sectors with 1,043 universities, 42,343 colleges, and 11,779 standalone institutions. The country also has the largest college-age population, projected to reach 126 million by 2026.
In equal second place rising 69% in April was EML Payments (ASX:EML), Orcoda (ASX:ODA) and Way2Vat (ASX:W2V).
Fintech W2V announced in April that cornerstone investor Thorney Investment Group, the private investment group of rich-lister Alex Waislitz, which also manages Thorney Technologies (ASX:TEK), had become a major contributor to its latest $3.54 million capital raise.
The company said Thorney Investment Group had committed to subscribe for $1 million worth of shares under the entitlement offer.
W2V has an AI platform that’s capable of reclaiming various types of VAT (value added tax) in more than 40 countries.
The OLL, EML, ODA, W2V & TEK share price today:
Making 50% + gains
There were several companies who made impressive 50%+ gains in April with many announcing positive quarterly results, including Structural Monitoring Systems (ASX:SMN).
SMN announced its wholly owned subsidiary Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corporation (AEM) recorded gross revenue for the March quarter of $5.86 million versus $5.36 million the previous quarter, up 9% and 35% higher than the March quarter the year prior.
AEM recorded its highest March sales figures and is on track to achieve its highest annual sales.
The company said it continues to work closely with AEM personnel to integrate operations between its three entities to consolidate resources, improve efficiencies and identify where additional resourcing and skill sets are required, in particular in relation to the commercialisation of the company’s CVM technology globally.
In March, SMN announced the successful installation of its first CVM sensor kits on Delta aircraft at the AAR facility in Oklahoma in the US.
Dublin-based software provider for life, accident and health insurers FINEOS (ASX:FCL) said during Q3 FY23 it continued to execute on its growth strategy, with a highlight being the first sale of FINEOS Absence directly to an employer with more than 40,000 employees.
FCL also collaborated with American Public Life to publish a case study of the business results APL has achieved through the rapid deployment of the FINEOS platform for new business and underwriting.
The company said cash receipts from customers was up 23.8% to €44.2 million in Q3FY23.
Shorted stock Megaport back on rise in April
Data centre/NaaS stock Megaport (ASX:MP1) also soared in April after announcing it now expects to report normalised EBITDA in FY23 in the range of $16m to $18m, and $41m to $46m in FY24.
The latest figures are materially above market consensus of $9m in FY23 and $30m in FY24.
The heavily shorted stock has added 607 new services in the March quarter, boosting monthly recurring revenue 14% on the December quarter to $14.1 million. Total revenue for the March quarter was 3% higher than the December result to $38.1 million.
Michael Reid, the CRO at Cisco’s SaaS business, ThousandEyes, takes over as MP1’s new CEO, effective on May 15 after the resignation of Vincent English in March. Chairman and founder Bevan Slattery has been acting CEO since English’s resignation.
