Tech Week That Was: Where the Magnificent Seven go from here, and what else happened in ASX Tech this week?

• Nasdaq and ASX Info Tech Index are up 35pc this year
• Some experts say Magnificent Seven could rally further, but others are more pessimistic
• We look at how ASX tech stocks performed over the past week

The Nasdaq Composite, often considered the bellwether for global tech stocks, is up 35% this year driven by gains from the so called ‘Magnificent Seven’ – Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta Platforms.

Nvidia alone has more than tripled, up 244% YTD at the time of writing.

The other six have also posted insane gains in 2023 – Tesla by 139%, Meta 137%, Amazon 60%, Alphabet 52%, Apple 50%, and Microsoft by 37%.

Looking ahead, experts like Jim Cramer believe that tech companies offering hardware and software solutions for AI (artificial intelligence) tools are likely to witness further rally.

“It’s so aggravating to stand here and tell you to just stick with the ‘Magnificent Seven’ and friends,” Cramer told his CNBC’s audience.

“It’s just so darned easy to bet on the Magnificent Seven, because everything always seems to go right with them.”

But for every Cramer there are naysayers who believe that AI is a bubble story in the making.

“We see second-half trouble rather than an era of new AI rules,” said BofA strategists led by Michael Hartnett.

Another sceptic, Société Générale’s Albert Edwards, said “the US tech sector has surged on the back of what may prove to be nothing but hope — mainly AI related.”

“Actual earnings are poor in absolute and relative terms,” Edwards added.

How ASX tech stocks fared in the past week

Bravura Solutions (ASX:BVS)

The wealth management software company was the best tech performer over the past week, despite reporting lower revenue and higher operating costs in FY23.

The company told the market that this trading performance has driven the requirement and urgency for change, which has resulted in a new CEO, chair and refreshed board joining Bravura in the second half.

The market was also impressed after independent non-executive chairman, Matthew Quinn, recently bought U$127k worth of BVS stock.

Energy One (ASX:EOL)

The energy sector focused tech company jumped after announcing that it has received a non-binding proposal from a global investment firm, STG.

STG wants to buy EOL at $5.85 per share in cash. The stock is currently trading at $5.62.

4DS Memory (ASX:4DS)

4DS continued its run up on the back of last week’s breakthrough, where it announced it had successfully incorporated its ReRAM memory cells into the imec megabit array.

The company has validated that 4DS Interface Switching ReRAM technology is transferable from fab to fab, and demonstrated a fully functional megabit array with 4DS Interface Switching ReRAM memory cells.

Spacetalk (ASX:SPA)

Spacetalk announced strong full year results which include a 33% increase in annual recurring revenue to $8.3m.

During the year, Spacetalk wound down its loss-making UK, EU, and US operations. This has resulted in significant cost savings and generated cash and freed up space for new products.

RocketDNA (ASX:RKT)

An Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approval has been received to operate RocketDNA’s autonomous drone product (‘drone-in-a-box’) in Australia.

The approval was given for two autonomous drone systems (DJI Dock System and Hextronics Global Drone Station), which includes Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) and Remote Operations.

RocketDNA has now become the first company in Australia to receive approval for DJI’s new-to-market Dock System.

Jaxsta (ASX:JXT)

Jaxsta, the world’s largest database of official music credits, announced a landmark agreement with the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC).

MLC is a nonprofit organisation created to issue blanket mechanical licences for qualified streaming services in the US, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal.

In 2022, the MLC announced it had paid out over US$700 million in royalties to songwriters and publishers in the first 18 months of operation.

Appen (ASX:APN)

Appen tumbled after reporting statutory net loss after tax of $43.3m, compared to loss of $9.4m on pcp.

Appen’s CEO and president, Armughan Ahmad, says the first half result reflected a challenging external environment.

Looking forward, Appen says it continues to face headwinds from the broader technology market slowdown and as customers evaluate their AI strategies.

Knosys (ASX:KNO)

The SaaS company fell after announcing that recurring revenue was up 16% on pcp, while full year total revenue was up 12% to $9.9 million.

The company’s bottom line was a net loss after tax of $2.2 million, an improvement of 28% on the pcp.