ASX software small caps have seen a solid 2020 despite COVID-19 or in some cases because of the pandemic.

The average software small cap has gained 21 per cent in 2020 and 11 have notched up gains above 100 per cent.

 

Here’s a table of ASX software stocks with a YTD percentage gain of over 100 per cent:

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort. 

COVID-19 Theme Code Company Sector
China rebound SGM Sims Metals & Mining
China rebound A2M a2 Milk Company Consumer staples
China rebound IEL IDP Education Discretionary Retail
China rebound SEK Seek Media
China rebound BHP BHP Metals & Mining
China rebound SM1 Synlait Milk Consumer staples
China rebound FMG Fortescue Metals Metals & Mining
NSW exposure CSR CSR Other materials
NSW exposure ANZ ANZ Bank Banks
NSW exposure WBC Westpac Banks
NSW exposure NAB NAB Banks
NSW exposure SGR Star Entertainment Gaming
NSW exposure VRT Virtus Health Health Care
NSW exposure BIN Bingo Industreis General Industrials
NSW exposure IAG Insurance Australia Insurance
NSW exposure BLD Boral Other materials
NSW exposure HVN Harvey Norman Discretionary Retail
NSW exposure CWN Crown Resorts Gaming
NSW exposure DHG Domain Australia Media
NSW exposure ADH Adairs Discretionary Retail
Victoria exposure ANZ ANZ Bank Banks
Victoria exposure IAG Insurance Australia Insurance
Victoria exposure HVN Harvey Norman Discretionary Retail
Victoria exposure CWN Crown Resorts Gaming
COVID-19 demand boost WOW Woolworths Consumer staples
COVID-19 demand boost MTS Metcash Consumer staples
COVID-19 demand boost HVN Harvey Norman Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 demand boost CKF Collins Foods Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 demand boost RMD ResMed Inc Health Care
COVID-19 demand shock ALL Aristocrat Leisure Gaming
COVID-19 demand shock SXL Southern Cross Media Media
COVID-19 demand shock CTM Corporate Travel Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 demand shock WEB Webjet Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 demand shock GEM G8 Education Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 demand shock TAB Tabcorp Gaming
COVID-19 demand shock MGR Mirvac REITs
COVID-19 demand shock NEC Nine Entertainment Media
COVID-19 demand shock SVW Seven General Industrials
COVID-19 demand shock CWN Crown Resorts Gaming
COVID-19 demand shock PMV Premier Investments Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 structual demand BAP Bapcor Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 structual demand AMA Ama Discretionary Retail
COVID-19 structual demand CNI Centuria Capital Other Financials
COVID-19 structual demand CHC Charter Hall REITs
COVID-19 structual demand NXT NextDC Tech
COVID-19 structual demand APX Appen Tech
COVID-19 structural decline QAN Qantas General Industrials
COVID-19 structural decline SYD Sydney Aiport Infrastructure
Wordpress Table Plugin

 

Cybersecurity winners

Leading the pack is cybersecurity platform Tesserent (ASX:TNT), which has risen from 4 cents to 28 cents in 2020.

Investors liked the company’s strong revenue growth and acquisition ambitions. Revenue in the June quarter was high enough to be extrapolated into an annualised rate of at least $40 million.

Other winners in this sector include government focused Archtis (ASX:AR9) and family focused Family Zone Cyber (ASX:FZO)

Both stocks have also benefited from investor excitement about the cybersecurity sector generally, particularly since the Morrison government’s investment back in June.

RedLeaf Securities CEO John Athanasiou told Stockhead last month he believes cybersecurity could be the next BNPL sector.

 

Winners from Bevan Slattery’s touch

Two other stocks on the list have surged since Australian tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery invested in them.

One is HR tech company intelliHR (ASX:IHR) and the other is geospatial image processing company Pointerra (ASX:3DP). Both companies received $2.5 million from Slattery last month.

Slattery is the founder of a number of ASX-listed tech plays that began as small caps but have graduated their way to large cap status.

These include data centre operator NextDC (ASX:NXT) as well as internet connectivity providers Superloop (ASX:SLC) and Megaport (ASX:MP1).

 

Prestigious client winners

Rounding out the list were stocks that won or continued to win prestigious clients.

One is communication automation software stock Whispir (ASX:WSP), which has won several public sector contracts during the pandemic.

It all began at the end of March when the Victorian government hired it to help it stay in touch with COVID-19 sufferers and other individuals in isolation.

Another is 9Spokes (ASX:9SP), which recently signed five-year partnership with global payments giant Visa.

Visa will offer 9Spokes’ dashboard management solution to its clients and their customers to help them make financial decisions.

Logistics software stock Yojee Ltd (ASX:YOJ) has seen a good year too. Its biggest highlight of the year was a deal with Fillipino logistics provider Kuehne + Nage.

Rounding out the list is wireless communications play Etherstack (ASX:ESK). It rounded out the financial year by inking a deal with mobile phone giant Samsung.

Finally there’s AI technology platform Brainchip Holdings (ASX:BRN), which has really taken off in the last couple of months after signing an agreement with Valeo Corporation.

Valeo is a Europe-based supplier of sensors and equipment used in autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assistance systems. It will deploy Brainchip’s tech in its own solutions.

 

A unique winner

One of the ASX’s few remaining blockchain plays Tymlez Group (ASX:TYM) has been a winner in 2020.

Tymlez has a quiet start to the year but things have heated up in recent weeks.

Last month, it announced the hiring of a new board advisor and that the latest edition of its tech is now live on the Google Cloud Marketplace.

Its latest release has enhanced security features that prevent unauthorised users from posting transactions to the blockchain. The company said this was important in the context of Scott Morrison’s cybersecurity funding announcement.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While 9Spokes is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.