Despite the last troubling week of trading, Australian tech company Appen Ltd [ASX:APX] saw an applaudable rise in their share price upon market opening today. At time of writing, Appen’s share price is sitting up by 9.6%.
Defining themselves as ‘a global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence’, Appen’s developing language-translation software in the form of AI is similar to that of chat boxes on smartphones and other navigation devices.
The AI Consensus
There is currently a mixed consensus in the general public regarding the advancement of AI technology. This was reflected in last week’s feeble night trade on Wall Street, where a handful of tech shares and the NASDAQ Index dropped heavily.
Netflix [NASDAQ:NFLX] was crowned the worst performer that evening, with a 6% decline.
Back home, the Aussie counterparts of these tech giants felt the fall as well. For Appen in particular, many of their shares were sold off last Tuesday.
But Appen has clearly managed to bounce back from this tech stock blow.
Appen on the Upward Climb
A more recent — and more positive — night of Wall Street and NASDAQ trade is setting out Australian tech shares on the course of a rebound.
With today’s sky-rocket, Appen’s earnings are sitting comfortably above the general 15% of capital earnings benchmark, which indicates a decent return to capital holders of a company.
And Appen’s overall performance since entering the ASX back in 2015 is miles above the rest of the tech company pack. In their first year, revenue increased by 62%, with a 414% profit over its 2014 performance. 2016 saw a further revenue climb of 34%, and half year 2017 results added another 39% growth.
Even before listing, Appen was making profit and generating revenue.
A Positive Road for Appen
Today’s jump has given the stock market a glimpse at the future potential of this innovation-oriented tech company.
And, with clients from company giants like Microsoft and Facebook, Appen does appear to be keeping themselves on relatively stable ground.
Of course, as we’ve recently seen with Facebook and other tech companies, nothing is new forever.
Regards,
Ryan Clarkson-Ledward,
For Money Morning
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