If you're not a technology investor, you're missing out on some
of the biggest gains - ever. And today, that trend continues.
Technology stocks are leading the broad market. They're also
leading the IPO market.
Of the companies that went public over the summer tech issues
are among the big gainers, and last week alone the top three
performing IPO stocks were tech companies.
QLIK Technologies (Nasdaq: QLIK)
, which makes business efficiency software, rallied 35 percent last
week. The company was recently ranked first in customer loyalty in
the world's largest survey of business intelligence users.
The stock not only outperformed the rest of the market recently
but soared 112 percent since its IPO. To put this in perspective,
the next best performing stock since going public this summer is
MakeMyTrip Limited (Nasdaq: MMYT)
, which returned just under 76 percent.
Check out the two charts below which show the best-performing
stocks since their IPO date as well as the top gainers last week
(these include companies that went public since late June).
Smart Technologies (Nasdaq: SMT)
, the maker of the interactive whiteboard, posted the second
largest gain last week, rallying 25 percent. In late August,
Deutsche Bank (
DB
)
initiated a "buy" rating for the company and RBC Capital Markets
initiated an "outperform" rating.
Mike Abramsky of RBC called the company the "
Apple (
AAPL
)
of the Wall", given the company's potential to expand into
international markets. Currently, SMART Technologies' interactive
whiteboard reaches only seven percent of the global education
market.
The stock is still down 22 percent since going public, but I
expect this company's sales to edge higher as the economic recovery
in the U.S. picks up and emerging markets put more emphasis on
education.
MediaMind Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: MDMD)
was the third strongest company last week, climbing just over 21
percent. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on the stock and
initiated a "buy" rating. The company also announced that it will
present at the 2010 Deutsche Bank Technology Conference where it
could attract more attention from potential investors.
IntraLinks Holdings Inc. (
IL
)
was also among the strong performers last week as the stock jump 20
percent. The company specializes in online document management
security and serves over 4,300 customers. Its stock is up around 19
percent since going public in early August.
RealPage Inc. (Nasdaq: RP)
also posted a nice return of just under 16 percent. Yesterday,
William Blair and RBC Capital Markets started coverage on the
company and both initiated an "outperform" rating.
These companies have vastly outperformed the rest of the market
- an indication that technology could emerge as a market leader
entering the fall and winter of 2011. The 6 month chart below shows
the performance of the
Technology Select Sector SPDR Trust (
XLK
)
over the last 6 months. Since August 31, the ETF is up 10.7
percent.
A recent survey of 130 CEOs from advisory firm KPMG indicates
that the technology sector will lead the economic recovery.
"The results are in line with recent earnings reports in the
technology sector which suggests business conditions are starting
to improve" said
Gary Matuszak, a partner at KPMG.
What's more, eight out of ten executives see business within the
technology sector improving in the remaining months of 2010, with
78 percent of executives seeing stronger than expected revenue.
***Three companies are scheduled to go public this week.
Legacy Healthcare Properties Trust (LRP)
delayed its IPO last month as one of the underwriters blamed a
"difficult market". The real estate investment trust still has not
gone public.
CoreSite Realty Corp (
COR
)
, another real estate investment trust, has 11 different facilities
that serve over 600 customers. The company expects to raise $270
million by offering 16.9 million shares between $15 and $17 a
share. The Denver-based company reported $29 million in sales last
year.
SciQuest (
SQI
)
, which provides procurement software and services, will offer 6
million shares at a price range of $9.50 to $11.50 a share. The
company will use just over 60 percent of the proceeds to redeem all
preferred stock. It has customers in 16 countries and sees a
potential market of $1 billion. With 79 percent margins, we will
continue to follow this stock closely when it goes public.
As always, do your own homework before investing in any stock.
If you have any questions about IPOs, please shoot me an email. My
address is:
editorial@smallcapinvestor.com
.