Looking beyond the infamous WAAAX stocks, here are three ASX tech companies you might not have heard of.
Serko Ltd (ASX: SKO)
Serko is an Auckland-based online travel booking and expense management technology provider.
The company goes to travel management companies (TMCs) who act as reseller partners and provide Serko’s leading Zeno solution to their corporate customers as part of their overall managed travel service. Some of Serko’s TMC partners include Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) and Corporate Traveller (the corporate arm of Flight Centre), and corporate clients include the likes of PwC and National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB).
Shares in Serko have come off around 15% since peaking at $4.33 at the start of last month. With no news out of the company that would readily explain the share price decline, it may just be a case of investors taking profits off the table. This is understandable as the Serko share price had been on a strong run in the first half of 2019, up from $2.60 at the beginning of the year.
Serko recorded impressive revenue growth of 28% in FY19 and management expect to deliver revenue growth of 20%-40% in the current financial year. If management can indeed deliver, the recent pullback in Serko’s share price may serve as an opportunity for investors to pick up a high growth stock at a relatively reasonable price.
Xref Ltd (ASX: XF1)
Xref is a Sydney-based human resources technology company that allows prospective employers to seamlessly and professionally conduct pre-employment reference checks on suitable candidates through an online candidate-referencing system.
Customers include the likes of Uber and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), which may help to provide some further legitimacy to the business. Overall, Xref users have been growing at a fast rate and the business is progressing nicely towards profitability as it scales up at high gross margins.
The Xref share price had fallen nearly 50% from its 12-month high back in May, before climbing 15% yesterday on the back of news of a US partnership. The partnership with leading talent management platform PageUp will see more than 50 mutual clients having access to the benefits of the integration at launch.
Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI)
Integrated Research describes itself as the leading global provider of proactive performance management software for critical infrastructure, payments and communication ecosystems. The company has been operating since 1988 and now has over 250 employees across five countries, with 1,000 organisations as clients in more than 60 countries -– some being Fortune 500 businesses.
Integrated Research crossed over $100 million in revenue during FY19 and recorded a net profit of $21.5 million. The company continues to fly under the radar of most investors despite being a reliable dividend payer, having consistently grown profits in recent years.
A high proportion of revenue is recurring in nature, which helps to make earnings/profits more predictable for valuation purposes. Trading on a P/E multiple of 24x, Integrated Research shares may be a touch expensive despite good prospects for continued growth.
For those unfamiliar, the Rask Finance video below explains the P/E ratio:
My Pick Of The Bunch
Integrated Research is clearly the most stable and arguably the highest-quality business of the three shares mentioned, since it is already profitable and paying consistent dividends. Due to this, Integrated Research would be my top pick of the trio.
However, I believe Serko and Xref both have compelling stories and warrant further research.
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Disclaimer: At the time of publishing, the author of this article has no financial interest in any of the companies mentioned.
