Although it lagged the market for much of 2016, in the last month the S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech Index (Index: ^AXIJ) (ASX: XIJ) has put on a strong gain of 6.5%.
I expect this upward trend to continue in the year ahead, which could make it a great time to snap up some fast-growing tech shares. Here are three which I would class as buys right now:
Aconex Ltd (ASX: ACX)
This time last year this software-as-a-service company was a market darling that could do no wrong. Since then market sentiment has gone the complete opposite way, its share price has declined substantially, and short interest has risen to 16%. I believe this was a result of its shares getting ahead of themselves, leading to outrageous valuations. But with its valuation far more reasonable now and the company forecasting sales growth between 39% and 46% in FY 2017, I believe it is priced well for a buy and hold investment.
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
As the internet of things market continues to gather momentum, I expect Altium's printed circuit board design software to continue its meteoric growth. In FY 2016 Altium saw an 11% lift in subscriptions helping the company produce revenue growth of 17% to US$93.4 million. This growth is expected to accelerate over the next few years with management confident that the company will more than double revenue to US$200 million by 2020. With its shares changing hands at 25x estimated FY 2017's earnings, I believe now could be a great time to invest.
Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)
Demand for data and cloud services has been growing at a fast pace for many years and shows no signs of slowing. I believe this puts data centre operator NextDC in a fantastic position to grow its top line at a strong rate for at least the next few years. Whilst there have been concerns over the arrival of Singapore-based rival AirTrunk in Australia, I believe the size of the market can easily accommodate both players. Its shares do come at a premium, but I feel its strong growth potential justifies the price.
