While the United States may be home to many of the most exciting technology companies in the world, Australia is certainly no slouch.
I believe we have a number of companies with the potential to become a force in the global technology sector. So much so I feel they could be worth considering as buy and hold investments today:
Although the Aconex Ltd (ASX: ACX) share price has risen 48% in the last three months, I think the software-as-a-service company could still be worth taking a close look at today. Considering management estimates that its cloud collaboration software can accelerate the pace of product delivery to help build five hospitals for the price of four, it's no surprise to see it grow in popularity. I expect demand for its software will increase strongly over the next few years, allowing the company to achieve its sales growth target of 20% per annum.
With the Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) share price around 15% off its 52-week high, I think now could be a great time to snap up the shares of this printed circuit board (PCB) design software provider. Research firm Gartner estimates that there will be 20.8 billion connected devices in use worldwide by 2020, up from an estimated 6.4 billion in 2016. As PCBs are required in the majority of these connected devices, I expect demand for its software will continue to rise at a solid rate.
While the Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price has gained around 37% in the last 12 months, at 25x trailing earnings I still think its shares are good value for those that are willing to be patient and make a buy and hold investment. Especially with management expecting earnings growth in excess of 20% this year thanks to strong demand for its voice recognition and language data services.
