This month it was announced that Aconex Ltd (ASX: ACX) will be acquired by US giant Oracle for approximately $1.6 billion.
Although it was a significant premium to its last trade price, I still think Oracle got a great deal here and the local market had been undervaluing Aconex for some time given its strong long-term growth potential.
But never fear, all is not lost. There are still a good number of quality tech shares on the local market for investors to consider buying today.
Here are two which I think are worth considering in 2018:
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
Earlier this year this language data solutions and services company posted a 44% increase in half-year EBITDA to $12.8 million thanks partly to strong demand from machine learning and artificial intelligence customers. Recently the company bolstered its future growth prospects by acquiring Leapforce for $80 million. Management expects the addition of the specialist in search relevance to be at least 35% accretive to underlying earnings per share. Considering the strong growth expected in the artificial intelligence market, I feel Appen could be positioned to deliver above-average earnings growth for some time to come if it can keep ahead of its peers.
Livetiles Ltd (ASX: LVT)
Another company poised to profit from the fast-growing artificial intelligence market is LiveTiles. The digital workplace platform provider recently announced that it has joined forces with tech-giant Microsoft in the space. The deal will see Microsoft promote LiveTiles Bots as a solution that demystifies AI technology and can be quickly deployed within its Azure platform for its business customers. Management is optimistic that this is the first step in its bold plan to secure a leadership position in the AI industry in the future. I think LiveTiles is well worth taking a closer look at today.
