The local tech sector may pale in comparison to the size of those in the United States, Europe, and China, but there certainly are some quality companies in it.
Three which I think could be great buy and hold investment options are listed below. Here's why I like them:
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
Altium is a software-as-a-service company that provides a platform for printed circuit board (PCB) design. PCBs are found in almost all computers and electronics today, allowing devices to connect to the internet, amongst other things. With the Internet of Things market growing strongly, I expect demand for Altium's award-winning software will continue to grow strongly. Especially with the imminent arrival of 5G internet, which I believe will encourage internet connectivity for more and more every day devices.
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
Appen is a machine learning and artificial intelligence dataset provider that counts some of the biggest companies in the world as customers. The company recently delivered a 62% year-on-year lift in EBITDA thanks largely to demand from the social media and search categories. While this growth was very impressive, management expects FY 2018 to be even stronger. It has provided full-year EBITDA growth guidance in the range of 77.9% and 96%. I think this makes it a great option for investors.
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)
This New Zealand-based accounting software provider has been growing at a very strong rate over the last few years thanks largely to its growing share of the Australian, New Zealand, and UK markets. While these markets combined are very lucrative and have the potential to generate significant profits for the company, the main attraction in my opinion is its U.S. ambitions. Cracking the U.S. market will be no easy feat, but I believe the quality of its product will allow Xero to gradually win a greater and greater share of it.
