The Australian tech sector certainly has been a great place to be over the last 12 months.
During this time the S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech (Index: ^AXIJ) (ASX: XIJ) has gained over 26%, compared to a 9.3% gain by the S&P/ASX 200.
While there's no guarantee it will continue outperforming over the next 12 months, I think there are a few potential market-beaters in the sector worth taking a closer look at.
Three that I like are listed below:
Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS)
Bravura Solution provides software solutions for the wealth management, life insurance, and funds administration industries. It has been growing at an impressive rate thanks largely to its increasingly popular Sonata web-enabled administration solution. In the first-half Sonata revenue increased 35% to $56.7 million, meaning it accounted for over half of its $102.9 million half-year revenue. The good news is that management thinks its strong growth can continue. It believes that Bravura is well positioned for growth due to continued regulatory change, expanding digital distribution channels, and the desire for increased operating efficiency across the financial services industry, coupled with a maturing industry in emerging markets.
Citadel Group Ltd (ASX: CGL)
Citadel Group is a fast-growing software and services company that provides integration and managed services solutions to state and federal governments and the private sector in Australia. In the first-half of FY 2018 Citadel grew net profit after tax by 22.8% to $6.6 million. CEO Darren Stanley appears confident that this growth can continue. He said: "Our clear strategic focus is on delivering business critical solutions using secure, scalable software, and Citadel is well placed to continue its growth trajectory. The combination of leading positions in the national security, defence, e-health and tertiary education sectors, coupled with our investments in secure cloud-based software solutions, will underpin our growth." I think it is well worth a closer look.
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)
Megaport is a provider of elasticity connectivity and network services. In the first-half the company reported impressive revenue growth of 98% thanks to the increasing adoption of its services and the expansion of its network footprint into markets underserved by cloud connectivity. Pleasingly, last month the company provided an update which revealed that demand for its services has been strengthening. Megaport now provides services in 221 data centres globally as of the end of June, up almost 40% on the prior corresponding period. I expect more of the same in FY 2019.
