On Thursday the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) continued its strong run and raced to a four-month high.
Given how positive the market has been so far in 2019, it will come as no surprise to learn that a number of shares hit 52-week highs or better yesterday.
Is it too late to buy these high-flying shares?
The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price hit an all-time high of $17.71 on Thursday. This means the shares of the global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence have now doubled in value since this time last year. It also means its shares are changing hands at 37x estimated FY 2019 earnings. While this is a premium to the market average, I remain confident that its exposure to fast-growing machine learning and artificial intelligence markets will allow it to continue growing earnings at a rate that justifies this.
The Splitit Payment Ltd (ASX: SPT) share price continued its impressive run and closed 17% higher at a new high of 99 cents. This means the payment solutions company's shares have gained almost 400% since listing on the ASX at 20 cents per share in late January. Investors appear to believe that Splitit has the potential to be another Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT). While I do like its offering, which I go into in more detail here, its market capitalisation is now approaching $300 million and looking a little stretched in my eyes.
The Technology One Limited (ASX: TNE) share price climbed to an all-time high of $7.43 on Thursday. This latest move means the software company's shares have rallied 50% higher over the last 12 months and leaves them trading at 37x estimated forward earnings. Although I think Technology One is well-positioned for growth in the medium term, I'm not sure this growth will be strong enough to justify this premium. As a result, I would suggest investors hold off an investment at this stage.
