Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA) has been listed on the ASX since 2000, more than 20 years now. The Nearmap share price is up more than 7,000% in this time!
The company was founded in Perth in 1998 and provides high resolution aerial imagery technology, city scale 3D datasets and integrated geospacial tools. It captures and publishes imagery covering more than 446,000 square kilometres in Australia.
According to Nearmap, it is expanding its coverage regularly. Australia isn't the company's only market either, with services currently provided for New Zealand and North America as well. As of 2020, Nearmap covers 88% of Australia's population, 68% of the United States population and 72% of the New Zealand population.
Image source: Getty Images
About the Nearmap share price
Nearmap had a pretty horrible nine-month period from June 2019 to March 2020. The share price fell a devastating 80%. While most companies had their uptrend wrecked by COVID-19, the Nearmap share price was already falling. The March crash only amplified the ongoing losses.
The great news is that since the lows in March of around 80 cents, the Nearmap share price has recovered strongly and is currently trading at around $3.00. This represents a rise of more than 280% in six months.
I think this rise in the Nearmap share price illustrates the company's resilience. However, investors looking for a good deal can be reassured by the fact that Nearmap's all time high share price was $4.30 and occurred in June 2019, so today's price still represents a buyers' discount of almost 30%.
Recent announcements
On 19 August, Nearmap released its full year FY20 results for investors. This resulted in an initial sell off on the day of release as investors took in some of the more negative financial results. Following this, however, the Nearmap share price jumped more than 35% in four days as investors began to focus on the overall positives.
Some of the key, positive takeaways from the investor presentation included:
- Nearmap AI launched, with capability to provide visualisation and data on more than 80 million properties.
- 54% of annual contract value generated by existing customers accessing more premium content released by Nearmap.
- New content such as roof geometry technology and advanced camera systems continue to receive investment from Nearmap.
- New partnerships with OpenSolar, Cityworks, Teranet and Eagle Technology.
- Business continuity maintained during COVID-19 with no impact to business operations or flight surveys.
- Employees successfully transitioned to remote work without impact to productivity.
- $33.8 million of cash and no debt at the end of FY20.
Foolish takeaway
I believe the Nearmap share price offers the perfect combination of promising growth and a discounted price. The company's products are proven and commercialised, with revenue, partnerships and expansion underway.
Unlike many other tech companies that have recently listed, Nearmap has a 20-year listed history on the ASX, which provides a lot of transparency for investors.
An important note for investors questioning the difference between Nearmap and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Earth, which seems to display similar images, is that Nearmap offers aerial surveillance, rather than satellite surveillance. This means the level of detail is higher and the distance is closer. Nearmap offers an altogether different product and, as such, is well worth considering as an addition to the portfolio, in my view.
