It's no secret that the ASX tech shares have not had the easiest of months. Or the easiest of years so far, come to think of it. After a blazing 2020, and 2019 before that, investors have been doing some hardcore profit-taking over the past month or two. As a guiding light, the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) is down 13.5% in 2021 so far.
But some ASX tech shares have fared far worse than that. Here are 4 such shares that are now down 50% or more from their 52-week highs today.
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Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
Afterpay has copped a beating over the past month or so. After topping out at $160 a share back in February, Afterpay is today trading at $85.55 a share. That's a drop of 46.5% (ok, not quite 50%, but tomayto, tomato). It's also the lowest level the buy now, pay later pioneer has hit since October last year. Even so, Afterpay reported some breakneck numbers in its recent quarterly update, so perhaps some investors might be thinking this sell-off is overdone. Only time will tell.
Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)
Afterpay's fellow BNPL provider, Zip has also been getting hammered of late. After rising as high as $14.53 a share back in February, Zip is now exploring prices around the $7 mark today. As some quick maths might tell you, that's a drop of just over 51%. Like Afterpay, Zip seems to have been caught up in a sharp reduction in the leniency investors seem willing to extend to high-growth businesses like Zip right now.
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
Appen is another ASX tech share that has not been feeling the love of late. In fact, Appen investors have suffered far more than the above two companies. This human-annotated dataset company topped out at $43.66 back in August last year. But it has been down, down for Appen ever since. Today, the shares are asking for a price of just $11.12, a massive ~75% loss from its old high. Investors seem to have been royally spooked by a series of updates from the company. These indicate a rocky road for its earnings growth prospects over the next few years.
Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL)
A final poor ASX tech performer in recent times is this newer addition to the ASX. Nuix is a tech company that specialises in consumer data. It hit the ASX boards last year in a much-trumpeted IPO in December. But things have not been kind to Nuix since. It traded at a price of roughly $8 on its IPO day and even got up to a high of $11.86 a share in January. But today, Nuix is swapping hands for $3.09 at the time of writing. That's an Appen-esque drop of more than 72%. Revised earnings guidance and internal issues seem to be behind this company's s poor post-IPO performance.
