The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price has been well and truly stuck in the doldrums for a while now. Appen shares are, today, down a nasty 3.24% at $2.69 each at the time of writing. That puts this ASX artificial intelligence share down a painful 75.8% year to date in 2022 alone.
The company is also down a depressing 93% or so from the all-time highs of over $40 a share that we saw back in 2020.
But could Appen shares be about to start climbing back up? Or are there still new lows for the company to plumb?
Well, John Athanasiou of Red Leaf Securities thinks it's the former. Speaking to The Bull this week, Athanasiou has named Appen as one of the ASX shares he's rating as a buy.
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Why is this ASX expert rating the Appen share price as a buy?
Athanasiou notes that Appen shares have suffered a precipitous fall over the past year or two. But he thinks that the company is primed for a turnaround. Here's some more of what he said on the Appen share price:
The company expects fiscal year 2022 revenue to range between $US375 million and $US395 million. We expect the share price to improve as money flows back to the domestic technology sector.
There's been corporate activity in the domestic technology sector, as a weaker Australian dollar makes companies more attractive to international private equity firms. APX, at this price, could be a target.
So Athanasiou not only thinks Appen's fundamentals are looking promising. But he also seems to be predicting that Appen could be a takeover target.
Appen is certainly looking cheap today compared to the market valuations it has enjoyed in the past. So we'll have to see if this interesting prediction turns out to have any legs.
Regardless, no doubt long-suffering Appen shareholders will be buoyed by this bullish commentary.
In the meantime, the current Appen share price gives this ASX artificial intelligence share a market capitalisation of $343.2 million, with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 19.34.
