Guess which beaten-up ASX 300 tech stock is rocketing 15% today

This once much-loved tech company has lost 98% of its value over the past three years.

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The S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) is down 0.29% on Tuesday, but one particular tech stock is outperforming its peers.

Battered ASX 300 tech share Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) is up 15.71% to 41 cents in late afternoon trading.

This is despite no official news from the company, which provides data solutions for machine learning.

What's the latest with this ASX 300 tech stock?

The last time we heard price-sensitive news for this ASX 300 tech stock was on 12 February.

As we reported, Appen released a cost management update that revealed measures to save $13.5 million per annum in costs to offset the loss of its Google contract.

Appen advised the market on 22 January that Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, was terminating its global inbound services contract, with all projects to cease by 19 March.

While cost savings are always good for businesses, that $13.5 million per annum is a drop in the bucket compared to the revenue loss. In FY23, the ASX 300 company's revenue from Google was $82.8 million.

Appen points out that the $13.5 million in cost savings will come on top of other initiatives that resulted in a $60 million per annum saving over the course of FY23.

The ASX 300 tech company expects to complete 80% of these additional cost-cutting initiatives by next month. The rest will be completed by June.

Appen expects the first full-year benefit of these cost savings to be realised in FY25.

It will cost Appen between $1.5 million and $2.5 million in one-off total expenses to implement the measures to save $13.5 million per year.

Appen is hoping to return to cash EBITDA profitability in FY24. However, it says this "will largely depend on revenue growth from our non-global customers, the timing of which remains uncertain".

The ASX 300 tech company is due to report its FY23 full-year results on 27 February.

Appen share price snapshot

The Appen share price has fallen 98% over the past three years.

By comparison, the ASX 300 has risen 12.1% over the same period.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in Appen. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Alphabet and Appen. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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