With various sections of Australia's market significantly overpriced compared to their expected future growth – read Australia's big four banks – investors need to consider looking elsewhere for growth and income. According to Commsec, the P/E ratio of the market, broadly represented by the All Ordinaries (Index: ^AORD) (ASX: XAO), is currently 16.5x, compared to its 20 year average of 14.3x.
Here are three tech stocks with enormous potential – but don't be put off by their P/E ratios – they tell you nothing about their future potential.
Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA)
Speedcast provides satellite internet services to remote locations including oil rigs, remote mine operations and shipping vessels. The company already has more than 1,000 customers over 3,000 land locations and another 1,700 offshore. Speedcast is a medium-sized player in a number of markets but is aiming to be a top 5 global player and top 3 in the maritime and energy sectors. In a heavily fragmented market, Speedcast has already made a number of sensible acquisitions to grow its market share.
iSentia Group Ltd (ASX: ISD)
A recent pullback in price from $3.70 to $3.50 could be a fantastic opportunity to own a piece of this wonderful business. iSentia provides media monitoring and value-added services to more than 5,000 customers, including most of Australia's Top 100 companies and 92% of the top 100 global brands. iSentia has plenty of room to grow – just 18.5% of total revenue comes from Asia. With a big chunk of revenue coming from cloud-based software as a service (SAAS), adding new clients virtually assures a large percentage of new revenues should drop down to the bottom line.
Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA)
The aerial photo-mapper has recently expanded operations into the US, and if things go as well as it has in Australia, Nearmap could be on track for some impressive results over the next few years. Even better, the share price has dropped 28% since its high of 84 cents since November 2014, giving prospective investors a cheap entry point into a very promising company. A number of catalysts could see Nearmap's shares surge, including the announcement of its first US commercial contract – expected sometime this year.
