Have the WAAAX shares lost their shine in 2020?

Have ASX WAAAX growth shares like WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) lost some of their shine in 2020?

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Cast your mind back just a few months ago to mid-2019. Every man, woman and their dog/preferred pet were talking about the ASX WAAAX shares (well maybe not everyone, but a lot of ASX growth investors at least).

WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC), Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), Appen Ltd (ASX: APX), Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) were the hottest things in town.

All five delivered eye-watering growth over the course of last year, complete with double- or triple-digit share price appreciation (even that's an understatement – Afterpay shares went up 144% last year).

But as we meander through the start of 2020, things are looking a bit less glossy for our WAAAXers. Perhaps you could say their fortune is (forgive me)… waning?.

WAAAX off?

Just today, the WiseTech share price crashed 20% after the company delivered its results that weren't really up to investors' expectations (despite WiseTech reporting earnings growth of 29%).

Yesterday, Altium suffered a similar fate. Its share price cratered on less-than-magical half-year results as well (again, if you consider earnings growth of 22% to be sub-par).

Appen shares are an interesting case study though. At the current share price of $25.77 (at the time of writing), Appen is still a ways away from the all-time high of $32 we saw in late July last year. In saying that, shares are still up 16% from the start of the year.

Afterpay and Xero remain the WAAAX's shining lights.

Afterpay shares are still trading above the $40 threshold (just off its all-time high) and are up 32% since the start of 2020. With no indications that its Australia, US or British expansions are showing any signs of even a slight hiccup, it's business as usual for Afterpay (although we still don't have a profit in sight yet).

Ditto with Xero. Xero shares coincidentally have printed a new all-time high just this morning of (a very tantalising) $89.99 and are up over 11% since the start of the year. The company continues to accrue new subscribers in its accounting Software-as-a-Service product and shows no signs of slowing down. The company has also recently become profitable – although still has a laughably ridiculous price-to-earnings ratio of 4,788.

Foolish takeaway

It seems the WAAAX shares have split into two camps – those who's fortunes have come back to earth slightly, and those for whom blue-sky still awaits boundlessly above.

On current prices, I'm not especially attracted to any of them, although Altium and Xero remain on the top of my watchlist.

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO, Altium, Appen Ltd, WiseTech Global, and Xero. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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