It has been two months since the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) hit in record high.
Since then the index has fallen heavily due to concerns over the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on both the Australian and global economy.
Whilst this decline is very disappointing, one positive is that it has brought down a number of popular growth shares to more attractive levels.
Here's why I think these growth shares could be in the buy zone right now:
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
Although Appen's shares have recovered from their lows, they are still some way of their 52-week high. Based on its last close price, the shares of the developer of high-quality, human-annotated training data for machine learning and artificial intelligence are down almost 23% from their high of $32.00. I think this is a buying opportunity, especially given its strong business update this month which revealed that it remains on target to achieve its guidance for FY 2020 despite the pandemic.
Appen is expecting to achieve full year underlying EBITDA in the range $125 million to $130 million. This will be a 23.8% to 28.7% increase on FY 2019's underlying EBITDA of $101 million. Pleasingly, given how machine learning and artificial intelligence markets are expected to grow enormously over the next decade, I believe Appen is well-positioned to deliver similarly strong growth for many years to come.
Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS)
Another growth share which I think is trading at an attractive level after the coronavirus crash is Bravura Solutions. It is a leading provider of software solutions for the wealth management, life insurance, and funds administration industries. The key product in its arsenal is the Sonata Wealth Management platform. It is a next generation wealth management administration system which allows users to connect and engage with their clients anytime, anywhere, via computers, tablets or smartphones.
While the company's near term growth could be impacted by the pandemic, I believe it is well-positioned for strong growth over the next decade. Especially given the recent acquisitions of Midwinter and FinoComp. These have opened up the company up to new and lucrative markets which should support the growth of the core business. So with its shares down 30% from their 52-week high, now could be an opportune time to snap them up with a long term view.
