It has been a strong trading session for ASX tech shares so far today, with nearly all of our leading ASX tech providers in positive share price territory at the time of writing.
Here we look at 3 ASX tech shares: REA Group Limited (ASX: REA), Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX: DHG) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC), all of which have performed strongly today.
Other leading ASX tech shares that have seen solid share price gains so far today include Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) and Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), both up by 4%. Meanwhile, several small-cap tech companies have experienced supercharged gains with Codan Limited (ASX: CDA) up 12%, Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) up 8%, and Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI) up 6%.
REA Group and Domain Holdings
Online property portal REA Group has seen a strong 5% share price rise so far today. REA Group has suffered a sharp correction to its share price over the past couple of months as investors have been concerned about the negative impact that the coronavirus pandemic will have on the Australian real estate market.
Due to social distancing restrictions, the number of property auctions and open house inspections have fallen sharply, which has flowed through to a reduction in the number of online property listings. This, in turn, is impacting REA Group's revenues in the short term.
However, since late March, REA Group has regained some of its share price losses and is currently up 37% from its March lows. This comes as investors gain some clarity about the likely length of the downturn in the property market caused by the coronavirus crisis, and start to feel more confident that property conditions may begin to improve later this year.
Meanwhile, smaller online real estate classifieds rival Domain has seen an even stronger share price rise of 14% so far today. Domain has witnessed a similar trend to REA Group in its share price over the past couple of months. However, the recent bear market hit Domain shares harder than REA, shedding more than 50% in value from mid-February to 23 March. Domain is much more exposed to the overheated Sydney and Melbourne property markets and has generally not performed as well as market leader REA Group over the past 2 years.
WiseTech Global
The bounce back in the WiseTech Global share price that began in mid-March is continuing with a strong 5% share price rise today. However, it should be noted that WiseTech shares have been quite volatile over the past few weeks despite the upward trend.
Investors appear to be reacting favourably to a positive market update that the global logistics solutions provider released to the market last week. In this market update, WiseTech Global reaffirmed its guidance for FY 2020 and expects to achieve revenue of between $420 million to $450 million, which would translate to annual growth of between 21% to 29%.
For the 3 months to 31 March 2020, WiseTech Global traded in line with its expected FY20 guidance range, reflecting continued strong growth in both revenue and additional users.
