Technology shares have had a wild ride this year on the back of the post-COVID reopening, then the Delta lockdowns — then reopening again.
All throughout, the debate about inflation and interest rates has raged on, making for a volatile experience for ASX tech shares.
November was no different, with the COVID-19 Omicron variant sneaking in at the end of the month to add another twist to the tale.
According to The Motley Fool analysis, 4 tech shares among those in the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) stood out for double-digit percentage gains last month:
| ASX share | November price change |
| EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML) | 19.32% |
| Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) | 16.92% |
| Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) | 14.11% |
| Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX: LNK) | 12.41% |
That's a great effort considering the All Tech index itself was down 0.9% for the month.
Let's take a quick look at each:
The luck of the Irish
There is no guesswork in working out how EML rose so spectacularly in November.
The morning of 25 November saw it announce that the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) had dialled down regulatory concerns over EML's PFS Card Services subsidiary, and would allow it to sign new customers.
Shares in the payments provider rocketed more than 30% that day.
Fund managers are loving the look of EML at the moment. UBS, for example, has a target of $4.40, compared to the Wednesday afternoon price of $3.48.
Seven out of 9 analysts rate the stock as a strong buy, according to CMC Markets.
Meanwhile, software firm Altium made more steady progress upwards over the past month.
On 18 November, the company held its annual general meeting. The information provided there was received warmly by investors, sending the stock up more than 5% that day.
Despite this, professional investors are unsure about where the former market darling is headed.
According to CMC Markets, 6 of 10 analysts rate Altium shares as a hold, while the buy and sell camps hold 2 votes each.
Takeover-a-thon for Link shares
Link Administration's big catalyst was on 5 November, when its shares shot up more than 8.5% after a private takeover approach was disclosed.
A smaller jump came on 12 November as its Banking and Credit Management business received an acquisition offer from a European consortium. That pushed the shares 3.5% up for the day.
Professional investors are generally in favour of Link's direction, as CMC Markets shows 6 of 8 analysts rate its shares as a strong or moderate buy.
Software-defined network services provider Megaport has rewarded its backer handsomely in recent times. Specifically, 54% over the past 12 months and almost 800% over the last 5 years.
And November was another stellar month for the technology stock, repeatedly breaking its 52-week highs.
The share price sat at $20.78 at the close on Wednesday afternoon, while Macquarie analysts last month thought it could eventually hit $24.
