The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has gained a healthy 3.8% since 29 July, but this rebounding ASX All Ords stock has left those gains in the dust.
The high-flying company in question is Appen Ltd (ASX: APX), which provides data solutions and services for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
At the closing bell on 29 July, you could have picked up Appen shares for 43 cents apiece.
At yesterday's close, the ASX All Ords stock was trading for $1.96 a share.
That's a gain of 356%.
In two months.
Running the maths, if you'd invested $7,000 in Appen shares two months ago, you could have bought 16,279 Appen shares.
If you'd opted to sell those shares at yesterday's close, they would have netted you a whopping $31,906.84. Or a gain of $24,906.84!
Now, it's true that ASX tech shares have broadly outperformed over the past few months.
This has seen the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) lift by 11.2% since 29 July.
But that still pales in comparison to the meteoric gains posted by Appen shares over the same period. For some broader context, however, the company has charged back this year from a lengthy stretch of heavy selling, which still sees the stock down 89% over five years.
Here's what's been spurring ASX investor interest.
What's sending the ASX All Ords stock rocketing?
Appen shares have certainly benefited from mounting global optimism surrounding the massive growth potential of generative AI.
It's the same kind of enthusiasm boosting the ASX All Ords stock that's sent shares in US AI chip-making giant NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) rocketing around 730% since the beginning of 2023. The company currently boasts a market cap of around US$3.0 trillion (AU$4.35 trillion).
Or almost twice Australia's GDP.
With a market cap of a mere $437 million, even after the past two months' rally, Appen shares have a really long way to go before the company reaches that size.
But judging by that tremendous rally, investors are clearly pricing in ongoing growth.
Now, if you only skim the surface of Appen's half-year results for the six months that ended 30 June (H1 FY 2024), you might think that growth has gone missing.
Indeed, the ASX All Ords stock reported an 18.4% year on year revenue fall to $113.4 million.
And Appen booked an underlying net loss after tax for the six-month period of $11.8 million. Although this represented a $22.4 million improvement from the net loss suffered in H1 FY 2023.
But if you take a closer look at those half-year results, you'll see that the bulk of the revenue drop was caused by the termination of Appen's Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ: GOOGL) contract. This saw Appen's Global Services revenue plunge 36.5% year over year to $63.6 million.
With the ASX All Ords stock focusing on cost reduction as it grows its AI footprint, investors have been quick to forgive the revenue slide.
Commenting on the company's business model and outlook at the end of August, Appen CEO Ryan Kolln said, "Appen's success in generative AI is resulting in a positive revenue trajectory."
