It's been a fairly horrid day for the Australian share market and ASX shares so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has fallen by a nasty 0.8%, leaving the index at just over 8,400 points. But let's talk about an ASX 200 tech stock that is going the other way today.
That ASX 200 tech stock is Data #3 Ltd (ASX: DTL). Data#3 shares closed at $7.41 each yesterday afternoon. But this morning, those same shares opened at $7.50 before rising as high as $8 each. At present, the company has cooled off a little but remains up a solid 7.76% at $7.98 a share.
Investors clearly approve of what Data#3 had to tell them today. So let's dive into exactly what that was.
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ASX 200 tech share soars on earnings
This morning, Data#3 revealed its latest earnings, covering the half-year to 31 December. For these six months, the company brought in $1.4 billion in gross sales, a 7.5% rise over the same period in 2023.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 4.6% to $26 million, which helped the company post a gross profit of $143.6 million, a 10% jump.
Net profits before tax lifted by 4.1% to $32 million, while net profits after tax jumped 4.3% to $22.4 million.
On an earnings per share (EPS) basis, Data#3 revealed an EPS metric of 14.43 cents, a 4.2% improvement from the prior period.
Once again, Data#3 affirmed that it held no borrowings on its balance sheet over the half-year.
This all enabled this ASX 200 tech stock to unveil an interim dividend of 13.1 cents per share for the period, a rise of 3.97% over last year's interim payout of 12.6 cents per share. As is typical for Data #3, this dividend will come with full franking credits attached.
Together with the September final dividend of 12.9 cents, it takes Data#3's full-year payouts to a fully franked 26 cents per share.
Data#3 share price snapshot
It's clear that investors liked what they saw from this ASX 200 tech stock this morning, judging from the enthusiastic share price reaction. However, this jump is just the latest in what has been a very lucrative few months for the Data#3 share price.
As it currently stands, Data#3 shares are now up an impressive 26% in 2025 to date. The company has also enjoyed a rough 30% gain since hitting a new 52-week low of $6.12 a share in mid-January.
However, zooming out, and the gains haven't been quite as spectacular. As it currently stands, Data#3 shares are sitting on a 12-month gain of 2.7%.
At the current Data#3 share price, this ASX 200 tech stock is trading on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 28.6, with a trailing dividend yield of 3.2%.
