The WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) share price has been through significant volatility over the past year, as the chart below shows.
Sadly, it has been one of the worst performers over the last year within the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). In the last 12 months, it has declined by 66% (at the time of writing). The ASX 200 has risen more than 4% in that same time period, so the ASX tech share has underperformed the ASX 200 by around 70%.
The company's strong market position has not stopped it from suffering during the sell-off. As a reminder, WiseTech serves more than 22,000 logistics companies and other industry participants across 193 countries, including 46 of the top 50 global third-party logistics providers and 23 of the 25 largest global freight forwarders worldwide.
WiseTech recently acquired e2open, which has more than 500,000 connected enterprises across manufacturing, logistics, channels and distribution.
The ASX tech share aims to be the operating system for global trade and logistics. It's a lofty goal, but investors aren't seeming excited about the business right now.
Image source: Getty Images
What has happened to a $10,000 investment?
If an investor held $10,000 of WiseTech shares a year ago, they'd have had exposure to a high-flying business with high levels of recurring revenue, rising profit margins and significant global ambitions.
However, the WiseTech share price drop of 66% in the last year would have led to a decline of approximately $6,666 in the value of those WiseTech shares. That means the remaining shares would only be worth around $3,334.
The business has faced a number of headwinds including scrutiny around governance issues surrounding Richard White, worries about AI competition and profit margin concerns following the acquisition of e2open.
What could happen with the WiseTech share price next?
Brokers often issue price targets when they give an opinion on an ASX share. That tells us where they think the share price could be within 12 months.
There have been nine ratings on the business within the last three months, according to CMC Invest (eight buy ratings and one hold rating).
The average price target on the business is $59.44. That implies, between those nine analysts, they're projecting a possible rise of 51% in the next 12 months.
So, while analysts expect WiseTech to regain much of the ground it lost over the past year, it would still be significantly lower than it was 12 months ago.
The best thing the company can do to regain market confidence is report revenue and profit growth, so time will tell how that goes. The ASX share could beat the market, though there may be other ASX shares that could do even better.
