Since peaking in November, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has dropped nearly 15%, putting the index in correction territory. And many individual stocks have fallen much further. For instance, shares of DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) and Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) have dropped 63% and 78%, respectively, from their highs, as Wall Street continues to weigh the impact of high inflation and potential interest rate hikes on corporate profitability.

Many investors have also categorized DocuSign and Zoom as "pandemic stocks," citing slowing revenue growth as cause for alarm. But, arguably, nothing could be further from the truth. Both businesses play an important role in digital transformation, and their services should only become more valuable in the years ahead. Better yet, both stocks look relatively cheap right now.

Here's what you should know. 

1. DocuSign

Agreements are an essential part of any business. Organizations form agreements with customers, employees, and partners, but traditional paper-based processes -- such as printing, signing, and taking action on a physical document -- are slow, costly, and prone to errors. With its Agreement Cloud, DocuSign aims to accelerate and simplify workflow by digitizing and automating the agreement process. Its platform spans over a dozen applications, and it integrates with over 350 other technologies.

At its core is DocuSign eSignature, a product that allows documents to be signed in a digital, secure, and legally valid manner, on virtually any device. But the company's portfolio also includes tools for automatic contract generation, AI-powered analytics and risk scoring, and payment collection. Collectively, those tools help clients work more quickly and efficiently.

Founded in 2003, DocuSign is a pioneer in the e-signature industry, and the company has parlayed its first-mover status into a robust competitive edge. DocuSign ranks as the No. 1 e-signature tool, holding over 70% market share, and its platform boasts a net promoter score (NPS) of 72. For context, the NPS is designed to measure the customer experience, and 50 is an impressive score, but an NPS of 70 (or higher) is considered world class. 

Not surprisingly, DocuSign's strong competitive position and excellent rapport with customers have fueled impressive growth. Over the past year, the company's customer base expanded 34% to 1.1 million; revenue soared 51% to $2 billion; and free cash flow skyrocketed 125% to $418.7 million. More importantly, management puts its addressable market at $50 billion, meaning DocuSign still has plenty of room to grow. And with the stock trading at 11.4 times sales -- significantly cheaper than its three-year average of 22 times sales -- now could be a good time to buy a few shares.

2. Zoom Video Communications

Zoom became a household name during the pandemic. Its core product, videoconferencing app Zoom Meetings, helped socially distanced friends and families stay in touch, while allowing students and employees to learn and work remotely. However, Zoom is more than a videoconferencing application; it's a communications company, and its platform also includes a cloud-based phone system (Zoom Phone) and a software-based collaboration suite for hybrid workforces (Zoom Rooms). 

While some employees have already returned to the office, remote work is likely here to stay. In fact, research firm Gartner believes that 48% of employees will work remotely at least part time in a post-COVID world, up from 30% prior to the pandemic. And Gartner says that by 2024 just 25% of enterprise meetings will take place in person, down from 60% in 2019. Both of those trends are good news for Zoom and its shareholders.

Better yet, Zoom is actually becoming more popular. In the videoconferencing space, the company captured 49% market share in 2021, up from 26% in 2020. Even more impressive, Zoom is actually the fifth most popular enterprise application of any kind, according to Okta's 2022 Business at Work report.

In the most recent quarter, Zoom hit 512,100 customers, up 18%. And the company has kept its expansion rate above 130% for the last 14 quarters, meaning the average customer consistently spends 30% more. Fueled by that stickiness, revenue soared 100% to $3.9 billion over the past year, and free cash flow rose 59% to $1.7 billion. More importantly, management puts its market opportunity at $91 billion by 2025, leaving plenty of room for future growth. And with the stock trading at 9.7 times sales -- near its cheapest valuation since going public in 2019 -- now could be a good time to take a closer look at this beaten-down tech company. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Market correction: 2 top tech stocks down 63% and 78% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

According to some estimates, developed nations embraced more than 3 years' worth of technological advances in the latter half of 2020 alone.

One of COVID-19's biggest impacts was the mass closure of shared office space. This saw millions of workers eschew their former daily commutes and set up shop from home.

The work from home trend, in fact, grew so quickly and prevalent that it gained its own acronym, 'WFH'.

For investors, this rapid sea change in the way people worked (along with shopped and socialised) presented a unique opportunity to pick up technology shares that could help people through the transition.

We look at 5 of those shares, and their potential outlook, below.

Three tech shares connecting workers during COVID-19 restrictions

Employees of all levels accustomed to chatting face to face and signing documents in person found those basic activities banned following COVID-19 office closures.

To keep their businesses running and staff productive, management had little choice but to turn to technology. While many tech shares have done well since the onset of the pandemic, some have done better than others.

Josh Gilbert, market analyst at global online investment platform eToro, told The Motley Fool that, "Companies that have been able to help businesses run smoothly from home have benefited as they've seen their customer bases swell."

He points to Atlassian Corporation PLC (NASDAQ: TEAM), Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM), and Docusign Inc (NASDAQ: DOCU) as three companies "which have explicitly benefited from the work from home (WFH) lifestyle".

Gilbert said, "Zoom's share price grew by around 400% last year, as most companies around the world moved to remote working and turned to online video conferencing to solve their communication issues".

Then there's Australian software company Atlassian, "that builds collaboration and remote working tools to help teams connect and increase productivity". Atlassian's share price is up 127% in the last year.

Docusign's software, among other things, enables organisations to manage electronic agreements in the Cloud with eSignatures. Docusign's share price gained around 200% in 2020.

Two tech shares protecting WFH data

The WFH shift driven by COVID-19 didn't just require better ways to communicate and exchange documents remotely. It also meant helping secure data that was now held on servers outside the head office.

As Gilbert told The Motley Fool, "An area most investors have overlooked is cybersecurity. With more staff than ever working outside of the office, internal cybersecurity procedures are being prioritised."

He said Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CRWD) "the popular cybersecurity firm, set a record number of new customers in Q2 2021 at 1,660, with 81% growth year-over-year. Shares are also up 120% in the last year."

Then there's newly listed cybersecurity share SentinelOne Inc (NYSE: S), which went public in June.

According to Gilbert:

SentinelOne has already seen its share price jump around 60% in just a few months. In April 2021, Sentinel announced it had 4,700 customers, which grew by 74% from a year earlier. These numbers show a clear indication that businesses are spending more cash to protect their systems internally.

What's next for these COVID-19 outperformers?

With COVID-19 having helped drive these tech stocks' huge share price gains, forward looking investors are wondering how they'll fare once the impacts of the pandemic begin to fade.

Gilbert acknowledges that, "The stocks that have benefited the most, such as Zoom, will see a natural slow down when businesses begin to return to offices."

But he doesn't anticipate workers will simply revert to the way things were in 2019:

It's anticipated that the WFH lifestyle isn't likely to completely disappear. Businesses have learnt that employees can work successfully at home, so they are less likely to be sending staff on worldwide or national trips, unless completely necessary.

Gilbert adds, "Fundamentally, stocks such as Zoom and DocuSign have built great bases, and we can expect M&A activity from both businesses and further innovation from their product lines moving forward."

The post COVID-19 saw these 5 international tech shares boom…now what? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

But with the dark shadow of inflation looming, which tech businesses are "safe" to return to and which ones should we avoid?

According to Montgomery Investments chief investment officer Roger Montgomery, now is the time to be very selective about where investors park their money.

"Investing in global stocks has been particularly rewarding during 2020 and the early part of 2021. The future, however, could be more challenging and more discernment will be required. This discernment will be no more necessary than required in the tech sector," he said on the company blog.

"The next big rotation could see these over-valued – often profitless – firms dumped in favour of long-duration quality tech businesses."

Short-term volatility is the forecast

Rising inflation changes the whole game, according to Montgomery.

While he believes the world will eventually return to the pre-COVID low inflation environment, the immediate future is not so rosy for tech.

"For the next few months there is every risk that both the leading tech companies and the profitless prosperity companies are put under some pressure," he said.

"Any forthcoming volatility may be greater for the super long-duration tech set where price and sales multiples are off the Richter scale."

Taking advantage of this volatility involves putting money into the right tech shares to reduce downside risk.

Tech giants' numbers are far superior to the speculators

Montgomery thought the COVID winners still have nonsensically high valuations.

"EV [enterprise value]-to-EBITDA sits at about 2500 times for Roku Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU) and 147 times [for] Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM)," he said.

"Meanwhile Roku, Docusign Inc (NASDAQ: DOCU) and Slack Technologies Inc (NYSE: WORK) generate negative returns-on-equity."

This is why the safe bet in a rising inflation world are the well-established giants.

"Contrast these multiples to the tech giants whose combination of growth and profitability could not have been imagined by capitalism even a decade ago," said Montgomery.

"Facebook's ROE sits at 25 per cent, Apple's is 82 per cent and Microsoft 43 per cent."

He added that the profitable mega-caps like that trio and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) have "incredible economics" and "scarcity" on their side.

The rotation away from momentum stocks has already well begun, even though these companies are merely seeing a slowdown in revenue growth.

"Witness, for example, the up-to-50% slides in Peloton Interactive Inc (NASDAQ: PTON) and Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT), a decline of a third for Docusign and Zoom, along with slides in Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) (down 70%), WiseTech Global Ltd (ASC: WTC) and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)," Montgomery said.

"We currently believe it is wise to tilt towards quality and away from momentum in the tech names."

Montgomery's worst fear is that inflation pokes up, and then the central banks allow it to go out of control.

"Recently, a well-connected friend told me Australia's [Reserve] Bank believes there's a 25% chance inflation could get away from them," he said.

"The idea that central banks could be 'behind-the-curve' is one markets are most nervous about."

The post The tech shares to buy now (and the ones to avoid): analyst appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Munro Partners head of investment Nick Griffin said tech shares have been sold down heavily in the recent rotation to value stocks.

But just because the share price has dipped, this doesn't mean certain businesses won't keep growing earnings.

"Inflation is going to change the re-rating or the de-rating of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN)," he told a Livewire video.

"Yes, it will change the price we pay, but it won't change the fact that Amazon's earnings will continue to grow in the future. And in the long run, we expect their share price to follow their earnings and ultimately deliver the returns that we're looking for."

Hello, Australia is the crystal ball for the rest of the world

Griffin is particularly surprised by how much the cloud commuting subsector has been sold off.

"It's one of the bigger areas in our fund today," he said.

"They don't look optically cheap, but on cash flow metrics, they actually are not as expensive as what people think."

A major reason for this investor reticence is a post-COVID prediction that northern nations have made — that we Australians already know is completely wrong.

"There's been this assumption — and it's very much coming from the northern hemisphere — that COVID's going to go away and we're all going to go back to work."

Griffin's US and European colleagues have told him cloud computing usage will wane because work-from-home infrastructure won't be in as high demand as last year.

"We can say, look, we're calling you from the future here. We're here in Australia, there's no COVID and no one's going back to work. Work-from-home is somewhat here to stay," he said.

"The digital transformation got accelerated by COVID — and there's no reason to think it will slow down just because COVID goes away."

This is why Griffin reckons there's currently a major stock-buying opportunity for "some of the big winners in the next decade".

"Because it's fairly clear that a lot of these software solutions we're using for it — whether it be Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ: ZM) or Docusign Inc (NASDAQ: DOCU) or Atlassian Corporation PLC (NASDAQ: TEAM) products are going to be with us for a long time."

One of the beneficiaries from the demand for work-from-home technology, Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), this week announced that it wouldn't force its own 26,000 employees to return to the office.

"There's an opportunity for employers to look forward and create a completely different vision of the workplace rather than trying to hold on to the past," Telstra executive Alex Badenoch told the Australian Financial Review.

"Every single one of our employees can have an element of choice about how they work, when they work and the kind of work they do."

The post Wake up world, this tech sector is the future: analyst appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.