Despite rising valuations and recession jitters, Canadian tech stocks continued to march higher so far this year. Last week, the Canadian tech sector outperformed broader markets by a wide margin. While the TSX Index lost approximately 4%, tech stocks at large gained an average 3% for the week ended on June 12.
Top gainer TSX tech stocks
Real Matters (TSX: REAL), which provides appraisal and title closing services to the mortgage lending industry, was a clear winner last week. Shares of Real Matters rose roughly 13%. It has seen a massive momentum lately, gaining 80% so far this year.
Real Matters’ superior revenue growth influenced its market performance in the last few quarters. The low interest rate environment driven by the pandemic will likely increase refinancing activities, further boosting growth prospects for Real Matters.
In late 2018, the stock was trading around $3 levels, hitting a record high of $25 late last month. While Real Matters’ stock might seem relatively expensive, its PEG (price-to-earnings to growth) ratio indicates substantial room for growth for the future.
The e-commerce titan Shopify soared almost 3% last week. Though it seems to have slowed down a bit recently, Shopify stock is still sitting at a hefty gain of 95% so far this year.
Improved growth prospects amid the lockdown and above-average revenue growth will likely continue to drive the stock going forward.
Cloud-based supply chain solutions provider Kinaxis has also been strong so far this year, rising more than 5% last week. As major economies re-open after the pandemic, many companies will redesign their supply chains, which could further boost Kinaxis.
Kinaxis stock is among the top performers of 2020 as well, gaining almost 80% so far.
TSX tech losers last week
Among losing TSX tech stocks last week, Lightspeed POS (TSX: LSPD) tops the pack. It lost approximately 4%. Lightspeed prominently serves the retail and restaurant industry, which was notably impacted by the pandemic.
While the company might face near-term weakness due to the hostile macro environment, it has huge growth prospects over the longer term.
The $2.5 billion company provides software solutions and support systems to small and medium-scale businesses. Its relatively new segment, Lightspeed Payments, offers huge growth potential with a large addressable market.
Lightspeed POS stock is up almost 160% from its record lows during the COVID-19 crash in March. The stock might continue to soar higher as restaurants and malls restart operations.
A $23 billion CGI Inc was also among the losers last week. The stock fell more than 3%. While the company has recovered from the COVID-19 crash relatively quickly, it has lost more than 12% in the last 12 months.
Tech stocks are generally seen as riskiest among the broader markets. However, Canadian tech stocks have stood notably strong during the COVID-19 crash and recession woes so far this year.
Notably, valuations might begin to dominate these TSX tech stocks in the near future. Thus, investors with an appetite for excessive volatility can consider these names for further growth potential.
