nz tech stocks rally investors seek ‘next xero

NZ tech stocks rally as investors seek ‘next Xero,’ bet on growth

By Suze Metherell

Jan. 14 (BusinessDesk) –

Security software firm Wynyard Group has soared 90 percent on the NZX this year, leading a rally in tech stocks as investors regain their appetite for risk, buying businesses they hope will offer the same growth prospects and capital gains as Xero.

Xero, the cloud-based accounting company, has increased 24 percent in the past two weeks, building on a 333 percent gain in 2013 that made it the NZX 50 Index’s top performer. SLI Systems, which provides search engine navigation for retail websites, is up 10 percent in 2014,
*GeoOp, which sells a worker management app, has jumped 32 percent
and Diligent Board Member Service, a governance software firm, is up 15 percent.

As a group, listed tech-related companies have outpaced the NZX 50, which has risen just 3.4 percent this year, extending a two-year advance in what some economists are now calling a ‘rock-star’ economy.
Investors have been returning to equities and in an increasingly online world are focusing on stocks with growth potential.

“Faster and faster internet speeds are helping these companies come through,” Rob Mercer, head of private wealth research at Forsyth Barr.
“If you turned the clock back to 2001, there were these cool ideas but not the infrastructure.
In 2014 we now have the enablers that can take those ideas, and people can see the commercial upside...

http://business.scoop.co.nz/2014/01/14/wynyard-nz-tech-stocks-rally-as-investors-seek-next-xero/