IT sector valuations on Wall Street now appear to be receding to affordable levels, just after possessing remained elevated early in 2021, according to Jonathan Curtis Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager, Franklin Equity Group. In a current weblog post, Jonathan Curtis stated that valuations of the sector now seem more affordable in relative terms following the current period of promoting stress. “We also believe that the sector likely should command a valuation premium to the broader market given the improving quality of companies within the space — a growing number of recurring revenue sources, strong balance sheets and strong overall EBITDA margins — and their growth characteristics,” he added.
Digital transformation to enable
Year-to-date the S&P 500 IT index has soared 8%. In the initial half of May, the index saw a sharp fall. Jonathan Curtis believes the details technologies sector presents strong exposure to sturdy secular possibilities relating to the digital transformation (DT) theme. He added that the DT theme is just finding began and also could prove a strong cyclical winner with higher leverage to post-pandemic reopening and infrastructure investment activity.
The DT theme, Curtis added, is about applying software program and information to much better recognize consumers and organization processes and technologies to radically transform how firms work. “We believe DT represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity that is still in its early days. While the pandemic shone a bright light on our thesis, we do not think that this opportunity is over,” he stated. IT organizations, across the globe, have witnessed higher demand for digitalisation all through the pandemic. Jonathan Curtis stated this trend will continue as firms progress or evolve in their digital journeys.
Technology now each secular and cyclical development region
Some IT sector names have seen a correction in current weeks, which could have been led by investors rotating out of technologies winners from last year and into names that are anticipated to advantage from expanded infrastructure spending, according to Jonathan Curtis. He adds that technologies has now assumed the part of each secular as effectively as cyclical development region. “Secular growth supported by the long-term trend of digital transformation, but on the cyclical side, enterprises and consumers spend more on technology when their prospects are improving.”
Application software program, semiconductors, and systems software program are some locations of the marketplace which include numerous high quality firms that have secular development possibilities associated to digital transformation, according to Jonathan Curtis.