Supply chain constraints and lower advertising demand is expected to impact on the company’s advertising projects which represented around 20% of revenue in the first half.
Yet, on the positive side, Citi believes the rebuilding of ad targeting by Facebook is a positive for Appen.
The broker believes the customer expenditure on R&D is more important than Appen accelerating its expenditure on AI and machine learning, and notes Facebook has guided to 30% growth in operating expenditure and 70% in capital expenditure in FY22.
Buy rating and $17.10 target retained.
Sector: Software & Services.
Target price is $17.10.Current Price is $11.08. Difference: $6.02 – (brackets indicate current price is over target). If APX meets the Citi target it will return approximately 35% (excluding dividends, fees and charges – negative figures indicate an expected loss).
