OCL: Another AI hot stock?

Technology stocks on the ASX have been on a tear, with the Samp;P/ASX All Technology Index having produced a total return over the last 12 months of 62.6%. A technology stock that tends to fly beneath the headlines is Objective (ASX:OCL). Maybe that is because it has underperformed the index with a total 12 month return of a mere 56.7%.
Or maybe it is due to the nature of the business. They provide solutions for public sector organisations and regulated industries. How boring is that? Surely that can’t be a growth industry?
It is also a very tightly held stock.

Tony Wells is the founder, Chairman and CEO and holds 65% of the stock. Gary Fisher, who was a director from 1991 to 2023 holds a further 5%. The total market capitalization is $1.65 billion, so this leaves a free float of approximately $500 million. Still a substantial amount when compared to other small cap stocks. There has been an average daily traded value of $860k over the last year.
Objective is not a new start up with a hot idea surrounded by a lot of marketing hype and buzz words....