As most investors would be acutely aware of, the share market has taken its participants on a wild ride over 2022 thus far. Take the performance of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) just today as an emblem. The ASX 200 rocketed close to 1% soon after open, but ended up losing all of its goodwill by the afternoon, and ended up closing down by 0.22% by the end of the trading day. In 2022 so far, the ASX 200 remains down by 4.1%. But some sectors have been hit harder than others. So let's check out how ASX artificial intelligence shares have been faring of late.
We know that the tech sector hasn't been the luckiest this year. In fact, many ASX tech shares are amongst the ASX 200's worst performers in 2022. But let's see if this extends to artificial intelligence shares.
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AI: Making it Appen…
Let's first check out what could arguably be described as the ASX artificial intelligence share posterchild, Appen Ltd (ASX: APX). Appen shares had a strong day today, rising 1.15% to $7.05 a share. But unfortunately, that doesn't make up for the rather dismal year that this annotated dataset company has had to endure. Appen remains down by a nasty 36.7% in 2022 thus far.
That puts the company's 12-month falls at an even more depressing 60.88%. Investors seem to have been put off by Appen's most recent earnings report, which we all got a look at back in February. The shares have lost more than 17% since that report was dropped alone.
In these full-year results, Appen reported an 8% increase in revenue, as well as a 3% rise in underlying earnings. However, it might have been the 20% slump in net profits after tax that really turned investors off.
So not a great time right now for Appen and its shareholders.
Another ASX artificial intelligence share to check out
But let's check out another artificial intelligence company for the ASX in Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN). Brainchip has been around for a while, but really grabbed investors' attention back in 2020 when its shares rocketed more than 1,500% in just 5 months. The company also went on another run that saw its shares gain more than 160% between Christmas eve last year and 19 January.
Here we have a tale on entry points in 2022. Year to date, Brainchip is still up a pleasing 20.25%, even after accounting for today's nasty 3.056% drop to 95 cents a share.
However, if you were unlucky enough to buy Brainchip shares on 19 January at the company's all-time high of $2.34 a share, you'd be down close to 60% on your money. The company has made a series of announcements and patent successes over this year, which seems to have helped keep its share price especially volatile.
So that's how 2 ASX artificial intelligence shares have been faring lately. It's been a mixed bag for this fledgling corner of the market. But watch this space, because few would expect the artificial intelligence space to come up with anything but world-changing ideas over the next few years.
