Paradigm’s Barry Richards says smallcap tech will drive the market in 2014

Paradigm Capital’s Barry Richards on Canadian small cap tech: “This, in 2014 and 2015 is where I see the best opportunity for some significant returns. This is a sector that has been unloved for some time and really deserves a little more attention.”

Paradigm Capital Managing Director Barry Richards says small cap Canadian tech stocks will take the baton from their large and midcap brethren and pace the market in 2014 and beyond.

Richards spoke at the Cantech Investment Conference on January 16th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and talked about how last year was the year the beleaguered technology sector had been waiting more than a decade for.

“In my mind 2013 was the second best year in the last twenty years,” he said. He pointed out that technology was up nearly 20% in 2013, while the rest of the market was down 9%.

But a drill-down on the technology sector, noted the former analyst turned banker, reveals a surprising trend; more than half of all Canadian tech stocks were actually down last year. 2013, he says was the year of the large and midcap tech stock. 71% of large caps were up, bested by 74% of midcaps. Names like Sierra Wireless, Redknee, Mitel Networks and Avigilon delivered big returns for investors.

Large and midcap tech paced the market in 2013, notes Richards. The majority of small caps were actually down. — Large and midcap tech paced the Canadian market in 2013, notes Richards. The majority of small caps were actually down.

The culprit was small cap stocks; 57% of them were actually down last year. But Richards expects momentum will soon trickle down to this asset class in a big way.

“This, in 2014 and 2015, is where I see the best opportunity for some significant returns. This is a sector that has been unloved for some time and really deserves a little more attention,” he said.

Barry Richards full speech from the Cantech Investment Conference is below.