How to buy Aspen Technology stock | 125.37

Aspen Technology, Inc is a software—application business based in the US. Aspen Technology shares (AZPN) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in Aspen Technology

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Aspen Technology. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: AZPN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Aspen Technology reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$125.37, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Aspen Technology, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Aspen Technology. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Aspen Technology's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Aspen Technology's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$125.37, which is 1.60% up on its pre-crash value of USD$123.37 and 71.58% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$73.07.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Aspen Technology shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$663.89 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,058.12.

Aspen Technology share price

Use our graph to track the performance of AZPN stocks over time.

Aspen Technology shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-19.

Latest market close	USD$125.37
52-week range	USD$75 - USD$142.89
50-day moving average	USD$128.5088
200-day moving average	USD$108.808
Wall St. target price	USD$134.71
PE ratio	41.0244
Dividend yield	N/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$3.28

Buy Aspen Technology shares from these brokerages

Compare special offers, low fees and a wide range of types of investments among top trading platforms.

Is it a good time to buy Aspen Technology stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Aspen Technology, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Aspen Technology price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $125.37 from 2020-11-16

1 week (2020-11-20)	-4.36%
1 month (2020-10-27)	4.26%
3 months (2020-08-27)	-1.15%
6 months (2020-05-27)	23.30%

1 year (2019-11-27)	-0.45%
2 years (2018-11-27)	56.61%
3 years (2017-11-27)	82.84%
5 years (2015-11-27)	184.35%

Is Aspen Technology under- or over-valued?

Valuing Aspen Technology stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Aspen Technology's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Aspen Technology's P/E ratio

Aspen Technology's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 41x. In other words, Aspen Technology shares trade at around 41x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Aspen Technology's PEG ratio

Aspen Technology's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.7421. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Aspen Technology's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Aspen Technology's EBITDA

Aspen Technology's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$258.4 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Aspen Technology's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Aspen Technology financials

Revenue TTM	USD$590.2 million
Operating margin TTM	42.16%
Gross profit TTM	USD$528.6 million
Return on assets TTM	14.56%
Return on equity TTM	50.89%
Profit margin	38.24%
Book value	$7.291
Market capitalisation	USD$8.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Aspen Technology shares

There are currently 1.4 million Aspen Technology shares held short by investors – that's known as Aspen Technology's "short interest". This figure is 7.7% down from 1.5 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Aspen Technology shares can be evaluated.

Aspen Technology's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Aspen Technology's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Aspen Technology shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Aspen Technology shares traded daily (recently around 411654.41176471). Aspen Technology's SIR currently stands at 3.4. In other words for every 100,000 Aspen Technology shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3400 shares are currently held short.

However Aspen Technology's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Aspen Technology shares, or, against the total number of tradable Aspen Technology shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Aspen Technology's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Aspen Technology shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.0231% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Aspen Technology shares, roughly 23 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Aspen Technology.

Find out more about how you can short Aspen Technology stock.

Aspen Technology share dividends

We're not expecting Aspen Technology to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.

Have Aspen Technology's shares ever split?

Aspen Technology's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 3 March 1997. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Aspen Technology shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Aspen Technology shares which in turn could have impacted Aspen Technology's share price.

Aspen Technology share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Aspen Technology's shares have ranged in value from as little as $75 up to $142.89. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Aspen Technology's is 1.3061. This would suggest that Aspen Technology's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Aspen Technology overview

Aspen Technology, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides asset optimization solutions in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Canada, Latin America, and the Middle East. The company operates through two segments, Subscription and Software. It supplies asset optimization solutions that optimize asset design, operations, and maintenance lifecycle in various industrial environments. The company software suites include aspenONE Engineering, aspenONE Manufacturing and Supply Chain, and aspenONE Asset Performance that are integrated applications, which allow end users to design process manufacturing environments, monitor operational performances, respond and adapt to operational changes, predict asset reliability and equipment failure, and manage planning and scheduling activities, as well as collaborate across these functions and activities. It also provides software maintenance and support, professional, and training services. The company's customers comprise companies that are engaged in the process and other capital-intensive industries, such as energy, chemicals, engineering, and construction, as well as pharmaceuticals, transportation, power, metals and mining, pulp and paper, and consumer packaged goods. Aspen Technology, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Aspen Technology is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.34% of Aspen Technology shares are held by insiders and 101.285% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Aspen Technology?

  Aspen Technology's fiscal year ends in June.

• Where is Aspen Technology based?

  Aspen Technology's address is: 20 Crosby Drive, Bedford, MA, United States, 01730

• What is Aspen Technology's ISIN number?

  Aspen Technology's international securities identification number is: US0453271035

• What is Aspen Technology's CUSIP number?

  Aspen Technology's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 045327103