The Whispir Ltd (ASX: WSP) share price is starting the week off with a bang. Whispir shares are up 7.63% at the time of writing to $2.54 apiece on the back of an FY20 trading update.

Whispir is a software-as-a-service company that provides a communications workflow platform to help businesses automate their interactions with employees, customers, suppliers, job applicants, and other stakeholders.

Whispir operates globally and supports some of the world’s most renowned brands including Disney, Coca Cola and Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN).

The company is on the smaller end of the ASX with a market capitalisation of $264 million and is relatively new to the market after listing in June 2019.

Why the Whispir share price is spiking

This morning, Whispir provided an FY20 trading update. The company now expects its FY20 result for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be between negative $7.9 million and negative $7.4 million. This is well ahead of the prospectus forecast of negative $9.4 million.

Whispir attributed this material lift to a combination of stronger than forecast revenue and operating expenditure being lower than expected.

The company has set its sights on releasing its FY20 results on or around 26 August 2020.

The Whispir share price has been a standout performer in recent months, bouncing 274% from an all-time low of 68 cents in March.

Along with overall market sentiment, this has likely been due to the increased reliance on communication amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Back in April, Whispir reported an uptick in demand as customers used its platform to communicate in an effective and timely manner. Notably, the third quarter of FY20 ending 31 March saw the company report a record 49 net new customers, as well as increased platform use by existing customers.

The company had a total of 558 customers at the end of the quarter, including Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services who is using the Whispir platform to interact with Victorians as part of its coronavirus containment plan.

Importantly, the company remained well-positioned for stability and growth at the end of the quarter with a cash and cash equivalents balance of $16.7 million at 31 March 2020.

Despite being further up the risk curve, I believe Whispir is a small-cap ASX tech share to watch due to COVID-19 tailwinds and the company’s capital-light business model, large addressable market opportunity and high recurring revenue growth. 

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Cathryn Goh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Whispir Ltd and recommends the following options: long January 2021 $60 calls on Walt Disney and short July 2020 $115 calls on Walt Disney. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Walt Disney and Whispir Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price has been a positive performer on Monday.

In morning trade the healthcare imaging software and services provider’s shares are up 1.5% to $29.25.

Why is the Pro Medicus share price pushing higher today?

Investors have been buying the company’s shares on Monday after it announced a major contract win with Northwestern Memorial HealthCare.

According to the release, Pro Medicus has signed a five-year, A$22 million deal with the Chicago-based healthcare company for its Visage 7 technology.

Visage 7 is an enterprise imaging platform that delivers fast, multi-dimensional images streamed via an intelligent thin-client viewer.

Todays’ deal extends the company’s footprint in the U.S. academic hospital segment, as well as regionally based community hospitals.

An important deal.

Pro Medicus’ Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Sam Hupert, believes this is one of the most important deals the company has signed.

He commented: “This certainly ranks up there as one of our most important not only because of the size of the deal, but also because of Northwestern’s standing in the medical and medical research communities. It will also provide us with a key reference site in the Chicago area.”

The good news for shareholders is that there may be more deals on the way. Dr Hupert revealed that its pipeline remains strong.

Commenting on other potential deals that are in the works, he said: “Some are looking at multiple products such as using Visage 7 Open Archive in addition to our Viewer, and there are also those who have expressed a preference for Cloud, so it is a good mix.”

Though, he has warned that it can take time for deals to be closed. In some cases, the whole process can take two years or even longer.

Another positive was that Pro Medicus has not experienced any major disruption from the pandemic.

Speaking about the pandemic, Dr Hupert said: “Up to now, we have not experienced any material deferral or delay in progressing any of these opportunities, Northwestern being a case in point. Our pipeline remains strong and, subject to there not being a second wave, we have a number of good opportunities across various sectors of the market that are continuing to progress through the sales cycle.”

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James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Pro Medicus Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Pro Medicus Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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