Nextdc vs Megaport shares: Which ASX tech growth share looks better?

If you’re exploring fast-growing tech stocks on the ASX, there’s a fair chance that Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT) and Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) are on your radar. Both are data and connectivity specialists, but their businesses, growth profiles, and market appeal have some key differences. Here’s how I see Nextdc vs Megaport shares stacking up for investors looking for high-growth exposure to digital infrastructure.

The case for Nextdc

Nextdc is a leader in building and operating data centres across Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. Its business focuses on co-location services—providing secure spaces, power, cooling, and connectivity for clients to house their servers. Customers can interconnect with each other, as well as global cloud companies and telcos. With more than 1,700 customers as of December 2022, Nextdc enables enterprises of all sizes to boost data security and transfer speeds, all while providing extra options for technical and project support.

A couple of key things jump out at me here:

• Market leadership and scale: With a market cap of $8.54 billion and a huge customer base, Nextdc is a giant in its field domestically.
• Consistent revenue base: While revenue figures aren’t quoted, the physical infrastructure and ‘sticky’ customer relationships suggest recurring income, which I like for business stability.
• Profitability: Nextdc is profitable, posting positive earnings per share of $0.122 and a (lofty) P/E of 95.98.

But, it’s important to point out that the company doesn’t pay a dividend and has actually delivered a negative year-to-date (YTD) return of -5.05%.

The case for Megaport

Megaport is a different kind of tech play. Instead of owning data centres, Megaport is a global network-as-a-service provider, connecting clients to over 1,100 data centres across 31 countries. Its tech lets customers connect to Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud, and dozens of other cloud platforms quickly, flexibly, and with no long-term lock-ins. Megaport expanded in late 2025 by acquiring Latitude.sh, pushing into on-demand cloud compute and AI GPU infrastructure. Its operations now span the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA, with a dedicated Compute arm.

Here’s what stands out to me about Megaport:

• Rapid global growth: The company’s reach and ability to provide on-demand, flexible cloud connections is unique among local peers.
• Not (yet) profitable: Megaport still has negative earnings per share (-$0.218).
• Impressive share price momentum: MP1’s year-to-date return is a massive 39.09%—a big contrast with Nextdc.

Dividends are again off the table, with both companies focused squarely on growth.

Valuation comparison

There’s a clear difference in how the market values these two, reflecting their place on the growth–profitability spectrum:

Metric	Nextdc	Megaport
Market Cap	$8.54b	$4.00b
P/E Ratio	95.98	–
EPS	0.122	-0.218
Dividend Yield	0.00%	0.00%
Year-to-Date Return	-5.05%	39.09%

Nextdc is much larger, is profitable (albeit with rich pricing), and trades at a lower P/E. Megaport is far more expensive on a P/E basis, unprofitable, but clearly has the market excited about its expansion and growth prospects.

Recent share price performance

Looking at closing prices as of 15 September 2026 (not live data), there’s a stark difference:

• Nextdc has fallen from $13.81 at the end of August to $11.24—as much as a 4% drop in a single day, and a clear downtrend over these weeks.
• Megaport has shown some volatility, but after a big dip mid-month, quickly bounced and sits at $16.79, up from $16.54 at end of August and up a whopping 39% for the year-to-date. The recent days included an 8.3% one-day fall, but this was swiftly offset by a 2.7% bounce.

I can see investors have recently flocked to Megaport much more enthusiastically than Nextdc.

Which is the better buy?

Comparing Nextdc vs Megaport shares, I’d lean toward Megaport right now if I had to pick just one. Here’s why: its revenue growth and commercial momentum look stronger, even though it’s not yet profitable. Nextdc is solid and profitable but losing momentum, and its negative YTD return is a worry for a growth stock. That said, paying up for Megaport means accepting a lot of future risk—it’s priced for exceptional growth and any slip could hurt. But purely on growth and market momentum, my pick would be Megaport, with the caveat that it’s not for those wanting value or stability.

The post Nextdc vs Megaport: Which ASX tech growth share comes out on top? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Amazon, Megaport, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial draft. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.

Pitt Street Research has published a new research note on Environmental Clean Technologies Ltd (ASX: ECT), which it says has the potential to more than double in value.

High-tech clean technology under development

ECT is developing flash joule heating technology, which can be used to destroy so-called forever chemicals, or PFAS.

The company’s technology is called Rapid Electrothermal Mineralisation (REM).

In its recent annual report, the company said this regarding the technology:

Known as ‘forever chemicals’, PFAS are long-lasting and hazardous– posing a health risk to all living organisms. REM applies a powerful, short electric pulse to soil mixed with a conductive material– rapidly heating it to 1,000°C within seconds. This extreme, but controlled, heat breaks the strong carbon-fluorine bonds in PFAS. This process destroys PFAS and converts them into harmless calcium fluoride (CaF2) from calcium naturally present in soil. Laboratory studies have shown over 96% defluorination efficiency and 99.98% removal of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), one of the most persistent and harmful PFAS pollutants. Unlike conventional methods that merely remove or transfer contaminants, REM delivers near-complete destruction without secondary aqueous waste, while enhancing soil quality, and is both cost and energy efficient.

ECT has also recently announced a $12 million capital raise to fund the acquisition of Xenica, which holds production rights to compounds known as MXenes and a license to sell them into military end-markets.

Pitt Street Research said re the acquisition:

The investment case now centres on premium MXene sales into US and Australian defence markets, where these lightweight, conductive materials could be used for EMI shielding, radar absorption and infrared-signature reduction in defence aerospace platforms. We believe these applications could support premium pricing and develop into a high-margin business if ECT successfully scales production and qualifies its material with defence customers.

Pitt Street said high-end MXenes command about US$400 per gram and can exceed the electrical performance of copper, graphene, and graphite.

The broker added:

ECT’s capital and production strategy is to partner with Metallium (ASX: MTM) to access its modular FJH reactors, providing a potentially capital-light and faster pathway to MXene production without building manufacturing infrastructure from scratch. Revenues from this speciality materials business are intended to be reinvested into ECT to help fund its long-term PFAS destruction platform, which remains the centrepiece of the investment thesis. In this way, the MXene business could support ECT’s growth while reducing its reliance on external capital raises.

Shares looking cheap

Pitt Street has a valuation on ECT shares of between 28 cents and 36 cents, compared to a share price of 11.5 cents at the time of writing.

ECT is valued at $51.6 million.

The post This ASX small cap could jump more than 100%: Broker appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Cameron England has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

In late afternoon trade on Wednesday, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is down 3.0% in 12 months, but don’t tell these two rocketing ASX gold stocks.

The outperforming miners in question are gold producer Auric Mining Ltd (ASX: AWJ) and copper-gold explorer Solstice Minerals Ltd (ASX: SLS).

Atop their own successes on and under the ground, both stocks have benefited from surging gold and copper prices. At US$14,084 per tonne, the copper price is up 39% in 12 months. And at US$4,322 per ounces, the gold price is up more than 17%.

As for the two ASX mining shares in question, recently trading for 24 cents apiece, Auric Mining shares are up 26.3% since this time last year.

And with shares swapping hands on Wednesday for $2.39 each, the Solstice Minerals share price has surged 527.6% over the full year.

That’s enough to turn a $10,000 investment into $62,760. In one year!

It’s also spurred a big increase in the ASX gold stock’s market cap. This will see it join the All Ords on Monday as part of the S&P Dow Jones Indices September quarterly rebalance

And looking ahead, RaaS Group’s Joshua Baker – who owns shares in both ASX miners – believes they are well-placed to keep outperforming (courtesy of The Bull).

Here’s why.

ASX gold stock on the growth path

Baker recently ran his slide rule over Auric Mining shares. And he liked what he saw.

“The gold producer generated total record revenue of $44.8 million in first half of 2026, up 13.2 per cent on the prior corresponding period,” he said.

Baker added:

The company posted a net profit before tax of $28 million. The Munda gold mine produced 8,886 ounces from toll milling campaigns. An integrated scoping study supported the re-establishment of the Burbanks processing facility.

Summarising his buy recommendation on the ASX gold stock, Baker concluded:

The company recently announced it had executed binding agreements to buy two leases that together comprise the Union Jack project. One lease is subjected to completion of due diligence. AWJ continues to build a team with extensive experience in developing gold projects.

Which brings us to…

Solstice Minerals’ significant expansion potential

Baker also issued a buy recommendation on Solstice Minerals shares.

SLS remains an exciting opportunity in the copper market,” he said. “Exploration of the Nanadie Well project is progressing, with drilling revealing significant potential to expand the resource.

Summarising his bullish outlook on the ASX gold stock, he said:

The company recently announced new copper-gold intercepts, with reverse circulation drilling identifying previously unrecognised high-grade zones.

Drilling can create value and lead to expanding upside. The shares have risen from $1.81 on August 24 to trade at $2.52 on September 10.

The post Expert names 2 under-the-radar ASX gold stocks to buy today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

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• Solstice Minerals shares in focus as Nanadie drill results impress
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Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.