JSEDirect with Simon Brown

Simon Shares Day 160 of lockdown. Northam (JSE code: NHM) results had two comments that caught my attention. They are aggressively buying back their Zambezi pref shares (JSE code: ZPLP). The second was that the amount of rhodium used in a single catalytic converter was 0.3g in 2015 and will be 0.45g in 2025. A 50% increase that supports the price increase. Hammerson (JSE code: HMN) have consolidat...

Offshore / Tesla and Apple stock split today / Changes to the dow Jones; Salesforce.com will replace Exxon Mobil, Amgen will replace Pfizer and Honeywell International will replace Raytheon Technologies / Reports that Walmart and Microsoft liked up to buy TicTok / ADP Employment Report on Wednesday / New Zealand exchange closes three times last week after cyber attacks / CNBC reports that U.S. tec...

Simon Shares Day 153 of lockdown and Covid-19. Pro-active passive management Investec USD SP500 Autocall Upcoming events; 03 September ~ JSE Power Hour: Under the hood of a passive robo advisor Subscribe to our feed  here Sign up for email alerts  as a new show goes live Master Drilling (JSE code: MDI), strong and monster cash generation which shows the cash output when they're not spending on new...

Offshore / New highs for the S&P500 (and Nasdaq) / Between the market high on Feb. 19 and new high on Aug. 18, 38% of stocks in the index made gains while the remaining 62% posted losses / Apple hits US$2trillion and gets into a fight with Fortnight / Ryanair cuts September, October capacity by 20% on weak bookings / Japan's economy shrank by nearly 28% in the second quarter & consumer spending de...

Simon Shares Day 146 of lockdown and Covid-19, new cases definitely on the decline and hence we're now in level 2. S&P500 closed Tuesday at all-time highs. Sasol (JSE code: SOL) after liking the update the market does not like the results. Truworths (JSE code: TRU) has now written down GBP231million of the GBP256million they paid for Office in 2015. Afrimat (JSE code: AFT) buys Coza iron ore for R...

Offshore US Retail sales disappoint - rise 1.2% in July vs 7.5% gain in June But new unemployment claims finally drops below 1million, the first time in 21 weeks UK GDP horror Chinese retail sales dropped 1.1% YoY, for the 7th seventh month US stimulus (trump EOs) Tesla 5:1 split via a special dividend Airbnb is filing for IPO this month with plans to go public by the end of the year. Local Sasol...

"This week's episode of JSE Direct is courtesy of IG, our preferred supplier in trading products." Simon Shares Day 139 of lockdown and Covid-19, new cases definitely on the decline. Clicks (JSE code: CLS) trading update again shows that this company is a machine. Revenue +10% for the 49 weeks to 9 August 2020. Residential property, at the lower end, doing really well. Gold $2,044 last week, hit $...

"This week's episode of JSE Direct is courtesy of Outvest, our preferred supplier in retirement products." Simon Shares Day 132 of lockdown and Covid-19, new cases definitely on the decline. Pick 'n Pay (JSE code: PIK) update was somewhat of a horror show, but I'm not sure what the market was expecting. It is for the period of lockdown and includes a voluntary retrenchment that cost the company. T...

Offshore / US earnings season / Q2 GDP data is coming in at about -10% / US jobless claims remain stuck at around 1.4million and CARES has ended, albeit congress is in talks / Alphabet says WFH until summer 2021 & Zuckerberg says there's 'no end in sight' for Facebook employees WFH / Big tech results (Amazon, FB, Alphabet & Apple) knock it out the park / Big tech breakup congressional hearings Loc...

Simon Shares Day 126 of lockdown and Covid-19, cases may be moderating? Sasol (JSE code: SOL) sells some assets for R8.5billion and the stock is up over 12%. The sale is SA gas operations at Secunda. A sale and leaseback as Sasol only customer. But gets Sasol cash to pay down debt so good news short term, less so long-term. Korean websites also reporting on a possible 50% sale of US Ethane Crackin...

Offshore / 1.42 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the week ending July 18, up from 1.3 million a week earlier / Gold through $1,900 / EU leaders have agreed to a €750b ($857b) stimulus package (US is in talks for their next round of support) / Tesla into sp500 / Results; Microsoft msft & Intel intc Local / MPC rate cut / IMF loan to be announced tonight, R70billion / MTN updat...

Simon Shares Day 119 of lockdown and Covid-19, cases may be moderating? Monday is 4 months of lockdown. Quantum Foods (JSE code: QFH) is coming back to earth after 1157c last Friday. Tech stocks in the US are flying. Expensive? yes, but. They have solid earnings, a moat and lots of new products they can roll out. Very solid Datatec (JSE code: DTC) update. From @keithmclachlan on Datatec valuations...

Offshore / US jobless claims remain at around 1.3million / Netflix drops 9% on weak Q3 guidance. / Jamie Dimon's warning for the U.S. economy — nobody knows what comes next / Amazon stock had its worst week since February / Fiscal Cliffs Threaten Fragile U.S. Recovery as stimulus expires late July / Qantas has removed all of its international flights until March of 2021 Local / Tsogo Sun Hotels se...

Simon Shares Day 112 of lockdown and Covid-19 cases are still spiking in South Africa and no drink again. Load shedding. An economy on its knees now without power. Quantum Foods (JSE code: QFH) still booming as Astral (JSE code: ARL) buys a 6.42% stake to protect their broiler supply. Bell Equipment (JSE code: BEL) trading update says HEPS to least 80% lower. CPI for May 2.1%, (3.0% in April and 4...

Offshore / Germany saves. Total retail deposits rose by €22.4bn in Apr and hit fresh All-time high at €2.46tn. The volume of retail bank deposits has doubled within 18 years. / German production and export data disappoints as they have nobody to sell to in a lockdown world. / Warren Buffett's Berkshire buys Dominion Energy natural gas assets in $10 billion deal / Uber buying Postmates / Tesla stil...

"This week's episode of JSE Direct is courtesy of IG.com , our preferred supplier in trading products." Simon Shares Day 105 of lockdown and Covid-19 cases are still spiking in South Africa. Omnia (JSE code: OMN) results. Suddenly everybody wants to own cyclical Quantum Foods (JSE code: QFH). Standard Bank ETNs are expiring next month. Gold stocks are flying and everybody is asking me if they've m...

Offshore / US unemployment 11.1% / Tesla now largest motor company in the world / Advertisers bailing on facebook / Goldman Lowers U.S. GDP Forecast, Sees 4.6% Contraction in 2020 (was 4.2%) / Fitch has downgraded a record number of sovereign ratings due to the coronavirus. 33 downgrades, 40 negative watch / Brexit talks started up again Local / Q1 GDP at -2% / Barloworld results / Capitec update...

Simon Shares "This week's episode of JSE Direct is courtesy of OUTvest, our preferred supplier in retirement products." Day 98 of lockdown and Covid-19 cases are spiking in South Africa. Local GDP for the first quarter came in at -2%, helped by agriculture +27.8% For the first time since July 2019, PMI respondents expect conditions to improve in six months' time. The index tracking expected busine...

Offshore / US existing home sales fell 9.7% the lowest level since October 2010. US jobless claims dropped to 1.48m / Wirecard into bankruptcy. EY never checked the bank account of the missing cash for 3 years. / HS Markit's Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index rose to 47.5 in June, / Microsoft permanently shutting retail stores / Nike reports unexpected loss as sales tumble 38% / Boeing 737 MAX ce...

Simon Shares Tencent hit a new all-time high on Tuesday and again on Wednesday pushing Naspers (JSE code: NPN) and Prosus (JSE code: PRX) higher and helping the JSE overall. Gold seems to be breaking up out of the consolidation zone it has spent the last few months trading in. Good German PMI data, still under 50, but only just again suggests that April was likely the worst month. Albeit the route...

/ Wirecard and the missing $2.1bn / Hertz decides NOT to issue shares while under chapter 11 / Reports on Sunday that British Finance Minister Sunak plans emergency cut in value-added tax / Index rebalancing in the Russell indices sees nearly half of the stocks being promoted to the Russell 1000 from the Russell 2000 will be healthcare names. / Apple will close 11 stores across Florida (2), North...

Simon Shares Here's a gem from the Herenya Capital Advisors Twitter account, albeit Remedica is up for sale and we've had lots of early hype on drugs that quickly fizzled out. Ascendis Healths subsidiary Remedica manufactures Dexamethasone which apparently helps combat severe cases and is being approved by the NHS. pic.twitter.com/XUw9VPHwdg — Herenya Capital Advisors (@HerenyaCapital) June 17, 20...

Offshore / China's PPI down 3.7% in May and factory output rises less than expected, retail sales continued to contract in May. / Fed kept interest rates flat and cautioned they expect conditions to remain tough into 2022. GDP 5% in 2021 and unemployment 5.5% in 2022 o S&P500 dropped -4.8% last week but remains +8.1% this month, o Nasdaq dropped -2.3% last week but remains +6.4% this month, o FTSE...

Simon Shares Bankruptcy stocks are the new excitement in the US. Hertz in chapter 11 saw its stock price back at the levels from when it announced Chapter 11. Tsogo Sun Gaming (JSE code: TSG) results to end-March show debt at R11.2billion, more than double the market cap. EOH (JSE code: EOH) update says debt is being paid off quicker than planned. But it remains a long road for the company. Britis...

Global / US May unemployment rate seriously strong at 13.3% / PMI bounces from April lows but still below 50 / China May exports slip back into contraction, imports worst in four years / Opec extend cuts by another month / AstraZeneca Approaches Gilead About Potential Merger local / Apple mobility and Yoco transaction data shows about 65% economic activity in week 1 of level 3 / JSE allows share i...