South Africa’s top stock pickers revealed
An analysis by Daily Investor revealed that Drikus Combrinck from Capicraft, Nick Kunze from Sanlam Private Wealth, Gerbrand Smit from Equity Trust Group, and Gary Booysen from Rand Swiss are South Africa’s top stock pickers.
Many prominent fund managers and equity analysts share their knowledge on platforms like the JSE’s SA Stock Picks show and Business Day TV’s Stock Watch.
As part of these shows, they pick stocks with good prospects and which they think offer a buying opportunity.
Daily Investor recorded all the stock picks from prominent analysts and fund managers between April 2020 and July 2022 and calculated the performance of these shares.
Only fund managers and equity analysts who picked a minimum of 10 stocks spread over two-and-a-half years were included in the ranking.
The performance was calculated in rand (ZAR) from the date of the stock pick until 1 August. An equal-weighted average was taken regardless of the holding period.
We also included the performance of the S&P 500 and JSE Top 40 over the same holding period as each stock pick to assess the performance.
This ranking differs from typical stock pick competitions – like David Shapiro’s legendary Cristal Challenge – because it rewards consistency rather than high-risk stocks.
Daily Investor’s analysis shows that Drikus Combrinck from Capicraft, with a 40.9% return over the research period, was the best performer.
His performance was bolstered by his Alliance Resource Partners pick on 25 May 2021, which grew 342% over the reporting period.
Nick Kunze from Sanlam Private Wealth was a close second with a performance of 40.7%. His top pick, MTN, grew by over 200% since he picked it on 29 April 2020.
Gerbrand Smit from Equity Trust Group ranked third with 36.8%, helped by MTN’s 148% since he picked the stock on 27 October 2020.
The first table shows the performance of all stock pickers who outperformed the S&P 500 or JSE Top 40 over the reporting period.
It also shows how they performed against the S&P 500 and JSE Top 40 over the same period as their stock picks.
The second table shows the best and worst stock picks from prominent analysts and fund managers between April 2020 and July 2022.
| South Africa’s Top Stock Pickers | |||||
| Rank | Analyst | Company | Performance | S&P 500 | JSE Top 40 |
| 1 | Drikus Combrinck | Capicraft | 40.90% | 14.20% | 6.10% |
| 2 | Nick Kunze | Sanlam Private Wealth | 40.70% | 15.00% | 8.50% |
| 3 | Gerbrand Smit | Equity Trust Group | 36.80% | 18.80% | 9.30% |
| 4 | Gary Booysen | Rand Swiss | 34.30% | 13.40% | 6.10% |
| 5 | Andile Buthelezi | Sentio Capital | 29.90% | 22.30% | 14.10% |
| 6 | Robert Towell | Sasfin Securities | 29.80% | 18.30% | 7.60% |
| 7 | Nesan Nair | Sasfin Securities | 29.50% | 20.60% | 13.00% |
| 8 | Mark du Toit | Oyster Catcher Investments | 25.70% | 15.40% | 8.20% |
| 9 | Chantal Marx | FNB Wealth & Investments | 21.10% | 16.40% | 9.40% |
| 10 | Graeme Körner | Körner Perspective | 20.50% | 13.40% | 3.70% |
| 11 | Devin Shutte | The Robert Group | 18.60% | 16.10% | 8.00% |
| 12 | Nesi Chetty | Stanlib | 16.30% | 18.40% | 9.90% |
| 13 | Viv Govender | Rand Swiss | 16.00% | 17.10% | 4.80% |
| 14 | Makwe Masilela | Makwe Fund Managers | 13.70% | 10.40% | 3.50% |
| 15 | Chris Gilmour | Independent | 13.30% | 13.90% | 5.10% |
| 16 | Mia Kruger | Kruger International | 12.36% | 23.18% | 10.67% |
| 17 | Imtiaz Suliman | Sentio Capital | 12.20% | 14.80% | 7.00% |
| 18 | Ricus Reeders | PSG Wealth Sandton | 11.10% | 12.70% | 5.90% |
| 19 | Steven Schultz | Momentum | 9.20% | 15.70% | 8.90% |
| 20 | Alex Duys | Umthombo Wealth | 6.90% | 13.00% | 5.10% |
| 21 | Wayne McCurrie | FNB Wealth & Investments | 6.00% | 13.00% | 4.90% |
| 22 | Meryl Pick | Old Mutual Investments | 5.90% | 9.00% | 0.60% |
| 23 | Willem Oldewage | Nitrogen Fund Managers | 3.70% | 2.30% | -3.20% |
| Best and Worst Stock Picks | |||||
| Analysts | Picks (n) | Best Pick | Performance | Worst Pick | Performance |
| Drikus Combrinck | 30 | Alliance Resource Partners | 342.40% | VanEck Russia Small Cap ETF | -67.60% |
| Nick Kunze | 40 | MTN | 201.40% | Sibanye Stillwater | -17.00% |
| Gerbrand Smit | 27 | MTN | 147.70% | Ab Inbev | -8.80% |
| Gary Booysen | 41 | Thungela Resources | 1231.50% | Roku inc | -80.50% |
| Andile Buthelezi | 16 | Sappi | 112.80% | Impala Platinum | -25.60% |
| Robert Towell | 21 | Transaction Capital | 84.80% | Amazon | -13.70% |
| Nesan Nair | 47 | Tesla | 349.40% | Coronation | -36.20% |
| Mark du Toit | 36 | Investec | 126.50% | AngloGold Ashanti | -56.80% |
| Chantal Marx | 27 | Long4Life | 112.70% | Karooooo | -26.40% |
| Graeme Körner | 36 | Royal Dutch Shell | 70.30% | City Lodge | -34.30% |
| Devin Shutte | 30 | Distell | 118.70% | T. Rowe Price | -23.50% |
| Nesi Chetty | 19 | Fairvest Property Fund | 70.40% | Nepi Rockcastle | -12.90% |
| Viv Govender | 16 | MTN | 61.10% | Alibaba | -62.10% |
| Makwe Masilela | 32 | Distell | 143.60% | Sibanye Stillwater | -26.10% |
| Chris Gilmour | 44 | The Foschini Group | 120.50% | City Lodge | -26.00% |
| Imtiaz Suliman | 36 | Motus | 242.30% | Alibaba | -62.50% |
| Ricus Reeders | 41 | Thungela Resources | 128.50% | Satrix MSCI China ETF | -40.50% |
| Steven Schultz | 29 | Tesla | 215.20% | Hellofresh | -68.10% |
| Mia Kruger | 30 | Alviva | 102.50% | PPC | -46.6% |
| Alex Duys | 30 | Lewis Group | 121.60% | iShares MSCI Global Silver | -43.70% |
| Wayne McCurrie | 75 | Transaction Capital | 107.50% | Tupperware | -63.10% |
| Meryl Pick | 13 | MTN | 121.30% | Sibanye Stillwater | -33.70% |
| Nick Crail | 23 | Royal Dutch Shell | 64.00% | Naspers | -32.30% |
| Willem Oldewage | 16 | Merafe Resources | 51.10% | Aveng | -31.00% |
| Martin Smith | 28 | MTN | 147.70% | Alibaba | -61.00% |
| Graeme Franck | 31 | Alphabet | 66.10% | Naspers | -30.60% |
| Deryck Janse van Rensburg | 27 | MTN | 149.30% | Alibaba | -63.00% |
| Kwame Antwi | 12 | Stadio | 55.50% | Boohoo | -64.60% |
| Caroline Cremen | 43 | Firstrand | 79.00% | Shopify | -73.10% |
| Jimmy Moyaha | 17 | Occidental Petroleum | 84.40% | Marathon Digital Holdings | -79.10% |
| Karl Gevers | 18 | Prosus | 43.00% | Tencent | -40.30% |
| Zwelakhe Mnguni | 15 | Autonation Inc | 45.60% | Alibaba | -57.90% |
| Craig Pheiffer | 15 | Otis | 37.10% | Alibaba | -56.10% |
| David Shapiro | 120 | Autonation Inc | 88.80% | Farfetch | -84.00% |
| Thamsanqa Netha | 22 | Wesizwe Platinum | 82.10% | Coinbase | -78.40% |
| Rowan Williams | 20 | Sappi | 28.50% | Spar | -35.10% |
| Dale Hutcheson | 14 | Bidvest | 14.50% | Quilter | -36.00% |
| Ashraf Mohamed | 10 | BHP Billiton | 22.70% | Meta | -44.50% |
| Jean Pierre Verster | 53 | Alviva | 255.70% | Just Eat | -81.60% |
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