Simon Shares

• Great Sappi (JSE code: SAP) results.
• Strong Hudaco (JSE code: HDC) results.
• Top40 is trading at all-time highs, as is Resi10 and MidCap is almost there.
• Kastle back to work barometer shows office attendance in the US is still not back to levels from before the most recent pandemic wave and around 33% (on average) of pre-pandemic levels. Back in November, the average was just over 38%.
• IPO process explained.
• Ashburton ETFs have moved over to FNB.

• Meta Platforms (Nasdaq code: FB); Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp
  • Down 25% on the day of the results. Fell further and now off 43% from September 2021 highs and back at May 2020 levels.
  • Market cap below US$600billion, that happens to be the number House legislators picked as the threshold for a “covered platform” in a package of competition bills aimed at Big Tech.
  • Active users declined
  • $10billion lost revenue due to new iOS privacy rules
  • $10billion on metaverse.
  • Regulatory issues.
    • Meta threatens to shut down Facebook and Instagram in Europe over proposed regulations. The EU says, ‘please do’.
  • All said this is just one quarter, the next few quarters will tell us the true story.

Facebook, Nasdaq, S&P500 over 5 years

Upcoming events;

• 17 February ~ JSE Power Hour: Tax-free investing

Thursdays are all about hard-core investing with Simon Brown’s famous JSE Direct podcast. JSE Direct started life on ClassicFM in July 2008 and became a podcast in 2011. Every week Simon chats to industry experts, answers listener question (contact him here to send your Q’s) and gives his views on the state of markets and individual shares.

Reach Simon by email at simon@justonelap.com,

or Twitter @SimonPB