A R10k punt on this stock during lockdown would be worth R235k now

An investment of R10 000 in a single JSE-listed share during the Covid-19 pandemic lows on the market would be worth over R235 000 today.

Like most of the market, that share – Stefanutti Stocks – was priced for the apocalypse.

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Although not quite at its all-time low of eight cents, Stefanutti Stocks was trading at 14c in May 2020, when South Africa had exited its hard lockdown and was on Alert Level 4.

At that point, it was valued at just R26 million.

It was making losses, was technically insolvent, and was battling Eskom over a R1.6 billion claim related to work done at Kusile Power Station. You’d have been very brave to take a punt on Stefanutti Stocks!

On Monday, its share price closed at R3.30 (still off the high of R4.94 reached in September 2024), valuing the group at R620 million.

Of course, this would’ve required you to buy and hold despite the temptation to have locked in some of those gains once it had become a 10-bagger.

Other winners … and losers

If you had been scrounging around the rubble, you might’ve taken a punt on heavyweight WBHO, which has returned 110% over five years.

Or perhaps Raubex – up 152%, albeit this performance has moderated since it announced last week that whistleblower allegations had delayed the publication of its full-year results.

Read: Whistleblower allegations rock Raubex, company results delayed

You might’ve taken a flutter on Aveng (down 39% since May 2020), or worse, Murray & Roberts, which is technically down 77% due to its suspension. In reality, shareholders will receive nothing in the winding up of M&R, meaning a 100% loss.

Read: The once mighty Murray & Roberts to be wound up

Only one other share on the JSE has delivered a return of over 1 000% over the last five years – Astoria Investments.

Astoria has seen its value increase by 1 400% since May 2020. This was a unique situation, however. By early 2020, it had sold down its portfolio of offshore shares and paid distributions to shareholders.

All its funds were in cash as it transitioned to an investment holding company under RECM’s Piet Viljoen and Jan van Niekerk. By August, Astoria had acquired all of the RAC Investment Holdings assets save for the Goldrush gaming asset. More than half of Astoria’s current net asset value is its 40% stake in Outdoor Investment Holdings, owner of Safari & Outdoor.

The stocks that would have tripled your money

Picking the winners from practically an entire market that bombed out in April/May 2020 wasn’t as simple as one might imagine.

You would’ve tripled your money in around 40 shares on the JSE over the last five years, but only four of these are in the Top 40 – Capitec Bank (up 319%), Harmony Gold Mining (up 300%), Investec (up 274-281%, depending on whether one bought the plc or Limited share), and Richemont (up 232%).

For every Stadio (up 672%) and AdvTech (up 330%), there’s a Curro (up 9.9%).

Any returns over 80% would be a good result, given that the All Share and Top 40 returned 84% and 82% respectively.

In total, 88 shares more than doubled over five years. There are a number of Top 40 staples like FirstRand, MTN, Discovery, Mr Price, Woolworths, Standard Bank, Pepkor, OUTsurance, Nedbank, and Shoprite that have delivered returns of over 100%.

But, again, for every Glencore (up 104%) or Shoprite (up 170%), there’s a BHP Group (up 51%) or Pick n Pay (down 45%).

Read: A different view of SA banking stocks

The only sector where you would’ve seen at least a doubling of your investment was banking, but there’s a stark divergence between Capitec Bank and Investec versus the rest.

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