<\/p>\n
After an unprecedented year where resource shares, chiefly gold and platinum stocks, propelled the JSE to record highs, it is somewhat of a surprise to see that many entrants in the Moneyweb Investor Challenge still believe these counters have further to go, despite seeing triple-digit returns in 2025.<\/p>\n
The competition has received over 900 entries from readers, listeners, Insider Gold members, as well as staff and contributors.<\/p>\n
The challenge requires entrants to select five of the top 200 listed companies on the JSE (preference shares, exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded notes, and any suspended instruments are excluded).<\/p>\n
Share price performance, on an equally weighted basis (with each share comprising 20% of a portfolio), will be tracked between 1 February and 31 December to determine the eventual winner(s).<\/p>\n
Read:
And the best share in 2025 was \u2026
What shone, and what could still shine on the JSE<\/p>\n
Narrowly pipping Capitec Bank to the top spot, in terms of being selected by the most participants, was multinational mining group Sibanye-Stillwater, which was selected by nearly one in five entrants. Perennial retail investor favourite Sasol is third.<\/p>\n
The other resource shares in the top 20 include AngloGold Ashanti, Valterra Platinum, Gold Fields, Afrimat, Orion Minerals, Pan African Resources, Copper 360, Impala Platinum and Harmony Gold Mining.<\/p>\n
A further three resource stocks (Glencore, DRDGold and Anglo American) can be included if one looks at the top 25. BHP barely makes the top 40 selection on this basis.<\/p>\n
\nProsus and Naspers are both in the top 10 selections, with most preferring exposure via the latter.<\/p>\n
\n\nADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
It has a smaller market capitalisation (R734 billion) than Prosus (R2 trillion), but given their corporate structure, they tend to move in relative lockstep. The former is down 17.04% year-to-date, while the decline for the latter is 16.96%.<\/p>\n
The other share in the top 10 by number of selections is Purple Group \u2013 the owner of EasyEquities \u2013 which, like its platform, has amassed a strong retail following.<\/p>\n
\nHolders of Purple shares doubled their money last year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The four other shares to round out the top 20 include three retailers \u2013 Mr Price Group, Shoprite Holdings and Pepkor \u2013 as well as Aspen Pharmacare.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, a portfolio of the five most-selected shares (Sibanye-Stillwater, Capitec, Sasol, AngloGold Ashanti and Purple Group) is barely positive (+0.55%) nearly two weeks into the competition.<\/p>\n
Listen: What to except from SA Inc in 2026<\/p>\n
Based on selections for this competition alone, the pick of the traditional \u2018big four\u2019 banks is Absa, followed by Standard Bank Group and FirstRand (each chosen by around 5% of participants).<\/p>\n
\nAside from Afrimat, not many other \u2018SA Inc\u2019 shares that underperformed last year were among the top picks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
TFG, Kap, Metair and Truworths all ended 2025 around 40% (or more) lower. Kap was the 50th<\/sup> most-selected stock by competitors, with TFG not that far behind. Truworths was well outside the top 100, and Metair outside the top 150 with less than a handful of participants adding it to their hypothetical portfolio.<\/p>\n
\n\nADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Read: Resources rally takes JSE to new high<\/p>\n
You\u2019d be hard-pressed to imagine either of these shares repeating such a performance next year. This means one could go sifting through the other end of the performance table for a likely winner.<\/p>\n
A number of so-called \u2018SA Inc\u2019 industrials, including TFG, Kap, Metair and Truworths were all about 40% (or more) down in the year. Afrimat was also down by around that amount, while junior producer Copper 360 (which listed in 2023) was about 70% lower.<\/p>\n
The live leaderboard for the competition can be viewed here.<\/p>\n
Logged-out users will see the current top 10, while logged-in free users will only see the top 100 entries as well as their own portfolio ranking (if they have entered). Logged-in Insider Gold users will be able to view the full leaderboard, each entry\u2019s picks, as well as insights into the top community portfolios and best-performing shares.<\/p>\n
\nTough market conditions so far in February have made for an interesting start, with the top two entrants managing boasting returns of just more than 7%.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Only 350 of the 940 entrants are showing positive returns at this stage.<\/p>\n
The winner(s) of the Moneyweb Investor Challenge will be announced in January 2027. Regular updates will be published on Moneyweb throughout the year.<\/p>\n
Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n