WATCH: Stock picks — Absa and Shoprite

Gerbrand Smit from N-e-F-G Fund Managers chose Absa as his stock pick of the day and Chantal Marx from FNB Wealth & Investments chose Shoprite

Smit said: “Absa came out with their trading statement again today, I think at around R9.30 for the six months. It’s close to R19 full year, it’s a 6.3 PE [price-earnings] multiple, so the impairments were made too much like we thought it would be. I just think those banks are going to be less affected than people expected.”

Marx said: “So my stock pick tonight is Shoprite, I don’t think the stock looks terribly expensive at all. They will benefit from higher soft commodity prices because they’ll actually be able to to squeeze some of the food producers and get some decent margin from increased food inflation.”