Naspers share rout a buying opportunity, say analysts
The group's main asset, Tencent, has lost its spot as one of the world’s 10 biggest companies
The sell-off of Naspers shares, which have dropped to their lowest level in 15 months, may be a buying opportunity, say analysts. Owing to its shrinking investment in Chinese internet giant Tencent, Naspers has slipped to its lowest valuation since July 2017. The stock, which accounts for nearly a fifth of the JSE, fell 6.5% to R2,656.89 on Wednesday, dragging SA’s main bourse another 2.5% lower. That brings Naspers’s year-to-date decline to 26%, though that number is even worse in dollar terms. Its mainstay investment, Tencent, has slipped 31.5% – the biggest loss in market value of any company globally in 2018, according to Bloomberg, which said Tencent had lost its spot among the world’s 10 biggest companies to Exxon Mobil. Tencent’s precipitous fall is the result of disappointing first-quarter earnings, tighter regulation in China delayed approval for new games and the trade war between that country and the US, according to Nick Crail, fund manager at Ashbhurton Investments. The...
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