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SHARE TRADING SOFTWARE AND EDUCATION

Our software products are extremely user-friendly, perfect for both the beginner in the market, as well as the professional investor

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Technical Analysis Software

Accurate JSE data including indices, equities, futures and agricultural futures, warrants, international market indices, unit trusts, currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Multiple technical indicators, fundamentals, market scans, portfolio manager and more.

Investment Education

Comprising 32 comprehensive lecture modules, our online investment course takes you through the basics of stock market investment and on to the advanced technical indicators in your software which generate buy and sell signals.

Investment Club Software

Manages your investment club from one centralised online location where a daily unit price based on the value of your portfolio is calculated. Allows for the recording and management of your club portfolio as well as a watchlist of shares and discussion forum.

About Progress Data Services

PDSNET (Progress Data Services) specialises in the development and sale of local as well as internationally acclaimed share trading investment software and education.

Over the last 35 years, we have become the largest local provider of stock market data, providing data of all equities quoted on the JSE (Johannesburg Stock Exchange), Futures, Unit Trusts, Currencies and Commodities as well as many of the major International Indices.

Our mission is to provide accurate and reliable JSE data to all our customers. As well as this, we aim to sell only the best technical analysis products on the market, and pride ourselves in supplying value for money.

FOUR IMPORTANT CRITERIA WHEN CHOOSING TECHNICAL ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

A competent investor will tell you there are four basic criteria when choosing technical analysis software. We are proud to say that our software easily satisfies these, is sold ethically and is good value for money.

AROUND FOR YEARS

A long track record ensures reliability in terms of both data supply and support.

The ShareFriend software was the first of it's kind in South Africa. Since it's launch in the 90's it has been developed and maintained by expert software developers who are in touch with the latest in market needs and technical analysis charting features.

LARGE USER BASE

A large user base ensures there is available support and constant development.

As well as this, our software is regularly updated with new features and abilities, helping you to recognise opportunities in the market and invest your money soundly.

FLEXIBILITY

Flexibility allows you to enter your own analysis parameters giving you the options you need to do thorough analysis.

The ShareFriend software has many different indicators and mechanisms that you can use to narrow down which sectors are performing well, and which shares are worth buying.

SCANNING ABILITY

A good scanning feature enables you to recognise opportunities in the market and act swiftly.

The ShareFriend software offers multiple scanning abilities which allow you to analyse different sectors of the market thoroughly and identify opportunities which are worth investigating further.

"Whenever I have a problem I can phone PDSnet for help. They go out of their way to assist me, be it on Teamviewer or sending someone to my office. I firmly believe that one of the reasons for their success is that they provide full support and a download service in MetaStock format plus providing the client with knowledgeable trained technical support staff. Their software program, ShareFriend Pro, is also commendable and must rank as one of the most user-friendly and easiest to use charting software available on the local market."

Christo AuretHead Finance WITS University

"Throughout my years as a financial journalist, writing on stock market investment for The Citizen, The Star, The Business Day and The Financial Mail, I have mostly relied upon ShareFriend Executive and ShareFriend Pro to identify the shares most likely to gain, or those in danger of losing ground. I am able to pick which sectors should be highlighted, those that should be left alone; when gold or oil are likely to change direction. The data necessary to compile my charts is provided by PDS Data Centre. Having now retired from journalism but still running several portfolios of shares, a daily download is all I need, but could choose more frequent downloads if I wished. With the holdings in my various portfolios automatically updated, taking split-second action at exactly the right time is child’s play."

Jean Temkin's books

Jean TemkinFinancial Journalist and Author

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Shoprite

15 April 2024 By PDSNET

In their article on 10^th April 2024, Checkers sweeps Pick n Pay as it opens 5 new stores in one day., Businesstech drew attention to the fact that Shoprite had taken over five stores from Pick ‘n Pay on the East Rand. Pick ‘n Pay got into a legal battle with its franchisee over unpaid debts and the franchisee made a deal with Shoprite, the owner of Checkers. The thrust of the article was that Shoprite was continuing to take significant market share away from Pick ‘n Pay.

Of course, Shoprite has been doing very well for many years in its competition with other supermarkets, but the question private investors have to ask is:

“Is it a good investment?”

You will probably have noticed that the Shoprite share price has been falling during 2024, despite its excellent results. Consider the chart:

**Shoprite (SHP): 17th of October 2023 - 12th of April 2024. Chart by ShareFriend Pro.**

Here you can see that the share closed at an all-time record high at 27632c on 8^th January 2024. After that it has been in a downward channel between upper and lower support lines until it broke down on 18^th March 2024 and has been falling further since then.

As a private investor you might find it difficult to understand why a company which is doing so well has a share price which is falling. The reason is that investors had simply pushed the share price too high. On the day that it made that record high it had a P:E of 25,23 – which is very high for a grocery retailer, no matter how well it is doing. For context, on 8^th January 2024, the JSE Overall index had an average P:E of around 10,5 – so Shoprite was trading at more than twice the market’s average.

A key component of a share’s value at any given price is the nature of is business. Some businesses are very easy to manage while others are very difficult. On the scale from easiest to most difficult, retail grocery chains, like Shoprite, are not the most difficult, but they are certainly among the most difficult.

This is because they have huge working capital requirements, a substantial capital investment, a large usually unionised staff complement and paper-thin margins. These characteristics make it very difficult to manage a supermarket chain and make profits.

Even Shoprite with its enormous footprint made a trading profit of R6,67bn in the six months to 31^st December 2024 – which is just 5,9% of its merchandise sales for the same period. Their headline profit was even smaller at 3%. So, if they sell R100 worth of groceries, they are making just R3 profit on that.

You should compare this to a service business which typically has almost no working capital, relatively few high-quality staff and very high margins. A business like Multichoice (MCG), for example, receives debit orders from its 21,7 million subscribers every month.

Their overheads are probably covered before the month starts. Roughly speaking, Shoprite only covers its costs and makes a profit on the last day of the month. So, at its current P:E of 21,3, despite its excellent performance, Shoprite is probably still over-priced and has the potential to fall further.

Almost 33 years ago on 17^th October 1991, Shoprite shares closed at 64c. On Friday last week, they closed at 23956c – and that was after falling 13,3% from their record high of 27632c. Throughout that 33 years the company has paid regular dividends. Last year’s dividend was 663c per share.

At some point the institutional fund managers will begin to buy them again and the share will begin to go up. The question is, “Exactly when?” and there is no good way to answer it. You could, of course, take the attitude that Shoprite is a good long-term investment and simply accumulate it on weakness.

DISCLAIMER

All information and data contained within the PDSnet Articles is for informational purposes only. PDSnet makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity, of any information, and shall not be liable for any errors, omissions, or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. Information in the PDSnet Articles are based on the author’s opinion and experience and should not be considered professional financial investment advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional. Thoughts and opinions will also change from time to time as more information is accumulated. PDSnet reserves the right to delete any comment or opinion for any reason.

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