ARTICLES

4Sight

29 January 2024 By PDSNET

The world has, in the last twenty years, entered what has been characterised as the 4^th Industrial Revolution (4IR). It has been described as “... the biggest structural change of the past 250 years — a transformation of scale, scope and complexity unlike anything humankind has experienced before.” In simpler terms, 4IR refers to the digital convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of things (IOT), robotics and cloud computing. 

The importance of 4IR was perhaps best illustrated by the announcement of Tesla’s Optimus Gen 2 humanoid robot in December 2023. This robot is specifically designed to operate in and learn from a world which is designed for people. It has the physical form and capabilities of a human being, but with greater strength and endurance.

Elon Musk suggests that within a relatively short time there will be millions of humanoid robots in the world performing thousands of boring, repetitive or dangerous tasks which are currently done by people. This development is at once both exciting and frightening since it will revolutionise almost every aspect of human behaviour. 4IR aims to increase productivity in all areas of human endeavour.

The only company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) which is specifically exploiting the shift to 4IR directly is 4Sight (4SI). 4SI listed on the JSE in October 2017, but only began to attract the attention of investors towards the end of last year. We added it to the Winning Shares List on 5^th August 2023 at a price of 31c and it has since risen to 72c. Consider the chart:

 

The company operates through four “clusters”:

1. Operational Technologies - 4IR technologies and services to help industrial customers with their full end-to-end digital transformation journey.
2. Information Technologies - enabling the digital transformation of ERP, accounting, human resources, and payroll disciplines.
3. Business Environment - partners with customers to drive value-creating digital transformation in specific areas of the business.
4. Channel Partner - supporting and empowering an ever-expanding channel of value-added resellers across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Europe.

In its results for the six months to 30^th June 2023, the company reported revenue up 37,1% and headline earnings per share (HEPS) up 197,2%.

The company’s balance sheet shows a healthy cash balance of R93m, up 33% on the previous comparable period.

In our view, this is a company growing rapidly on the back of the latest developments in computers and the internet. The only real problem with investing in a share like this is understanding exactly what it is that they do – but they are clearly very successful and expanding quickly.

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.

Share this article:

PDSNET ARTICLES - AUGUST 2019

Shoprite

The price of Shoprite shares on the JSE has now tumbled to far less than half of its peak value of R275.50 achieved on 7^th March 2018. Consider the chart:

There are many reasons that could be advanced for this downward trend, from the bad economic environment to the difficulties with hyperinflation in Angola (where Shoprite has 60 stores). But none of these reasons

Wall Street Analysis

Private investors in South Africa should always keep their eye on what is happening on Wall Street – because the long-term trends on stock markets around the world, including on the JSE, begin there. As the old saying goes, “When Wall Street sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold”. The S&P500 represents the weighted average movement of the 500 largest companies trading on Wall Street and

Gold Surges

Six weeks ago, on 24^th June 2019, we ran an article about gold under the heading “New [glossary_exclude]Gold[/glossary_exclude] Bull”. In that article we drew attention to the fact that gold in US dollars had broken convincingly up out of a long-term wedge formation and we suggested that it was probably entering a new bull trend. Since then

Banks

The back-bone of the South African economy is the banking sector – dominated by the “big five” banks – Standard, FNB, Nedbank, ABSA and now Capitec. Banking shares offer private investors a very solid long-term investment. Mostly they are relatively safe investments which grow steadily as the economy grows. It is important to understand that they are service companies and unlike manufacturing

Homework

On 1^st August 2019, Business Day carried an article on the performance of asset managers and how difficult it is to choose a winner from among them. In that article they commented that research done by Goldman Sachs in the US showed that, “competing managers, no matter how much they purported to have unique strategies all tended to pile into the same bundle of high-performing stocks”. In May of 2016, for