Johannesburg - Sasfin Securities deputy chairman David Shapiro said technological stocks had grown in the last five years and would continue in the next 10 years.
He said firms such as Amazon, Facebook and Apple had surpassed oil firms, which led the way in terms of market capitalisation five years ago.
Shapiro was on a road show last week discussing how investing globally could yield great returns for investors.
“Naspers’ investment in Tencent is benefiting the company. Technology is enhancing the lives of millions of people around the world. If one is looking for the stocks that will bring good returns in the next 10 years, there is no better place to look than the technological stocks,” said Shapiro.
Boosted earnings
“It is not surprising that Tencent took out $8.6 billion (R124bn) to buy Supercell,” he said. Naspers owned a 34 percent stake in Tencent which was acquired in 2001. The move has boosted Naspers’ earnings.
Tencent helped Naspers to report revenue of $12.2bn for the year to March. Naspers is listed as a global internet and entertainment group and is one of the largest technology investors in the world.
A report on Wall Street Journal in July supports Shapiro’s assessment.
It was reported that Tencent Holdings and its partners would pay $8.6bn to acquire an 84.3 percent stake of Supercell, the Finnish maker of Clash of Clans, in a deal that would catapult the Chinese internet company to the top of the white hot market for games played on smart phones and tablets.
The deal for Supercell, Tencent’s biggest acquisition, reinforces the company’s position as the world’s biggest video game publisher by revenue.
It also highlights the Shenzhen-based company’s ambitions beyond China’s borders.
Tencent and its partners are buying an 84.3 percent stake in Supercell from Japan’s SoftBank Group Corporation and the start-up’s current and former employees. The deal values closely held Supercell at $10.2bn, nearly double its valuation a year ago.
According to Shapiro, Facebook has shown impressive numbers as well.
“Facebook has 1.7 billion active users a day.
“Each person spends about 45 minutes a day on average and 90 percent of those users access it by their mobile phones. What is more impressive is that Facebook has 16 million business pages. So you imagine the amount of advertising revenue the company is generating,” he said.
Shapiro said it was important for the investors to know these facts so that they could make informed decisions on where to invest.
BUSINESS REPORT