When Companies Are Turned Around

What to look for when a once high-flying company is trying to sort out its affairs.

- Simon Brown

I’ve been reading old articles on our mining stocks written between 2016 and 2018 when commodity prices were low, stock prices even lower, profits almost zero and dividends absolutely zero. I, and many other writers across the web and print publications, were bearish. Sure, there were some who were punting these commodity stocks, but they were a minority.

I’ve been digging into the past after the recent Kumba Iron Ore dividend of 7 270c per share, which is almost equal to three times the share price in January 2016; while the Impala Platinum trading update says headline earnings per share (HEPS) will be at least 2 480c, more than the 2 000c the share was trading at in August 2018.

Now, these are different beasts in that they are commodity companies, and I wrote in the last issue of finweek about the cyclical nature of these companies. The numbers mentioned earlier are staggering and show how we need to focus not just on current trends – but also future ones.