David Shapiro: Stocks on sale – Sasol at 2005 prices, Discovery at 2014. Mr Market over-reacting

South Africa's favourite market commentator David Shapiro is licking his lips at the value which South African shares are offering today's investors, especially Sasol and Discovery. He discusses the attraction of both companies in this interview, from the latest episode of Rational Radio. Not often you get to see a dripping roast like this – but as Shapiro explains, Mr Market seems to have completely "lost it" over the spread of the Coronavirus. – Alec Hogg

When I contacted David Shapiro this morning he was using stronger words than Oy vey. Red ink on his prices page, the JSE today having one of its worst days in a long time. It appears as though the Coronavirus is playing a big role as well as other issues affecting Mr. Market who's suddenly gone negative on South Africa. Most of the indices are down by 3% or more, excepting the gold shares. In this conversation – our weekly wrap up with South Africa's favourite market commentator – we talk about the market generally and focus on financial results that came out today from Sasol. These were for the half year to the end of December where the headline earnings collapsed by 72%, earnings before interest and tax were down 53% – caused by a reduction in the Rand price of oil – 9% down which has a direct impact on Sasol's profits. But more so through the negative contribution from the Lake Charles chemicals project, where – if you add it all up – it came to something like a R5bn direct impact on the bottom line. Considering that headline earnings in this half year was less than R5bn, it shows what an impact Lake Charles – the Louisiana chemicals plant project – is having on the group. But here's David.

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