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Good morning Voornaam,

Shoprite has delivered yet another quarter of exceptional growth.
Transaction Capital plans to unbundle WeBuyCars.
Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft beat earnings estimates.
Dominique Olivier on the Stanley cups craze and how people just love hype.
Magic Markets brings you the latest on Crocs and Birkenstock in this podcast>>>

Local company news:

Shoprite has done it again. With sales growth in the second quarter of 14.6%, none of the other retailers are coming close. The most impressive thing about Shoprite is that the growth looks good from Checkers and Checkers Hyper (up 13.7%) all the way down to Shoprite and Usave (up 13.1%). By now, you must be wondering about the army of turquoise scooters on our roads. Well, Checkers Sixty60 grew by a whopping 63.1%!

There are debates online about whether the company can keep winning market share. Strategically, the group has invested in important residential nodes. On top of that, the rise of Checkers Sixty60 gives consumers more choice, as it's not just about defaulting to the store at the local mall. Competitors have similar offerings, yet there's a very clear winner.

In other retail news in Ghost Bites this morning, we saw decent numbers come in from Pepkor. They were boosted by strong growth in PEP Africa and Avenida. The growth is almost exclusively coming from credit sales (up 35.2%) rather than cash sales (up 2.4%). This is yet another reminder of the state of play for local consumers.

Transaction Capital seems more keen than ever before to unbundle WeBuyCars. It potentially solves a few problems for the group and takes this business even further away from the contagion of SA Taxi. The group has reassured investors over and over again that the business units are legally isolated from one another, yet reputational issues are a problem here with funders. They need WeBuyCars to build its own profile away from the mothership.

Also look out for a sale and leaseback deal at Argent Industrial and the release of a prospectus by PowerFleet, the company looking to merge with MiX Telematics. It's incredible to see how huge the advisory fees are when a US company is involved.

Get everything you need to know on these stories in Ghost Bites>>>

Also be sure to add the Ghost Wrap podcast to your weekly listening regime. This week, you need only five minutes to get the most important insights on Motus, Attacq, Clicks and Woolworths. This podcast is designed for busy people just like you, with thanks to Mazars. You'll find it here>>>

Although the Stanley cup craze doesn't seem to have found South Africa yet, it probably will. In Dominique Olivier's latest example of business storytelling, she explains how and why people are losing their minds over Stanley cups. This is the exact same behaviour that we see playing out in the stock market over and over again. Prepare yourself for the hype here>>>

International company news:

Thanks to data and automation specialists B2IT, Magic Markets brings you the latest from the world of ugly shoes! This might upset a few people, but Birkenstock and Crocs felt to us like they could be grouped together. Admittedly, we don't know much about fashion. We know a little bit about the numbers and investing though, so get up to speed on both companies in this podcast>>>

"Priced for perfection" is a term that many growth stock investors still need to learn the hard way. A valuation can already be pricing in so much growth that even a solid set of numbers can lead to a sell-off in the share price. A perfect example is Alphabet (Google), which fell 5.7% in after hours trade despite beating earnings estimates. Microsoft was only slightly in the red (down 0.2%) despite also beating estimates.

Microsoft is my favourite business on the planet, so I'm not too surprised to see resilience there. There are many recurring cash flows and the group is literally the fabric of modern day computing, with plenty of growth engines for the next decade. Alphabet is more of an advertising business and I'm less bullish on their model. Reports suggest that the ad business was below estimates at Alphabet, so the market likely focused on that and got worried.

When it comes to investing in tech, I'm sticking to my maxim: in Satya Nadella we trust.

Have a great day!

READ: Why are we losing our minds over Stanley cups?
(by Dominique Olivier)

You’ve heard of an emotional support animal, sure. But why are people all around North America suddenly talking about an “emotional support water bottle”? Is the Stanley cup really the last word in personal hydration – or is this just a sippy cup for adults? Dominique Olivier investigates.

Learn about the Stanley cup craze in this article

Currencies, commodities and rates: TreasuryONE Market Update

Yesterday was a relatively quiet day for currencies, with the dollar trading sideways in anticipation of the FOMC meeting. Over in Europe, better than expected GDP growth for Q4 in the Eurozone (0.1% vs. 0.0% - exciting stuff right?) gave the euro a small boost.

More sideways action is likely as we look ahead to the FOMC meeting. In the meantime, gold is at $2,033, Brent Crude is trading at $82.64 and platinum in ZAR is at R17,270.

The rand is holding tight at R18.81 this morning.

As a Ghost Mail reader, you have a wonderful early bird opportunity to register for the 2024 post-budget panel discussion hosted by TreasuryONE, Econometrix and ETM Analytics. I absolutely cannot recommend this enough and I will also be attending to learn from the panel. Get it in your diaries now already by registering at this link>>>

LISTEN: Magic Markets podcast

In Episode 159 of Magic Markets, we dug in the back of our cupboards for the shoes we are too embarrassed to wear. Perhaps we just aren’t fashionable enough, as there are many celebrities wearing Birkenstocks. As for Crocs, there are few who would put those on a pedestal for beautiful design!

Of the two ugly shoe contenders, which one is a buy? And what can we learn about IPOs from this?

Find out about the opportunities and risks in this podcast, brought to you by international data and automation specialists B2IT.

Listen to Magic Markets Episode 159 here (23 minutes long)

LISTEN: What to do with those festive savings with Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix

Saving and investing over December - January isn't easy. To keep you inspired, Siya joined me to cover a wide range of ETF topics - along with some tips of how to keep those goals going over this period of endless spending!

Listen to the Ghost Stories podcast here (38 minutes long)

READ: Letter from the Editor - from Cape to Clarens

A roadtrip across South Africa is always a treat. Of course, it's also a way to see what is really going on out there. I wrote about my experience from Cape Town to Clarens (and back again!)

Read about my roadtrip and observations in this article

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