The headline number looks obscene — EPS up as much as 279% — but don't let it fool you. That's a R23.2bn tax-neutral, non-recurring fair value gain from remeasuring the previously held Safaricom associate stake, stripped clean out of headline earnings. The real story is HEPS up 22-27% to between 570c and 593c, bang in the middle of Vodacom's medium-term growth ambitions.
Vodacom's boring-brilliant act continues: a huge subscriber base, steady service revenue and now proof the Safaricom stake is worth more than the market priced it — even if that gain never flows to the dividend. Full interims land 10 November. At 15x trailing earnings with a 25% ROE, this remains one of the JSE's most dependable compounders. Nothing to dislike here.
Southern Palladium is small, speculative and dual-listed down under, but this quarterly just got a whole lot more interesting. The updated PFS lifted post-tax NPV 129% to US$1.96bn, IRR to 39.1% and payback to 2.8 years, while chromite recovery estimates tripled versus the old PFS — chrome as a co-product sweetens the PGM story. Add the 30-year mining right granted in August and you have a junior that's genuinely de-risking.
This is still a development-stage stock with no earnings yet, so the PE stays blank. But the board has already approved early box-cut and decline development, and the balance sheet is fully funded to complete the DFS. If Bengwenyama is the tier-1 PGM project the numbers suggest, R18.39 looks cheap. If not, you own a risky explorer. Speculative buy — sized as such.
Credit agencies are the ultimate referees, and GCR just blew the whistle in Northam's favour: long-term issuer rating upgraded to AA(ZA) from A+(ZA), short-term to A1+(ZA), outlook stable. The rationale reads like a management brochure — stronger operational profile, production ramping through the cycle while local peers stalled, and a balance sheet that's now net ungeared.
PGM stocks have been hammered this year and Northam hasn't been immune (-18.8% over 52 weeks), but the upgrade is a reminder of the quality underneath: record FY26 results, R2.6bn net cash on the books and a consensus Buy with an analyst price target a third above the current price. At under 7x trailing earnings, the derating has overshot the fundamentals.