Best and Worst Performers on NSE as Q2 begins

Investors are buying a diverse group of stocks and selling others but is there a trend to the trading?

As the second quarter (Q2) of trading gets underway on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), we ran a screen to see the best and worst performers and to know if there are any discernible trends.

The best performing stocks are a diverse group (see Fig 1) that includes 2 major banks Stanbic IBTC and UBA up 24 percent and 16.8 percent respectively, Oando up 25 percent, Okomu and Presco Plc up 30.72 percent and 17 percent respectively and Lafarge Africa up 16 percent.

Some of the names have rallied recently based off better than expected Full Year 2016 results. These include Lafarge and Oando.

The worst performers are also a diverse group of companies (see Fig 2) including Forte Oil (-45%), Guinness (-27.69%), Drug maker Fidson (-25.78%) and UACN property (-35 %).

Interestingly among both extremes are companies in the same sectors which may signal company specific issues with execution.

Some examples of this include Mobil (+29%) and Forte oil (-45%), Continental Re (+28%) and N.E.M Insurance (-20%), and Lafarge Africa (+16%) and Ashaka Cement (-20%).

Investors may however want to keep an eye on the worst performing firms for a potential mean reversal trade where traders often anticipate a reversal to occur in a stock that has been consecutively reaching new highs or new lows!

 

 PATRICK ATUANYA