How to Research Stocks in South Africa revealed. We have conducted extensive research to provide South Africans with a guide and information on how they can research stocks to find the right fit for their investment portfolio.
This is a complete guide on how to Research Stocks in South Africa.
10 Best Forex Brokers in South Africa for 2025
Rank
Broker
Review
Regulators
Min Deposit
Official Site
In this in-depth guide, you’ll learn:
- Why should you research a stock before you make a purchase?
- How to Research Stocks in South Africa
- How to Choose a Stockbroker in South Africa
- Best Share CFD Brokers in South Africa
How to Research Stocks in South Africa – 6 Key Point Quick Overview
- ✅ Why should you research a stock before you make a purchase?
- ✅ How to Research Stocks in South Africa
- ✅ How to Choose a Stockbroker in South Africa
- ✅ The Best Share CFD brokers in South Africa
- ✅ Conclusion
- ✅ Frequently asked questions
Why should you research a stock before you make a purchase?
Self-study and preparation are on the rise due to the unpredictability of modern economic conditions. As a result, many individuals now place a premium on taking charge of their financial lives and making long-term plans.
Some investors place little stock on doing thorough due diligence. They depend instead on rumors and other incorrect stock market information.
An analysis is essential for those worried about their financial future and who want to find stocks that will help their limited funds go farther than they would in a savings or money market account.
Researching a company’s financial history is crucial before purchasing its stock since it provides insight into the company’s prospects.
The last several years of a company’s development may provide insight into the probability of a stock increasing in value. However, no one can predict this with absolute precision.
Investors should do their homework before placing their money into a stock to ensure the firm is not overburdened with debt, is making enough money, has happy customers, is expanding cash flows, is investing in its future, and is selling at a fair price.
Insight into the company’s financial health, growth prospects, and stability may be gained by studying the stock’s financial reports. But unfortunately, far too many individuals put their money into struggling businesses, hoping they would soon turn things around.
Investments in the shares of successful firms with solid foundations for future development are often the best bet. Conversely, investing in a company that underperforms is a choice no one wants to make.
The financial future does not have to come as a surprise but as the result of a well-planned financial strategy if the time is taken to study the company’s shareholder reports, press releases, industry journals, and other publicly accessible material with the eye of a financial analyst.
How to Research Stocks in South Africa
Understanding Stock Research as a Process
Whether your goal as an investor is to maximize growth or value, learning to think as an analyst begins with training your mind to ask questions.
Discover what items are worth and how much you may get for them. Analysts often work with a single market, and instead, they concentrate on a few chosen businesses within that industry. The goal of any good analyst is to do extensive research on the businesses on their watch list.
Specifically, they examine the company’s financial records and other data at their disposal. Analysts will also investigate the dealings of a company’s suppliers, customers, and rivals to verify their findings thoroughly.
Some analysts visit the headquarters and speak with management in person to get a better feel for how the firm operates. Then, expert analysts slowly piece together the puzzle until they have the whole picture.
Do your own homework before putting money into anything. Do your homework on many stocks within the same sector to get a better overall picture.
Getting your hands on data is typically not a problem. However, time is the most significant barrier to entry into self-studying stock analysis.
Unlike full-time professional security analysts, retail investors often have other commitments that prevent them from devoting as much time to the market. In the beginning, though, you might certainly take on simply one or two companies to see how effectively you can examine them.
If you had that information, you could better grasp what was happening. If you give it some time and learn the ropes, you might be able to expand the number of stocks you analyze.
Technical vs. Fundamental Analysis on Stocks
Fundamental Analysis
It is assumed for this calculation that the market price of a stock is not always indicative of the company’s true worth. Nevertheless, this is the main method used by value investors to identify promising investments.
Ascertaining whether a company is valued is a primary concern for fundamental analysts, who utilize various valuation indices and other data to do so. An investor’s goal in using fundamental analysis should be to maximize their profits over the long run.
Technical Analysis
The price of a stock is assumed to represent all relevant information fully and to follow broad patterns in technical analysis. Investors could foretell how a stock’s price will move in the future by looking at how it has moved in the past.
Technical analysis is the branch of finance that deals with the study of patterns in stock charts and the use of moving averages.
It is vital to note that fundamental research aims to identify long-term investment possibilities. Most of the time, technical analysis looks at recent price changes.
Narrow Your Focus to a Few Companies
Reviewing analyst reports is a great place to begin when doing your own research. In this manner, you can skip over a lot of the groundwork and get right to the meat of the matter.
The research papers that analysts provide may give you a fast overview of the firm, its strengths and weaknesses, its major rivals, the industry outlook, and its prospects without forcing you to follow their sell or buy recommendations blindly.
Analysts’ reports are dense with information, and it would be beneficial to study many analysts’ reports concurrently to spot the common thread. However, though perspectives may vary, there is consensus on the reports’ shared foundational information.
In addition, you may investigate the earnings predictions of various analysts, which form the basis of their buy/sell recommendations.
The price at which various market experts estimate a stock will eventually trade may vary. Therefore, when reviewing analyst reports, always try to find the underlying cause of why certain things happened.
Key financial ratios and other information from filings can easily be found on the websites of major financial news outlets and your broker. You could use this data to evaluate how a firm stacks up against competitors for your investment funds.
It is easy to become lost in the mountains of statistics that fill these financial reports. So instead, focus on the following elements to learn about the quantifiable inner workings of a business:
- Net Income
- Revenue
- Earnings per Share (EPS)
- Price to Earnings (P/E) Ratio
- Price to earnings Growth (PEG) Ratio
- Price to Book (P/B) Ratio
- Debt to EBITDA Ratio
- Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA)
Net Income
This “bottom line” statistic, so named because it appears after the income statement, represents a company’s net profit after deducting all costs, including those for depreciation and taxes. Gross income is related to revenue, while net income is left after covering basic needs.
Revenue
This is the total amount of cash that came into the firm throughout the allotted timeframe. That is because it is the first item that pops up when you open an income statement, thus the reference to “top line.”
Operating revenue is one kind of revenue, whereas nonoperating revenue is a separate category.
Since it comes directly from the company’s primary activities, operating revenue is the most indicative metric. However, one-time business actions, such as the sale of an asset, are a common source of nonoperating revenues.
Earnings per Share (EPS)
Earnings per share are calculated by dividing overall company profits by the total number of publicly traded shares.
Profit per share is a common measure of a company’s financial health that can be compared to similar businesses. The “TTM” after EPS means that the figure is for the most recent twelve months.
Price to Earnings (P/E) Ratio
The trailing P/E ratio is calculated by dividing the current stock price by the company’s earnings per share, typically over the past 12 months. Forward P/E is calculated by dividing the current stock price by the earnings that Wall Street analysts expect to see in the future.
Investors are prepared to pay this price for a share of the firm if it means they will get $1 in the company’s current profits.
Price to earnings Growth (PEG) Ratio
The rates of expansion of various businesses vary. Therefore, the PEG ratio is used to compare stocks with similar growth prospects by dividing their P/E ratio by their predicted annualized earnings growth rate over the next several years.
A PEG ratio of 2 would be calculated for a firm with a P/E of 20 and a 10% profit growth forecast for the next five years. Fast-growing businesses may be more cost-effective than their slower-growing counterparts.
Price to Book (P/B) Ratio
The total worth of a company’s assets makes up its book value. The book value of a firm is the hypothetical sum it would have after liquidating all its assets and ceasing operations.
One way to evaluate a firm is to look at how its stock price compares to its book value, expressed as its P/B ratio.
Debt to EBITDA Ratio
Debt levels are a useful indicator of a company’s overall financial health. The debt-to-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ratio is an excellent starting point among the many debt indicators.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization (EBITDA), and total debt are seen on a company’s balance sheet.
You can find a company’s EBITDA on its income statement. The South Africans have no trouble converting the two figures into a ratio. The greater the debt-to-EBITDA ratio, the riskier the investment might be, particularly during economic downturns.
Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA)
When calculated as a percentage, return on equity shows how much money a firm makes from its shareholders’ money. That equity belongs to the shareholders. How much money a business makes for every dollar it has in assets is measured by its return on assets.
An organization’s yearly net revenue is divided by each metric to arrive at these numbers. These ratios also provide insight into the company’s ability to maximize profitability.
Consider the Industry
Information on every field is accessible online. The industry’s future growth prospects may often be gleaned from the company’s own annual report. The big and smaller rivals in each market are also profiled in annual reports.
If you want a better grasp of the big picture, it may help to study the annual reports of many firms at once. Suppose you want to keep up with the newest developments in a certain field. In that case, you may also subscribe to trade periodicals and websites.
Evaluate the Qualitative Factors
If quantitative stock research discloses the company’s financials in black and white, qualitative stock research paints a complete picture of the company’s operations and prospects in full technicolor.
Whether the company has a competitive advantage
As long-term investors, South Africans should consider whether a firm can maintain (and ideally grow) its market share.
Therefore, while evaluating prospective equities, it is vital to look for signs of sustainable competitive advantage or economic moat. There are several shapes this might take, including:
- A well-known brand, for instance, could enable the business to charge higher prices.
- With a patent, you can shield your product from rivals.
- The company’s strong distribution network might increase its net margin over its rivals.
Evaluate the company’s management
When evaluating a company, a stock analyst must also consider the quality of its management. A common adage in business is that there are no good or bad organizations, only excellent and terrible managers.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the company’s top executives to ensure its continued success. The quality of a company’s management and the board can be evaluated via online research. In addition, each publicly traded firm has many publicly available data.
Consider what could go wrong
This does not relate to events that could have little impact on the stock price soon, but to changes that significantly impact the firm’s long-term viability.
Apply the “what if” scenario thinking to spot warning signs such as:
- The expiration of a crucial patent
- A radical shift in strategy by the new CEO
- The emergence of a formidable rival
- The introduction of disruptive new technologies
South Africans should anticipate that these changes could pose serious threats to the survival of any given organization.
Evaluate the Business Model
It is important to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of a company. A powerful firm may exist in a weak industry, and a poor company can exist in a robust one.
It is common for a company’s strengths to be mirrored in its brand identity, goods, consumers, and suppliers. A corporation’s business model might be gleaned through its annual report, industry publications, and official websites.
Use Your Stock Research and Put it Into Context
A vast plethora of indicators and ratios may be used to ascertain the true worth of a company’s shares and determine its overall financial health.
However, concluding a firm based on its financial performance in a single year or the actions of its management in the recent past is seldom fruitful.
A well-informed story about the firm and the qualities that make it worthy of a long-term relationship should be constructed before any shares are purchased. And context is essential for it.
Focusing on the past might give your study much-needed perspective long-term. This will show you how the firm handles adversity, how it responds to problems, and whether it can continually raise its game to benefit its shareholders.
Next, evaluate the company’s role in the market by comparing its performance to comparable businesses and industry averages using the metrics and ratios presented in earlier sections of this article.
There is a plethora of online research tools available via various brokers. Utilizing a stock screener or your broker’s educational tool will simplify this process.
How to Choose a Stockbroker in South Africa
Before looking at specific brokers, it is helpful to have a general idea of the two main categories: full-service and internet brokers.
When most people think of a stockbroker, they picture a classic full-service broker. However, some brokerage firms are considered “full-service” because they provide their clients with a wide range of financial services, including buying and selling stocks and other assets.
An investment broker will evaluate your current financial status and long-term investment objectives and recommend specific stocks to purchase and sell based on that analysis.
An alternative is a web-based stock exchange (aka online share trading platform). Trading online may save you a lot of money compared to using a full-service broker. However, you will be on your own to make all trading decisions.
When South Africans consider stockbrokers in South Africa, they must evaluate the following components to determine whether the broker suits their investment and trading needs and objectives.
Consider the Costs involved with investing
Your financial expertise, personal preferences, and intended investment amount all play a role in determining whether an internet broker or a full-service broker is the better option.
Online brokering services are advantageous since they are economical, user-friendly, and handy. In addition, various trading systems are available, with commissions ranging from 50 to 400 ZAR per deal.
The degree of advice online brokers provide is inferior to that of full-service brokers.
Nonetheless, the online broker’s specialist staff may be able to provide you with in-depth business research, analysis, and buy/sell recommendations depending on the trading platform you use and the membership level you choose.
Of course, you may have to pay more to use these features. However, the benefit of working with a full-service broker is that you can rely on their experienced advice when making investment selections and that they will handle all your trading for you.
The drawback is that full-service brokers are more expensive, often costing anywhere from 500 to 5,000 ZAR brokerage fees, if not more.
Thus, if you are considering hiring a full-service broker, you should know that brokerage fees are often levied as a percentage of the overall purchase or sell transaction value.
Range of Markets Offered (not just stocks)
Find a stockbroker who provides a wide range of investment and trading services if you want to simplify your search.
You should choose a broker that allows you to trade in several markets, not just one. This is especially important if you want to trade multiple asset classes, such as stocks, derivatives (futures and options), currencies, commodities, etc.
And if you want to diversify your portfolio with investments like bonds and mutual funds, you should see whether that broker offers such services. Most of today’s top brokers provide clients access to a wide range of investment options and trading tools.
Regulation and overall Security
When choosing a broker, it is best to choose one that a credible agency regulates. In addition, you could learn a lot about a company’s trustworthiness by looking at its past case results and dispute filings.
The validity of the brokerage firm’s financial stability must be verified. Companies’ financial health may be inferred from various factors, including their length of operation and prominence in their field.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) is the South African regulator. It conducts audits of the businesses it oversees to verify that customer monies are being segregated from business operations.
It is common for a broker to be able to lawfully do business in a nation while not being regulated there. Since most global regulators impose comparable standards on brokers, it is less relevant where a broker is based and more relevant whether they are licensed.
Most online brokers prioritize client safety. As a result, compared to crypto exchanges, for instance, brokerages provide a higher level of safety.
Investment Management
One area of expertise that many online stockbrokers have developed is the provision of professional money management services.
Brokers usually include all these aspects in their approach to customer service, ranging from creating investment portfolios to providing financial advice from third parties.
The Quality of the Trading Platform
Nowadays, brokers often provide their clients with excellent UX (User Experience). Investors want clean, straightforward user interfaces. The South African stockbrokers on our recommended list provide a high-quality user interface.
Customer Support
A broad range of quality services to customers must be available. For example, these days, investors will have difficulty locating a broker that provides phone support for clients. In addition, the investor must be patient for email ticketing systems to operate, but they do.
Trading Tools
South African share brokers might not need particularly advanced trading instruments for inexperienced traders.
However, many of the most well-known South African stockbrokers include sophisticated charting tools for technical equities analysis and sophisticated market ordering systems that enable trades to be executed at certain price levels.
Thus, establish a Stop Loss if you cannot keep an eye on your brokerage interface and you are losing money.
Fees
There are two distinct categories of charges: trading fees and non-trading fees.
Trading Fees
- As is the case everywhere, stockbrokers in South Africa often impose a spread charge, calculated as the difference between the day’s purchasing and selling prices.
- A commission fee might be added to the already-existing spread fee.
- South Africans must remember that a separate overnight trading cost is assessed every 24 hours that a CFD transaction is open. Because of this, CFD trading is better suited for day trading than a long-term investment. CFDs are inappropriate for dividend equities, which typically pay out benefits every quarter and are therefore acceptable for long-term holding.
Non-Trading Fees
Avoiding non-trading expenses is a top priority for investors. Many different types of fees may be charged. Online, South African stockbrokers are worth their salt and will often detail their comprehensive charge structures for clients.
The Best Share CFD brokers in South Africa
This article lists the best brokers that offer share CFDs to South African traders in this article. In addition, we have further identified the brokers that offer additional services and solutions to traders.
Best MetaTrader 4 / MT4 Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, OANDA is the best MT4 Share CFD broker in South Africa. OANDA offers a massive range of tradable instruments via MT4 and the award-winning OANDA platform, including EU and US CFDs, with competitive commissions from 0.1%.
Best MetaTrader 5 / MT5 Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, AvaTrade is the best MetaTrader 5 Share CFD broker in South Africa. AvaTrade has more than 300,000 customers and allows South Africans to trade over 600 share CFDs.
AvaTrade allows for trading shares, ETFs, bonds, forex, and other instruments via powerful software such as MetaTrader 5, which is ideal for CFD trading.
Best Share CFD broker in South Africa for beginners
Overall, eToro is the best Share CFD broker in South Africa for beginners. eToro is a popular social investing platform that offers more than 3,000 shares from around the globe.
eToro offers comprehensive education to beginner traders and has some of the best trading tools and resources.
Best Low Minimum Deposit Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, Interactive Brokers is the best Low Minimum Deposit Share CFD broker in South Africa. Interactive Brokers does not set a minimum deposit when South Africans register an account.
Interactive Brokers offers a range of account types and provides powerful multi-platform support.
Best ECN Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, Capital.com is the best ECN Share CFD broker in South Africa. Capital.com offers South Africans more than 5,600 CFDs that can be traded, including global stocks.
Capital.com has more than 400,000 clients and offers some of the best ECN execution, aggregating prices from top liquidity providers in the industry.
Best Trading App in South Africa
Overall, XTB is the best trading app in South Africa. XTB serves more than 13 countries and offers traders access to several asset classes, including forex, indices, shares, and ETF CFDs.
XTB provides South Africans with a robust and innovative trading app for iOS and Android apps.
Best ZAR Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, HFM is the best ZAR Share CFD broker in South Africa. HFM is a popular FSCA-regulated CFD and forex broker that offers over 1,000 tradable instruments. South Africans can easily register a ZAR account with HFM and start trading from 70 ZAR.
Best Lowest Spread Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, Pepperstone is the best lowest-spread Share CFD broker in South Africa. Pepperstone offers traders access to US, UK, German, and Australian shares.
South Africans can expect tight spreads from 0.0 pips on major instruments, and trading can be done via cTrader, MT4, and MT5.
Best Nasdaq 100 Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, Tickmill is the best Nasdaq 100 Share CFD broker in South Africa. Tickmill offers over 80 instruments, including several share and index CFDs, including Nasdaq 100.
In addition, Tickmill offers three retail accounts that can be used on MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5.
Best Volatility 75 / VIX 75 Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, IG is the best Volatility 75 / VIX 75 Share CFD broker in South Africa. South Africans can trade over 19,000 financial instruments with IG in a safe, transparent trading environment well-regulated by several entities.
South Africans can choose from several trading and investment accounts used on powerful and reliable trading platforms such as MT4 and IG’s proprietary trading platforms.
Best NDD Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, SuperForex is the best NDD Share CFD broker in South Africa. In addition, SuperForex offers South African traders various US and EU stocks that can be traded via the SuperForex mobile app and MT4.
South Africans can choose from 11 account types and expect some of the best ECN and STP trade execution, with prices sourced from top liquidity providers within SuperForex’s NDD framework.
Best STP Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, FOREX.com is the best STP Share CFD broker in South Africa. FOREX.com is a multi-regulated and multi-asset broker that offers South Africans a choice between several share CFDs from worldwide indices.
South Africans can expect some of the best execution from FOREX.com across several instruments, with tight spreads and competitive commissions.
Best Sign-up Bonus Share CFD broker in South Africa
Overall, XM is the best sign-up bonus Share CFD broker in South Africa. XM is a reputable forex and CFD specialist in operation since 2009.
XM offers new traders a 30 USD no-deposit bonus that they can use to explore XM’s offer and over 1,000 trading instruments.
Conclusion
The stock market offers no assurances, particularly for short-term investing. Therefore, it is essential to do an extensive study before acquiring stocks. Consider a stock’s fundamentals, business outlook, competitive advantages, and leadership performance.
Quantitative stock research is as basic as getting the appropriate documents from the appropriate sources and examining crucial figures.
In addition, ask some vital questions, often known as qualitative stock research, and examine how a firm compares to its industry rivals and to itself in prior years.
10 Best Forex Brokers in South Africa for 2025
Rank
Broker
Review
Regulators
Min Deposit
Official Site
Frequently asked questions
How can South Africans find stocks to research?
South African investors can use reputable websites with different stocks and fundamental and technical analyses. In addition, these websites typically provide historical data, including price charts, previous financial statements, forecasts from analysts, and more.
How can South Africans start studying stocks?
There are many resources to study stocks, including books, online courses, analysis of the market, opening a demo account, and consulting a professional.
What is the best place for South Africans to research international shares?
Traders can use several reputable tools, including Bloomberg, Morning Star, Simply Wall, Seeking Alpha, and more.
How long will it take to learn about the stock market?
There is no single timeframe during which you will learn about the stock market, as conditions are always changing.
Each trading and investment strategy has its own timeframe. It will also depend on yourself, the time you can dedicate to learning and several other factors.
How will South Africans determine whether a stock is a good fit for their portfolios?
Traders must consider the company’s fundamentals and conduct a technical analysis of the company’s stock.
South Africans should consider net income, historical prices, the industry overall, analyst reports and forecasts, the stock price, revenue growth, earnings per share, and more.
Addendum/Disclosure
No matter how diligently we strive to maintain accuracy, the financial markets are volatile that could shift and change at any given time, even if the information supplied is correct at the time of going live.
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