What our female clients are invested in on the JSE

Chantal Marx

We had a look at what our female Share Invest clients are invested in right now. While not completely different to what our male clients are invested in – there were some interesting surprises waiting for us in the thousands of data points (and subsequent pivot tables) that we combed through.

As a start, it is important to note that we still have a lot more men than women with share portfolios – only 25% of our Share Invest client base who disclosed their gender are women. This is in-line with global norms and, although the balance has improved over the last few years, we recognise that much more needs to be done to encourage women to invest in the stock market. The reasons why this has been a challenge is well known – women are less likely to take on risk (equities are risky relative to for example, cash) and women are generally less confident in making investment decisions (keeping them from opening stockbroking accounts).

Our Share Invest clients are retail investors that manage their own portfolios. Most of our Share Invest clients have decent blue-chip exposure and within the largest holdings, there is very little difference between our male and female clients. Within the top 10 shares held there are eight shares owned heavily by both men and women, those being Sasol, FirstRand, Sibanye Stillwater, Richemont, Naspers, Prosus, MTN and Anglo American. Rounding out the top 10 – the men favour Discovery and British American Tobacco, while the ladies prefer Aspen and Mondi.

When considering shares outside the Top 40 – our female clients seem almost equally enamoured by Thugela Resources (although ownership could be a consequence of owning Anglo American prior to the unbundling), City Lodge and Renergen. This is where the similarities end – among our female client base the “top 10 outside the top 40” includes African Rainbow Capital, Mr Price, Tsogo Sun Gaming, The Foschini Group, Famous Brands, Fortress B and Growthpoint. The men, in contrast, heavily own PPC, CA&S, Exxaro, Wesizwe, Aveng, Orion and Redefine. This corresponds with other research that has suggested that women tend to be more conservative in picking stocks and “invest in what they know”, with exposure to more defensive consumer facing stocks preferred over the heavily cyclical mining and construction stocks the men are investing in.

Top 10 shares owned by female share invest clients

Source: FNB Share Invest, FNB Wealth and Investments

There is quite a bit of nuance between age groups as well. Share Invest clients are quite diverse in age with, unsurprisingly, clients over 50 holding the bulk of the asset base (~44%). Our younger client base (below 30 years old) account for ~25% of assets under administration, with those aged between 40 and 50 accounting for ~21%, and the 30- to 40-year-old cohort accounting for 10%. Among the top 10 shares held by women per age group – five stocks make the cut in each – Sasol, Naspers, Prosus, MTN and FirstRand. Outside of that, there were some interesting differences in the form of Aveng (the fourth largest weighting in the under 30 female’s portfolio), Fortress B (the second largest weighting in the 30-to-40-year old’s portfolio), Shoprite (the seventh most held share in the 40-to-50-year cohort) and BHP Group (the tenth most held share by women over 50). Women under 50 have more small and mid-cap exposures among their top holdings – suggesting a higher willingness to take on a little more risk.

Finally, we also had a look at offshore exposure available to this client base through the JSE-listed globally exposed ETFs and FNB ETNs. Among our females with offshore exposure, 79% of assets under administration are invested in ETFs, with the most widely held ETFs being the FNB Global 1200 ETF, Sygnia Itrix S&P 500 ETF, and the Satrix MSCI China ETF. Within the “single stock” ETN’s where 21% of offshore exposure lies, like male investors, our female clients have big exposure to Tesla, Apple, Meta, and Alphabet but the men also have large exposure to Berkshire Hathaway, while the women prefer Netflix, perhaps suggesting less trust in the Oracle of Omaha and more in their own-lived experience.

We have been impressed by the selections made by our female clients. While the blue-chip holdings are favoured across the client base, there are meaningful differences when looking beyond the Top 40. Women’s generally more conservative approach may not include “ten baggers” or “meme stocks” but they are mainly invested in solid companies with strong management teams. They are well-diversified across industries and there is a fair blend between SA Inc and rand hedge stocks in the average portfolio. However, our challenge is clear – we want to encourage more women to take that first step. While it may be scary at first, building your own share portfolio can be a profoundly rewarding experience and there are a variety of options available for novice investors and more experienced traders alike.

Sector and SA Inc exposure within Top 20 portfolio holdings

Source: FNB Share Invest, FNB Wealth and Investments