South Africans who bought shares in the world’s top 10 biggest tech companies at the start of 2022 would’ve seen substantial declines in their investment this year.
High inflation rates and weak economic growth ravaged the global technology sector in 2022.
Many companies’ revenues have declined due to lower consumer spending amid considerable pricing pressures and less need for tech products used while working from home.
MyBroadband compared the share prices of the world’s biggest listed technology companies by market capitalization from market close on the first day of trading in the year, 3 January 2022, to Wednesday, 14 December 2022.
We found that, across the board, anyone who invested in these companies at the beginning of the year would have lost money.
The blow was softened somewhat when buying US-based stocks from South Africa due to the stronger dollar and weaker rand.
On 3 January 2022, the rand traded at about R15.88 to the dollar, while it closed at R17.17 by 14 December 2022.
The worst of the bunch
Even a 12% weaker rand only slightly improved the overall losses.
Those who invested in Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) and Tesla saw the worst drops in their investment value.
An investment of R1,000 in Meta Platforms shares on 3 January 2022 would be worth roughly R388.58 by the close of markets on 14 December 2022.
That is when considering both the massive 64% share price drop from $338.54 to $121.59 and factoring in the weaker rand.
Over the same period, Tesla’s share price plummeted from nearly $400 to $156.80 — a decline of 61%.
An investment of R1,000 in Tesla at the beginning of the year would have been worth R424.19 by 14 December 2022.
The table below shows how much money you would have left if you invested R1,000 in each of the world’s top 10 biggest tech companies on 3 January 2022.
| Biggest tech shares performance | |||||
| Company | 3 Jan. 2022 | 14 Dec. 2022 | Change | R1,000 investment, using rand value on 3 January |
R1,000 investment, including rand performance |
| Apple | 182.01 USD | 143.21 USD | -21% | R786.82 | R851.28 |
| Microsoft | 334.75 USD | 257.22 USD | -23% | R768.39 | R831.34 |
| Alphabet | 144.99 USD | 95.07 USD | -34% | R655.70 | R709.41 |
| Amazon | 170.40 USD | 91.58 USD | -46% | R537.44 | R581.47 |
| Tesla | 399.93 USD | 156.80 USD | -61% | R392.07 | R424.19 |
| Nvidia | 301.21 USD | 176.74 USD | -41% | R586.77 | R634.83 |
| TSMC | 631 TWD | 480.50 TWD | -24% | R761.49 | R748.71 |
| Tencent | 453.80 HKD | 325 HKD | -28% | R716.17 | R785.54 |
| Meta Platforms | 338.54 USD | 121.59 USD | -64% | R359.16 | R388.58 |
| Samsung | 78,600 KRW | 60,500 KRW | -23% | R769.72 | R788.48 |
Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Tencent, and TSMC were the best-performing among the world’s biggest tech companies, with their share prices dropping between 21% and 28%.
An Apple investor’s R1,000 on 3 January 2022 would be worth R851.28 by 14 December 2022, a loss just shy of R150 and the least for any of the companies in the top 10.
Several other prominent tech or tech-focused companies not on the list — including Adobe, Alibaba, AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Intel, Netflix, and Qualcomm — have also seen substantial share price drops.
The good news is that tech shares might make for good bets again in the near future.
According to Citigroup’s analysts, the sector could bounce back as early as in 2023, but it might be a volatile ride until then. Those with a bit of courage and patience might yet see their losses turn into gains.
The graphs below summarize the changes in the share prices of the world’s biggest tech companies in 2022.
apple — down 21%
Microsoft — down 23%
Alphabet — down 34%
Amazon — down 46%
Tesla — down 61%
Nvidia — down 41%
TSMC — down 24%
Tencent — down 28%
Meta Platforms — down 64%
Samsung — down 23%
.