OUR ANALYST OF THE WEEK- Mohamed Saad, senior equity research analyst at Prime Holding (LinkedIn).

My name is Mohamed Saad and I’m a senior equity analyst at Prime Securities. When I first started my career I worked as an equity trader at Naeem Holding and then as a business development executive at Future Group. Both positions weren’t for me as I was very interested in the stock market and wanted to delve deeper into the field. I applied to Mubasher and Amr Elalfy took the risk of hiring me and I’ve worked as an analyst ever since. I joined Shuaa Capital afterwards and then moved to Prime Securities where I am now.

I now cover industrials in Egypt, but I started off covering banking and NBFS. I think banking is one of the best sectors for a beginner as it’s very stable and depends on economics more than anything. When I went into industrials I was a little shaky at first, but getting out of my comfort zone proved advantageous and I’ve learned a lot through the process.

The best part of my job is that it doesn’t have a textbook. Every day is different and you have to constantly adapt to new events or circumstances. In my case that involves reading a ton to always stay up to date. I’d say my day is divided into 40% reading, 30% writing, and the rest is miscellaneous [laughs].

The worst part of the job is that you can be proved wrong at any point. You can try to forecast the future, but sometimes one small variable can defy expectations or an unexpected variable can take the world by storm … such as the pandemic. I still get frustrated sometimes but I tell myself that it’s a learning curve and no one can be expected to get everything right.

WFH was challenging for me as it blurred the lines between my job and personal life. I found myself working 24/7 at one point because there wasn’t that physical barrier to let me know I was done with my job for the day. I’m also a person who takes time to wake up fully, so when I was going from my bed to the laptop right away it just wasn’t productive. We’re now working on a rotational system which is a big improvement, but personally I would opt for the in-office work every day.

My theory of investment is to ensure you’re an insider in whatever investment you choose. You really need to know the ins and outs, the industry trajectory, and the country forecasts for every stock you choose. When you can speak confidently about the investment and explain your reasoning behind it well, only then should you put your money where your mouth is.

Commodities are the investment of the season. I think the commodities boom will continue until at least 2022 as they were big beneficiaries from the aftermath of the pandemic. It will take time for supply to reach the level of demand needed for a correction, so there’s still a lot of upside potential in the coming period. Fertilizers in particular are an undiscovered gem.

The most important factors I look at before recommending an investment are the valuation gap and the liquidity of a stock. The valuation gap is essential as it gives you an indication of whether the stock has room to grow, but it also goes hand-in-hand with liquidity to ensure that it will actually be easy to trade hands.

2021 will be the year of recovery, but not the year of Egypt. That time will come when there’s a full recovery from the pandemic and we’re not still suffering from things such as decreased purchasing power. However, we’re currently at a good starting point and I think the next couple of years will propel us forward.

If I had to cover another industry I would go for real estate. It’s something I have little experience with so I’d like to get acquainted with it and understand its dynamics a bit better.

If I had to change jobs altogether, I would go into private equity. In research, analysts say what they think should happen, but in private equity, you get to contribute to the decision-making process which I think is more empowering.

The last great thing I watched is Legion — which is based on the Marvel comic. It’s very well-crafted and interesting, and could tempt me to get into the rest of the Marvel cinematic universe.

The last great thing I read is the written play El Kherog Men El Gana by Tawfiq Al Hakim. I’ve been a fan of his since childhood so reading the play was quite nostalgic for me. It’s hard to keep up the habit of reading alongside work, but I try and get through one book every month.

In my downtime I like to play chess. I’ve had that hobby before the Queen’s Gambit trend [laughs]. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a really good show. I’m a bit of an overthinker so chess helps me release the excess thinking in something abstract … it’s quite therapeutic in that sense. Other than that I watch football. I’m a big fan of Al Ahly and AC Milan.