Women easily put men in their pockets when it comes to investing. And women at the helm boost the value of a company – a worthwhile circumstance for investors.
If you ask a woman how she feels about investing, you’ll probably often get «No way!» or something similar in response.
Because women tend to shy away when it comes to the topic of “investing”. In reality, however, they have a better hand: women were able to achieve higher returns on their portfolios than men, as a study by ING of a million anonymized customer portfolios showed: At 22.5%, their average return was slightly higher than that of male portfolio holders , which recorded an average of 21% — even though women had invested significantly less, around €5,500, than men, who spent around €8,600.The return on the portfolios across all customer groups averaged 21.4%.
But where does the women’s better success come from? A possible answer comes from behavioral finance research. To put it simply, it examines how suboptimal financial decisions come about.
In their study “Boys will be Boys: Gender, overconfidence and common stock investment,” Brad Barber and Terrance Odean examined gender self-assessment and found that men tend to overestimate themselves. They often achieved lower returns because they invested in their stocks significantly more often acted as women. Macho behavior that can lead to disadvantages on the stock market. For women, on the other hand, it is exactly the opposite: due to a perceived lack of financial knowledge and a lack of self-confidence, many women shy away from investing money. This was the result of a study by the economic research institute ZEW. According to the researchers, participants in the study often rated their financial knowledge as less than it actually is.
When it comes to companies, they are significantly more successful when as many women as possible operate the gear levers: In its “Women Matter” study on female managers, the management consultancy McKinsey found that companies with a high proportion of women on the board of directors had 48% higher profits (previously interest and taxes) than the industry average.
And the American gender research and consulting institute Catalyst found that in an analysis of the 500 largest listed companies in the USA, a return on equity was up to 53% higher for companies with women at the top. According to a United Nations study, large companies with female directors achieved 42% higher sales profits and significantly better returns on investments. It has been proven that company profits increase when there are at least three women on the board. However, there have to be at least three women so that they can assert themselves against the background of traditional power structures. The classic lone fighter can no more change anything than the so-called alibi woman.
Herta Stockbauer, who controls the fortunes of the Austrian BKS Bank, is definitely not an alibi. The business graduate has been with the company since 1992, became a member of the board in 2004 and was appointed chairwoman of the board in 2014.
The bank with around 1,100 employees operates the banking and leasing business in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia and has been sailing on a successful path for years. In contrast to many other institutions, it did not have to rely on government aid during the great financial crisis of 2008.
The bank, which belongs to the 3-Bank Group with BTV and Oberbank, achieved significantly better results in the first half of 2023 than in the same period last year. The profit for the period after taxes rose by a rapid 132% from €31.2 million to €82.1 million. In order to be prepared for a possible weaker economy, loan provisions were increased by €15.4 million to €28.8 million — this cautious business policy had already protected the company from all sorts of harm in the past. At the time of going to press, the share was trading at just over €16, which indicates a market capitalization of more than €751 million and a P/E ratio of 9.3. The BKS paper has gained almost 19% in the last twelve months and 36% in the last three years. The success has also attracted the British investment house Petrus Advisers, which has been on board with a 2.8% stake since August.
Belén Garijo – who has been with the company since 2011 – has been in charge at the German Merck KGaA since May 2021. Before joining Merck, the Spanish native, who has received numerous awards for corporate leadership, was Senior Vice President Global Operations for the Europe region at Sanofi-Aventis. Under her leadership, the Darmstadt-based company initiated a strategic transformation process to become a global leader in science and technology.The shares of the chemical and pharmaceutical company with around 64,000 employees and total sales of around €22.3 billion worldwide have weakened a little recently, but have increased by 75% over the last five years and were most recently quoted at €150. The majority of analysts have put the stock on the “buy” list; out of nine analyses, only one recommended “sell”. The analysis firm Jefferies has left the rating for Merck KGaA at “Buy” with a price target of €201.Safra A. Catz has headed the US computer giant Oracle Corporation, the third largest software company in the world in terms of sales and market capitalization, since 2014 — first in a duo with Mark Hurd and since 2019 on his own.
The native Israeli practically has Oracle in her DNA: She joined the Texans with 164,000 employees back in April 1999. Sales at Oracle, which is more than 42% owned by co-founder Larry Ellison, increased to almost $50 billion this year.Oracle shares have gained more than 60% over the last twelve months and were most recently trading at $108. Not all experts are voting “buy” on the Oracle shares; Berenberg and JP Morgan are voting “hold”. However, the major Swiss bank UBS is in a positive mood: it has left the rating for the Texans at “Buy” with a price target of US$ 135. A reported expansion of the partnership with Microsoft is important for the software company, wrote analyst Karl Keirstead. Over time, he believes this deal will have a very positive impact on Oracle’s database solutions. This is also an important step for Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
The situation is similar at Deutsche Bank Research: According to the numbers, the rating for Oracle was also left at “Buy” with an identical price target of US$ 135.The first quarter more or less met expectations, said analyst Brad Zelnick. However, the numbers probably do not do justice to the market mood, which has recently become particularly optimistic. He still believes that the software company is only at the beginning of its cloud transformation and therefore still sees room for improvement for Oracle.
