The S&P 500‘s filled with a long list of high-flying tech stocks that have pushed America’s flagship index to new record highs in 2025. In fact, since the start of the year, US stocks are up more than 15.5%, including dividends. Yet despite this impressive growth, some UK shares are delivering even better results.
Two outperforming British stocks are Airtel Africa (LSE:AAF) and Antofagasta (LSE:ANTO), delivering total returns of 107% and 73% respectively. So should investors consider adding these businesses to their portfolios? Or is the gold rush over?
Investing in African telecoms
When looking at telecommunication stocks like Vodafone and BT, neither has been a particularly strong long-term performer. But in Africa, where the market’s still largely underdeveloped, companies like Airtel have been making substantial progress.
The company operates a mobile data and payment processing network across 14 African markets, serving 166 million customers. With its fintech arm expanding rapidly and currency exchange rates stabilising, the firm’s revenue and profits have been accelerating, bolstering investor sentiment and enabling its share price to double.
Moving forward, analysts are optimistic this operating momentum will continue, especially now that there’s over $145bn of money moving through its fintech solution. And with management successfully raising profitability, the bull case seems clear.
However, like all investments, there are always risks to consider. And Airtel’s no exception. Favourable currency fluctuations are currently helping the business. However, that could change on a dime.
At the same time, it’s important to recognise that running a mobile data network gobbles up a lot of energy, exposing the group to input inflation risk. And with other rival platforms in the area, including Vodafone, these higher potential costs may not be easily passed along to customers.
Investing in Latin American copper
On a different continent, Antofagasta’s also been making waves. The copper mining enterprise has been ramping up its production volumes while simultaneously bringing down costs. Combining this with rising copper prices has enabled the group’s underlying earnings to jump by 60% with profit margins climbing from 47.2% to 58.8%.
As a result, dividends were more than doubled, and with the business seemingly firing on all cylinders, it’s not surprising to see the share price surge.
Looking to the future, copper demand appears to be strong. The conductive metal’s a critical component in most modern technologies surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), electrification, and energy grid upgrades. And with plans to expand production volumes even further, the company appears well-positioned to capitalise on long-term secular trends.
However, it’s important to recognise that commodity prices are cyclical. And with substantial fixed costs involved in resource extraction, the group’s recent earnings growth could quickly reverse if supply overtakes demand, taking the share price with it.
The bottom line
Out of these two businesses, Airtel Africa seems to have a more compelling investment case. Antofagasta’s delivered impressive results. But with its valuation seemingly dependent on copper prices remaining elevated and a disruption-free production ramp-up, the risk seems to be higher.
Airtel Africa’s certainly not a guaranteed winner and has its own challenges to overcome. But with its scalable mobile money business opening the door to substantial free cash flow generation, I think the stock’s worth a closer look from investors.
