Hedge-fund managers are complaining that quantitative and algorithmic traders are stealing their lunches. Better known as quants and algos, these traders employ sophisticated techniques to exploit, what they believe, are opportunities in the market. They might sell in huge quantities, when they believe market conditions are suggesting weakness. They might buy when they think conditions are favourable. They might use high-frequency trading mechanisms to execute their orders. That could cause markets to behave erratically, at best. Flash crashes, at worst. It’s making life unbearable for hedge funds, who by comparison are like pussy cats playing in a lion’s den. They would prefer more predictable markets, where their long and short strategies are less likely to be disrupted. So, they wan

Both Singapore and Malaysia have an established real estate investment trust (REIT) market with a long history. Singapore’s first REIT to be listed on the local stock exchange in 2002 was CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U). Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Amanah Harta Tanah PNB (KLSE: 4952.KL) became the country’s first listed REIT more than a decade before CapitaLand Mall Trust. CapitaLand Mall Trust remains the largest listed REIT in Singapore by market capitalisation while in Malaysia, the biggest REIT is KLCC Stapled Group (KLSE: 5235SS.KL), which owns the famous Twin Towers. Background on the REIT giants CapitaLand Mall Trust is a retail REIT that owns 15 shopping malls in Singapore, including Tampines Mall, Bugis Junction, and Plaza Singapura. It also holds slightly below 13% of CapitaLan

Frasers Centrepoint Trust  (SGX: J69U) and CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) are two real estate investment trusts (REITs) with a focus on retail assets. The former owns properties such as Causeway Point and Northpoint City North Wing, while the latter is the owner of 15 malls such as Tampines Mall, Junction 8, and Funan. Given that both REITs are exposed to retail-related properties, investors might want to know which is a better buy now. To find out, we’re putting the duo to a test made up of three parts. In part 1 and part 2, we looked at the REITs’ track records of growth in distribution per unit (DPU) in the last decade, as well as their debt profiles. Frasers Centrepoint Trust came in ahead in both tests. In this article, we’re looking at the last part of our compari

Of the many tools and financial metrics investors use for their corporate analysis, one of the most useful has to be the return on equity (ROE). This ratio measures the profitability of the business per dollar of equity and is usually expressed as a percentage. The basic formula for ROE is relatively simple to understand: Take the net profit after tax of the business and divide it by the total equity of the company. American conglomerate DuPont has come up with a formula to further break down the ROE formula into three separate components in order to deepen the analysis and provide more insights. The ROE equation can be further split into the following: ROE = Net Profit Margin x Asset Turnover x Financial Leverage Let’s look at each component in turn. Net profit margin The net profit

Frasers Centrepoint Trust  (SGX: J69U) and CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) are two real estate investment trusts (REITs) with a focus on retail assets. The former owns properties such as Causeway Point and Northpoint City North Wing, while the latter is the owner of 15 malls such as Tampines Mall, Junction 8, and Funan. Given that both REITs are exposed to retail-related properties, investors might want to know which is a better buy now. To find out, we’re putting the duo to a test made up of three parts. In part 1, we looked at the companies’ track records of growth in distribution per unit (DPU) over the last decade, and Frasers Centrepoint Trust came out ahead. In part 2, we’re looking at the next comparison: debt profile. The showdown Let’s begin with Frasers C

Frasers Centrepoint Trust  (SGX: J69U) and CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) are two real estate investment trusts (REITs) with a focus on retail assets. The former owns properties such as Causeway Point and Northpoint City North Wing, while the latter is the owner of 15 malls such as Tampines Mall, Junction 8, and Funan. Given that both REITs are exposed to retail-related properties, investors might want to know which is a better buy now. To find out, we’re putting the duo to a test made up of three parts. In this first test, we’re looking at the companies’ track records of growth in distribution per unit (DPU) over the last 10 years. The showdown From fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2018, Frasers Centrepoint Trust has grown its DPU from 7.51 Singapore cents to 12.015

Every company juggles its receivables, inventory, and payables in different ways, and this is also determined, in part, by the nature and characteristics of the industry in which it operates. One method investors can use to determine how all of these attributes come together is to analyse the cash conversion cycle of a business. The formula is as follows: Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) = receivables turnover (days) + inventory turnover (days) – payables turnover (days) Let’s now look at each component and how to make use of the CCC. Receivables turnover days This metric measures the average time it takes for a business to collect money from its debtors, and it’s a measure of the quality of customer collection from credit sales. Most businesses sell products and services on c

One of Asia’s largest real estate outfits, CapitaLand Limited (SGX: C31), announced its financial results for the full year ended 31 December 2018 this morning. Let’s look at the key highlights from the announcement here: 1. Revenue for 2018 grew 21.3% to S$5.60 billion, up from S$4.62 billion a year ago. The improvement was due to 1) contributions from newly acquired and operational properties in Singapore, China, Germany and the United States; 2) higher handover of units from residential developments in China and Vietnam; and 3) consolidation of revenue from CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U), CapitaLand Retail China Trust (SGX: AU8U) and RCS Trust. 2. Gross profit climbed 32.9% year-on-year to S$2.69 billion, and profit from operations increased by 31.6% to S$3.19 billion. 3. Consequ

In early 2017, Sabana REIT has been getting a lot of attention when a small group of unitholders moved to kick out the manager for delivering poor performance since its IPO in 2010. Early investors who bought Sabana at an IPO price of S$1.05 are now sitting on huge losses – Sabana last traded at just 41.5 cents per share at time of writing. If we look at the history, Sabana REIT isn’t alone. There are several other Singapore REITs (S-REITs) like Saizen REIT, MacarthurCook Industrial REIT and Allco REIT that have run into trouble before and caused a dent in Singapore’s REIT sector. Despite some casualties, Singapore’s REIT market remains vibrant – largely thanks to the majority of S-REITs that continue to deliver good results to income investors. In this article, we look at the pe

What a breath-taking form! For the past one year, numerous blue chips in Singapore Exchange suffered from a terrible loss of form, causing many wealth builders to lose their pants. Many REITs were not spared from the rout either. CapitaLand Mall Trust unit price is one of the rarest of rare counters to buck the trend to enjoy a magnificent rally. The gravity-defying form of CapitaLand Mall Trust unit price is certainly intriguing as the unit price remained bullish even after a massive $277.6 million private placement exercise in November 2018. With distribution yield of 4.8% and Price/Book Value of 1.19 as of 11 February 2018, current CapitaLand Mall Trust unit price is indeed attractive. The top three major shareholders are CapitaLand Limited (27.12%), BlackRock (7%) and NTUC Enterprise C

This article, was supposed to be my submission into a joint book that a bunch of people have written. But it seems to have not seen the light of the day any time soon.  I just do not like to write a bunch of things and it not seeing the light of day. So I decided to put it out on my site now. This is an analysis of a company which I own. The price have ran up a little but I thought it would still be worth it to bring to your attention. I would try to do less of those horse back carriage front kind of things where I told you “I bought this stock when its distressed and look how great I am” posts.  Their results should be out in early March and I thought it has a pretty interest mix of profile that you can be aware about. The recent share price trend. Note that it has n

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) is a SGX-listed retail REIT that owns six suburban retail malls located around Singapore. They include Anchorpoint, YewTee Point, Causeway Point, Northpoint City North Wing, Bedok Point, and Changi City Point. As at 30 September 2018, FCT’s portfolio of properties was valued at S$2.75 billion. FCT has been on our watchlist for some time now and with good reason too – since its IPO in 2006, the REIT has achieved 12 consecutive years of distribution growth. At the same time, the market is well aware of FCT’s remarkable track record which makes buying opportunities for FCT hard to come by. However, a surprise announcement by CEO Dr Chew Tuan Chiong at the latest annual meeting may put FCT’s future performance in doubt… Here are 10 things I

Singapore’s stock market benchmark, the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI), started the new year positively. For the month of January, the index rose 4%, or 121 points, to 3,190. Of the 30 Straits Times Index components, 28 were in the positive territory, while the remaining two were in the red. The biggest winner of the lot was Thailand’s leading beverage producer, Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (SGX: Y92). Shares in the producer of Chang beer led the pack with a 19.7% increase to S$0.73 each. The rise is a sharp reversal from last year’s performance where the company posted a negative 31.7% total shareholder return. For the financial year ended 30 September 2018, Thai Beverage’s revenue grew 21% to THB 229.7 billion, but net profit attributable to shareholders fell 46% to

https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/26/the-weekly-nibble-best-dividend-shares/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/25/singapore-retail-reits-on-the-rise/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/25/mapletree-commercial-trusts-latest-earnings-another-quarter-of-growth/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/25/2-reits-that-have-delivered-mixed-performances-recently-9/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/24/10-quick-things-investors-should-know-about-suntec-real-estate-investment-trusts-latest-earnings-3/There are three real estate investment trusts (REITs) going ex-dividend tomorrow. In other words, you need to own them before that day if you wish to receive their distributions. Let’s look further. CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) CapitaLand Mall Trust is a retail REIT which owns 15 shopping malls in Singapore, including Bugis Junction,

https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/23/capitaland-mall-trusts-2018-full-year-earnings-steady-growth-in-distribution-per-unit/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/23/10-quick-things-investors-should-know-about-frasers-centrepoint-trusts-latest-earnings-2/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/22/2-singapore-reits-i-am-watching-this-week/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/19/the-week-ahead-cmt-cct-keppel-corp-and-sgx/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/18/singapores-top-5-blue-chip-shares-with-the-highest-dividend-yields/While some have been predicting the demise of traditional retail due to e-commerce, the reality is anything but. In fact, this week, two Singapore-focused retail real estate investment trusts (REITs ) — Frasers Centrepoint Trust (SGX: J69U) and CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) — posted higher earnings, i

With a net worth of $84 billion, Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors of our time. Just as how we like to evaluate the management of a company through its words and actions, Buffett’s quotes also reveal a great deal about his character, beliefs, and investment philosophy. And I believe we, as investors, can draw huge inspiration from the wisdom and experienced offered by his timeless quotes. So here are, in my opinion, eight timeless quotes from Warren Buffett that everyone can learn something important from:  1. ‘Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.’ Greed and fear – the two emotions that are the bane of every investor. Remember Sunshine Empire, Gold Guarantee and Genneva Gold? These Ponzi schemes have conned thousands of pe

https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/22/2-singapore-reits-i-am-watching-this-week/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/19/the-week-ahead-cmt-cct-keppel-corp-and-sgx/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/18/singapores-top-5-blue-chip-shares-with-the-highest-dividend-yields/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/17/institutional-investors-have-been-selling-these-3-singapore-companies-last-week/https://www.fool.sg/2019/01/14/2-singapore-reits-that-retirees-will-love/CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) is a retail real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns 15 shopping malls in Singapore, including Tampines Mall, Bugis Junction, and Plaza Singapura. This morning, CapitaLand Mall Trust announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 December 2018. Financial highlights Gross revenue for 2018’s fo

The latest earnings season has started.  Within the next five days, no fewer than 16 real estate investment trusts (REITs) or stapled trusts will be giving quarterly updates. There are two REITs, in particular, that investors should be keeping a close eye on. They are Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU) and CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U). The rising need for data centres Can Keppel DC REIT end 2018 as impressively as it started it? In the first nine months of 2018, the trust reported distribution per unit (DPU) growth of 4.8%. More pertinently, DPU growth accelerated to 6.3% in the third quarter of the year. The data centre industry has benefited from strong sector tailwinds as more firms are choosing to outsource data centres, rather than own them. The growing digital space and cloud adoption

By now, many of you would have seen the numerous news articles and commentary pieces on CapitaLand’s $11 billion acquisition of Temasek’s subsidiary, Ascendas-Singbridge. This combined entity creates Asia’s largest diversified real estate group and a global top 10 real estate investment manager, with over $116 billion of assets under management (AUM), including logistics/business parks, industrial, lodging, commercial, retail and residential spaces, in more than 180 cities across 32 countries. CapitaLand Share Price CapitaLand’s share price is currently $3.30, up about 7.5% since the start of the year. In contrast, the broader market, the Straits Times Index (STI) is only up about 5.1% since the start of the year. Source: StockFacts In addition, here’s what the brokerage housesâ€

The Singapore earnings season moves into a higher gear with four blue chips pencilled in for results. In October, CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) defied sceptics by announcing a 5% increase in third-quarter distributions. The mall operator reported an improvement in gross revenues, net property income and tenant sales per square foot. However, shopper traffic was down. CapitaLand Commercial Trust (SGX: C61U) also had good news for unit holders in October. The office landlord announced a near 9% rise in third-quarter distributions per unit on the back of better gross revenues and net property income. CCT said committed occupancy across its Singapore portfolio was 99.1%. Third-quarter results proved to be a curates’ egg at Keppel Corporation (SGX: BN4). On the positive side, its Offsh