As a long-term investor, the logic of investing for dividends seems obvious to me. You invest in dividend stocks to receive growth and an income stream (which in Singapore is tax-free) in return. However, what may be less obvious is that investors have two options when it comes to dividends; companies that have higher dividend yields but stable payouts or ones that have lower dividend yields but fast-growing payouts. The key question, then, is which one should dividend investors pursue? Age influences style My answer would be, it depends on your age. Retirees, or those who are nearing retirement, will naturally gravitate towards stable, higher-yielding stocks including REITs. Given their regular income streams, it’s understandable that a higher return – in terms of the absolute dividen

At the end of April 2019, City Developments Limited (SGX: C09) announced that it had acquired a 50% stake in IREIT Global Group Pte Ltd, the manager of IREIT Global (SGX: UD1U), and a 12.4% stake in the real estate investment trust (REIT) itself. The total amount was around S$77.8 million. The acquisition was carried out in order to grow its fund management business, and it would immediately contribute to recurring income through management fees and an attractive distribution yield. At IREIT Global’s current unit price of S$0.75, it has a yield of 7.7% and a price-to-book ratio of 1.04. Let’s take a closer look at three main aspects that investors might like about IREIT Global. Freehold portfolio IREIT Global currently owns five freehold office properties in Germany’s cities of Berli

That was precisely the question asked during the 2019 annual general meeting (AGM) for Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate controlled by well-known investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. The Amaz(ing) debate Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway revealed that it bought a stake in online retailing giant Amazon.com. Amazon is far from the traditional “value” stock, with a heady price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 78. The debatable purchase prompted a question from a shareholder during Berkshire Hathaway’s AGM. The shareholder asked: “With the full understanding that Warren had no input on the Amazon purchase, and that, relative to Berkshire, it’s likely a small stake, the investment still caught me off guard. I’m wondering if I should begin to think differently about Berkshire

Building a passive income from blue-chip dividend stocks is a realistic goal for many investors. Doing so could lead to a worthwhile second income, or increased financial freedom in older age. Of course, there is a temptation to lock-in profits made from successful investments. Similarly, spending dividends received, rather than reinvesting them, may also seem like a good idea in the short run. However, sticking with stocks that are delivering high growth and rising dividends could be the best means of producing a sustainable income in the long run. Reinvesting dividends Although it can be tempting to spend dividends received each year in order to supplement a primary income, the impact of reinvesting them could be far more appealing in the long run. In fact, various studies have shown tha

City Developments Limited (SGX: C09) is one of the three property developers in the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI). CDL is a leading real estate company with a presence in 29 countries and regions. Its property portfolio consists of residences, offices, hotels, serviced apartments, integrated developments, and shopping malls. Here are the important points to take note of from CDL’s latest earnings report. The key numbers Revenue for the quarter was down 29.5% to S$746.2 million while gross profit decreased 4.9% to S$352.1 million. CDL’s profit, on the other hand, increased by 51.9% to S$211.5 million. Similarly, profit attributable to equity holders skyrocketed 133.8% year-on-year to S$199.6 million. CDL’s earnings per share (EPS), followed suit rising by 134% to 22 cents year-on-

If you are new to investing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), you may not know that some of Singapore’s biggest and most popularly traded companies are actually home-grown conglomerates which are run by some of Singapore’s richest families. Besides playing an integral part in growing Singapore to become the successful city-state that it is today, these companies have also generated good returns for its owners and investors over the past years. In this week’s edition of 4 Stocks This Week, we take a closer look at some of these local family empires to find out how well they have been performing. Haw Par Corporation Limited (SGX: H02) Haw Par Corporation and its subsidiaries is in the business of manufacturing and selling pharmaceutical and healthcare products. Its most recognisable bra

At the end of April, City REIT Management, a subsidiary of City Development Ltd (CDL) purchase 50% of IREIT’s manager. City Strategic, also a subsidiary of CDL, purchase a substantial stake in IREIT itself. In November 2016, Tikehau Capital purchased a 80% stake in IReit’s manager. The rest of the stake is held by Chinese Tycoon Tong Jinquan and Soilbuild founder Lim Chap Huat. Tong Jinquan owns 297 mil units (47%), Chap Huat owns 33 mil units (5.2%), Tikehau Capital owns 52.6 mil (8.3%). In this deal, Tikehau Investment Asia Pacific bought back Tong’s stake in the manager. They then sold half the stake in the manager to City Reit Management, which is CDL’s arm in doing reit management. Now, Tikehau and City Reit owns roughly 50% each in the manager. Then, Tika

Earlier this month, the local stock market was hit by news that US President Donald Trump has increased tariffs on Chinese goods, causing China to retaliate. With that, the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) has tumbled 5.3% thus far in May. Brave investors who are looking to scoop up some bargains in the stock market could be wondering if Singapore stocks, in general, are cheaper than before. There are two methods to determine if Singapore shares are cheap currently. The first way is to compare the market’s current price-to-earnings (PE) ratio to the market’s long-term average PE ratio. The second approach involves looking at the number of net-net stocks in the stock market. PE valuation method Since it is difficult to get the past daily PE ratios of the Straits Times Index, the PE rati

1. SPH REIT  --  5th Apr 20192. SPH  --  9th Apr 20193. First REIT  --  10th Apr 20194. Kep Infra Trust  --  15th Apr 20195. Kep DC Reit  --  15th Apr 20196. Kep-KBS US Reit  --  16th Apr 20197. Kep Reit  --  17th Apr 20198. Soilbuild REIT  --  17th Apr 20199. Kep Corp  --  18th Apr 201910. CapitaComm Trust  --  18th Apr 201911. MapletreeInd Trust  --  22nd Apr 201912. MapletreeCom Trust  --  23rd Apr 201913. FrasersCom Trust  --  23rd Apr 201914. Suntec Reit  --  24th Apr 201915. CapitaMall Trust -- 24th Apr 201916. Frasers Cpt Trust  --  24th Apr 201917. CapitaR China Trust  --  24th Apr 201918. SGX  --  25th Apr 201919.

So, now we know. US importers that bring Chinese-made goods into America must pay a tariff of 25% on some US$200 billion worth of items,  rather than just 10%. China is unlikely to take this lying down. It has threatened to retaliate. We wait with bated breath. Staying in America, retail sales for April could provide some clues to the impact of higher import prices on consumer spending. They are expected to show a sharp drop in growth from the previous month. But retail sales growth in China in April could be almost unchanged from the previous month at 8.7%. Malaysia will report retail sales for March. It is expected to have grown 7.7% from a year ago, which would be slower than the 8.5% in February. Malaysia is also expected to say that the economy grew at an annualised rate of 4.5% in

Genting Singapore Ltd (SGX: G13) is the operator of the integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa. Among the resort’s many attractions are one of Singapore’s two casinos and the Universal Studios Singapore theme park. At the current price of S$0.94 (at the time of writing), Genting Singapore’s shares are trading at 29% below its 52-week high price of S$1.32. This raises a question: Is Genting Singapore cheap now? This question is important because if the firm’s shares are cheap, it might be an excellent buying opportunity for investors. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. However, we can still get some insight by comparing Genting Singapore’ current valuations with the market’s valuation. The three valuation metrics I will focus on are the price-to-book (PB) ratio, price-to

“Sell in May and go away” is a famous adage in the stock market. It states that we should sell stocks at the start of the warm weather in May and reinvest only when the cold weather starts in November. Investors have a belief that when the warm weather begins, the lack of market participants (probably due to vacation breaks) can make for a lacklustre market period. It’s summer all year round in Singapore and it seems that investors here are indeed selling out in May due to the recent weak performance of the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI). The Singapore stock market benchmark has fallen 2.6% from 1-7 May. So, should investors sell all their stocks in May and take a break from the stock market? Not at all, in my opinion. Market timing is hard According to Forbes, from 1950 to aro

There are many shares in Singapore’s stock market that pay a dividend. Some pay a dividend on a quarterly basis, some do it semi-annually, while there are others who pay a dividend only once every year. A recent report from the local bourse operator Singapore Exchange Limited  (SGX: S68) shed some light on the 10 biggest stocks here that pay quarterly dividends. Here are some highlights from the report. Eight out of the top ten stocks on the list above are real estate investment trusts (REITs). Some of the names are CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U), Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (SGX: T82U), SPH REIT (SGX: SK6U), and Keppel REIT (SGX: K17U). Four out of the eight REITs are related to Mapletree. These are Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), Mapletree Industrial Trust (SG

Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (SGX: Y92) is a food and beverage company operating in four different segments, namely, Spirits, Beer, Food, and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. In this article, I want to dig deeper into Thai Beverage’s return on equity, or ROE. The choice of ROE Why ROE? That’s because the financial metric gives investors important insight into a company’s ability to generate a profit using shareholders’ capital. An ROE of 20% means that a company generates $0.20 in profit for every dollar of shareholders’ capital invested. In general, the higher the ROE, the more profitable a company is. A high ROE can also be a sign that a company has a high-quality business. That being said, it’s worth noting that the use of high leverage – which increases the financial ris

City Developments Limited (SGX: C09), or CDL for short, is a real estate company. Its segments include property development, hotel operations, rental properties and others. At the current price of S$8.98 (at the time of writing), City Developments’ shares are trading at 29% below its 52-week high price of S$12.67. This raises a question: Is City Developments cheap now? This question is important because if the firm’s shares are cheap, it might be a good buying opportunity for investors. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. However, we can still get some insights by comparing City Developments’ current valuations with the market’s valuation. The three valuation metrics I will focus on are the price-to-book (PB) ratio, price-to-earnings (PE) ratio, and dividend yield. I will be

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) recently released its Master Plan 2019 which detailed the blueprint of Singapore’s developments over the next decade. Here are four things you should know about the Master Plan 2019 and how you can invest in the right stocks to ride on the Master Plan. Turning CBD Into A ‘Work, Live And Play’ Environment Under the new Master Plan, the Central Business District (CBD) is slated to be repositioned as a 24/7 mixed-use district to be a place to work, live and play. The Singapore government has signalled its intention to convert Downtown Singapore from a commercial centre dominated by offices into one which is more mixed-use and has more vibrancy after office hours. The aim is to facilitate a work, live and play environment. Incentivising Developmen

The Straits Times Index is made up of the 30 strongest and most liquid stocks listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). For many of us, they represent the companies most of us would be very familiar with or have businesses that we would be familiar with. Some of these companies include DBS, UOB, OCBC, SingTel, CapitaLand, Keppel Corp, Singapore Airlines, Genting Singapore, City Developments, SGX, Venture Corp, Sembcorp Industries, SPH and, of course, 17 other companies. How The Straits Times Index (STI) Performed So Far In 2019 We are well into the second quarter of 2019, which means many of these companies will be releasing their operating performance for the first quarter of 2019 very soon. Look out for these announcements in the coming weeks. Read Also: Complete Guide To Investing In The

Today, the life expectancy of Singaporeans is 83.1 years, one of the highest in the world. As we live longer and healthier lives, many of us may have close to 20 years in retirement, from mid-60s to our mid-80s. Working Only 40 Years To Fund 60 Years Of Our Lives Many of us may find ourselves having to rely on 40 years of employment income, to fund nearly 60 years of our lives. All the while, we also have to continue to pay for our daily living expenses, buy a home, start a family, put our children through university and “live life” by indulging in entertainment through family holidays, going out for meals or buying stuff that we don’t absolutely need. After paying for these expenses, we may not have a lot left to put towards our retirement nest egg. The government tries to solve par

For the past seven quarters, STI failed to beat earnings expectations as there were more misses than beats. However, in 4Q18, STI finished the quarter where the beats exceeded misses. That being said, the quality was less than ideal with most of the beats coming from one-off gains. Besides that, conservative estimates also helped some STI stocks to emerge as beats. Moving forward, CIMB recommends investors to invest in quality stocks that have the potential to become solid earnings beater. Investors Takeaway: 4 Large Caps To Invest In If You Are Looking For Quality CapitaLand CapitaLand finished FY18 with a strong finish, locking in ROE of 9.3 percent for the full year. With strong capital deployment from $4.1 billion worth of divestments and $6.1 billion of new investments in 2018, CIMB

Singapore is often acclaimed as one of the richest countries in the world. In fact, it was reported in by Credit Suisse Research Institute Global Wealth Report that Singapore had 184,000 millionaires (in US dollar terms) in 2018, an 11% increase from the year before. In March, the Forbes released it Billionaires report, listing 2,153 billionaires in the world. Singapore had 22 representatives on this list. We look at the top 10 richest people in Singapore, and how they amassed their wealth. Peter Lim Source: Forbes Singapore Rank: 10 World Rank: 916 Net Worth: US$2.5 billion Sector: Stock Broking According to the Forbes Billionaires list, Peter Lim is the 10th richest person in Singapore, with a net worth of US$2.5 billion. This also puts him as the 916th richest person in the world. Kn