The price-to-earnings multiple, or P/E ratio, is a common valuation metric used by investors. In short, this is the ratio between the price per share and the earnings per share of a company. For instance, a company with earnings per share of S$1 and a share price of $10 has a P/E of 10. Investors use the P/E ratio to gauge whether a company is cheap or expensive, but companies often trade at a wide range of P/Es. There is no one-size-fits-all rule that applies to the whole universe of stocks. This is because there are a multitude of other factors besides a company’s earnings that affect its valuation. For instance, a company in a defensive industry or a fast-growing company should command a higher P/E. So, how can investors tell if a company’s current P/E multiple is cheap or expensive

It’s become almost a cliche when investors discuss a “buy and hold” strategy. The term is probably overused, and although it makes sense intuitively, I think that it does not fully encapsulate how complex investing is. Also, it under-estimates how much investors need to be involved in the active management of their portfolios, as a buy-and-hold strategy itself implies passivity to the point of being slothful. I want to introduce a new phrase called “buy and monitor,” which I use often with my investing peers. This describes a more active, hands-on approach that I feel is better suited to the current business environment, and it also helps us watch out for risks that might arise in our holdings. “Buy and hold” is dead? Some investors may think the c

Last week, Singapore Airlines Ltd  (SGX:C6L) announced that it will be issuing S$500 million worth of bonds with an annual interest rate of 3.03%. The bonds will mature in 2024. Of the S$500 million sum, S$300 million will be issued to the general public while the rest will go to institutional investors. Further, if the bond is oversubscribed, Singapore Airlines will increase the total issuance to S$750 million. The application for the bond issue closes on 26 March 2019. Here’s what you need to know before investing. Details of the bond Coupon rate: 3.03% Tenor: 5 years Minimum amount: S$1,000, and in multiples of S$1,000 thereafter Interest payment frequency: Semi-annual payment Maturity date: 28 March 2024 Bond type: Unsecured bond (meaning that there is no collateral backing the bon

Since its listing in March 2018, Sasseur Real Estate Investment Trust (SGX:CRPU) has managed to consistently surprise investors with higher-than-forecasted rental income and distribution per unit. In its last reporting quarter ended 31 December 2018, the REIT, which owns four outlet malls in China, declared a DPU that was an eye-catching 28.1% higher than it had initially forecasted in its IPO prospectus. Overall, its full-year DPU (from March 2018 to December 2018) was also 12.6% higher than forecasted. I am an investor in Sasseur REIT, and here are three key reasons I believe it will become a market-beating investment over the next few years. Growing its VIP shopper base Sasseur REIT has a unique rental agreement with an entrusted manager. In short, the REIT employs a third-party manage

Singapore Airlines ("SIA" or the "Company") is offering new 5 year notes (bond) at a coupon of 3.03%, where $200m is offered wholesale (i.e. $250,000 board lot to accredited investors) and $300m to retail investors (minimum subscription of $1,000). SIA may upsize the tranche to $750m if there are overwhelming response.   The interest on the bonds are payable semi-annually on 28

The bond market is warming up in Singapore. Over the past few months, we have seen bonds like the Temasek 2.70% T2023-S$ Bond as well as the 4.35% Astrea IV Bond by Azalea Asset Management. Bonds are generally considered to be less volatile compared to stocks, but this does not mean that they necessarily come with low or no risk. With the issue of the Singapore Airlines Retail Bond 2019 (SIA Bond 2019), here’s what Singapore investors need to know before deciding if they should invest. Read Also: 5 Terms You Need To Understand Before Investing In Bonds #1 What Exactly Is The SIA Bond 2019? Singapore Airlines is, as its name suggests, Singapore’s national airline. It has gotten numerous international accolades over the years, being named the World’s Best Airline at the 2018 W

Singapore Airlines is proposing to offer S$500 million of five-year fixed-rate bonds to both institutional and retail investors with a chance of it being upsized to $750 million if the response is overwhelming. SIA’s S$500m 5-year bonds will pay 3.03% interest and mature in 2024. Below are my own personal opinions on the issue but the short summary is that I am not enthusiastic about the offering. There are several main points that underpin it:   Airline industry is fiercely competitive, and it is not going to get any easier anytime soon The airline industry is notoriously competitive. It is notoriously capital intensive and low margin. As Richard Branson put it best – “If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.”. Just several

Seems the prediction is shaping up really well.  After Astrea IV 10 year 4.35% and Temasek 5 year 2.70% bonds, SIA followed their cue to release a retail tranche for their just announced bond issue.  SIA will be releasing $500 mil worth of bonds, with the public being allocated $300 mil out of this and the rest going to institutional investors. Should the bond be oversubscribed, they will expand it up to $750 mil. The minimum denomination is $1,000 which makes it affordable for most people. And you can apply it at your ATM or through internet banking like an initial public offering (IPO) A low denomination will also allow you the retail investor to diversify their bond allocation.  The bond pays a coupon of 3.03% semi annually.  At the end of 5 years, you get back your

Its been a busy week for members of parliament in Britain, with Brexit votes every night for three consecutive days. While these votes are not politically binding, they are hard for Theresa May to ignore. On Tuesday, MPs rejected her Brexit plan, and voted to rule out a no-deal Brexit in all circumstances the next day. And on Thursday they voted for May to delay Brexit. Meanwhile, the vote to leave the EU in June 2016 has already cost the UK about €800 million per week. According to Lloyds Banking Group, optimism among companies is at a seven-year low and businesses have recorded the longest continuous decline in investments in a decade. The pound is also down more than 10% since Britain voted to leave the EU, increasing the cost of imported goods and eroding purchasing power for consume

Despite persistent unfavorable news from around the world, major equities benchmarks ended their downward slides and moved slightly higher. Nonfarm payrolls report from the US revealed that only 20,000 jobs were added in February 2019, signaling the slowest pace for job growth in the last 18 months. Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.8 percent ending at 25,709.94 over the last two weeks. In China, the nation concluded its annual “Two Sessions” last week with the Chinese government setting its economic growth target this year lower to between 6 percent and 6.5 percent. Nevertheless, the government planned to launch new tax cuts and spending totaling 2 trillion yuan to support businesses and stimulate the economy. Last fortnight, Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.9 percent to 3,02

Many people distinguish their spending power and savings ability and treat them as two totally different functions. This is especially evident for the middle income group who thinks they must be separated because they serve for different purpose. However, the key to a rich mentality is always about having the two important equation balanced out well. While it is important that that we strive to improve our savings rate, there are also ways that we can be smart about our day to day spending as well. Gone are the days where you scroll newspapers to look for coupon clips in order to get item rebates.  These days, there are many merchants coming up with new ideas and better offers to entice shoppers to sign up with them to get rebates. One of them is Shopback, a mer

SIA Engineering Company Ltd (SGX: S59), or SIAEC, specialises in aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for over 80 international airlines around the world. It’s also a subsidiaries of Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SGX: C6L). At their current price of S$2.36 (at the time of writing), SIA Engineering’s shares are down by 30% from their 52-week high of S$3.35. Is SIA Engineering cheap now? If shares are cheap, it might be a good opportunity for investors. There is no easy answer, but we can get some insight by comparing SIA Engineering’s current valuation with the market’s valuation. We’ll use three common valuation metrics: the price-to-book (P/B) ratio, price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, and dividend yield. I will be using the SPDR STI ETF (SGX: ES3) as a proxy for

Singapore Airlines Ltd (SGX: C6L) reported a downbeat set of earnings yesterday for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending 31 March 2019 (2018/2019). Here are some of the key financial highlights from the third-quarter results: 1) Revenue grew 6.5% year-on-year to S$4.34 billion. 2) Total operating costs increased by 9.1% to S$3.95 billion. 3) As a result, operating profit declined by 14.6% to S$387.6 million. 4) Profit attributable to shareholders followed suit, dropping by 27%, from S$389.3 million to S$284.1 million. 5) Similarly, earnings per share ticked down by 27% from 32.9 cents to 24.0 cents. 6) As of 31 December 2018, SIA’s balance sheet had S$1.32 billion in cash and bank balances, and S$5.06 billion in total debt. This translates to a net debt position S$3.74 billion. Th

NetLink NBN Trust (SGX: CJLU) is involved in the passive fibre network infrastructure for Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN). This network is used to deliver ultra-high-speed internet access throughout mainland Singapore and its connected islands. NetLink NBN Trust was listed in July 2017. Yesterday, the trust announced its financial results for the third quarter ended 31 December 2018 (3Q FY19). Here’s a quick rundown of the financial figures from the reporting quarter: 1. Revenue came in at S$89 million, up 3.4% as compared to the initial public offering (IPO) projection. 2. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was S$62.8 million, 3.7% higher than the projection. 3. Consequently, EBITDA margin was 70.6% versus

The sky is falling for SIA Engineering Company as SIAEC share price crashed to $2.21, a 10-year low on 26 December 2018. The correction of SIAEC share price could be due to market anticipation of a set of poor third quarter FY2018/19 results. Following the release of the results, SIAEC share price recovered to the $2.50 bandwidth but started falling again in early 2019. On the basis of the recent volatility, I smell blood for SIAEC share price and investors should brace themselves for a roller-coaster ride. Investing in SIAEC is not fun. If investors look back, SIAEC share price has suffered a horrendous bloodbath, falling from $5.00 in 2013 to the current $2.40. The drop of 50% in SIAEC share price within 6 years make this counter an awful falling star. Should investors hang on for their

It’s a big week for Singapore’s transportation sector with numbers from a port operator, an airport services outfit and a cab firm. Hutchison Port Holdings (SGX: NS8U) posted a slump in third-quarter profits in October. Revenue fell nearly 7% because of weaker within Asia. The Hong Kong-based port operator said it will continue to focus on improving costs given the soft global trade outlook. Airport services company, SATS (SGX: S58), reported a 9% drop in second-quarter earnings because of the absence of a one-time gain a year ago. But SATS said revenues was 4.2% higher, with gateway services up 6.3% and food solutions up 2.5%. ComfortDelGro (SGX:C52) said third-quarter profits were down 2%. But revenues improved 8.5% with increased revenues from its existing business and contributions

Applying for your first credit card is something to be proud of. It represents your entrance into the workforce, a big step towards being financially independent and also a sign of you taking charge of your expenses. Before your After you have spent the hours pondering and comparing over which credit card(s) to apply for, you will realize that the actual application can hardly be done with just a click of the button. Here are all the documents you will need (so that you can prepare them all beforehand) to submit your credit card application. Read Also: 11 Things Working Adults In Singapore Should Know Before Applying For Their First Credit Card  #1 Photo ID Singaporeans/PR: 1) A photocopy of your NRIC (both front and back). Foreigners: 1) A copy of valid passport 2) A copy of your Employm

It has been a rough few years for ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited (CDG). Its stock price fell to S$2.00 in December 2017, down from its peak of S$3.20 in June 2015. This coincided with rising competition from ride-hailing providers, Uber and Grab, which caused a 20% reduction in taxi fleet size for both Comfort and CityCab from 2015 to 2017. Source: Google Finance In March 2018, Grab took over the entire Southeast Asian operations of Uber. There were mixed views on CDG with regards to Uber’s exit from the Singapore market. But it’s been evident that CDG has been a benefactor as it curbed the reduction of its taxi fleet and saw its stock price rebound from its low in 2017. So is the worst over for CDG? Will it emerge a stronger entity in the coming years? In this article,

SingSaver is an affiliate partner of DollarsAndSense.sg. We receive a share of revenue from your sign-ups. When it comes to earning more miles and cashbacks on credit cards, one of the most common “hacks” is volunteering to pay for shared expenses, such as restaurant meals, movie tickets or grab rides first, and then collecting the cash from friends afterwards. The logic is sound – I pay first, on a large bill that will earn more even more miles or cashback than my actual expenditure, then get my friends to repay what they owe me in cash. What happens in reality is a completely different thing. Read Also: Online Shopping: What Happens When You Pay In Foreign Currencies Using Your Singapore Credit Card While I initially agreed with this “hack”, I try to avoid paying first at al

SingSaver is an affiliate partner of DollarsAndSense.sg. We receive a share of revenue from your sign-ups. For those of you who don’t already know, DollarsAndSense is currently participating in a ‘friendly’ Airmiles vs Cashback competition organised by SingSaver, where different financial websites select which is the preferred type of credit cards. DollarsAndSense along with The MileLion are on Team Airmiles. We choose air miles over cashback because the maths clearly show that a miles card would deliver better ‘cash spent to benefit received’ value. A recent discussion with a friend who just started working after graduating from university prompted us to write this article. After explaining and successfully convincing our friend to apply for an airmiles card, instead of a c