Warren Buffett is a massive advocate of businesses buying back their shares if the conditions are right. He believes that share buybacks can reveal a thing or two about the company’s management. He once said: “What you’d like to do as an investor is hook them up to a machine and run a polygraph to see whether it’s true. Short of a polygraph the best sign of a shareholder-oriented management — assuming its stock is undervalued — is repurchases. A polygraph proxy, that’s what it is.” With that, let’s check out three blue-chip companies picked at random that have repurchased their shares thus far during the week, as of market open today. DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05) DBS is a leading financial services group in the region, with a growing pr

A growth stock is a company that is fast-growing and is increasing its revenue each year. These stocks usually command at a much higher price-to-earnings multiple than their mature counterparts. For instance, high growth companies such as Tencent Holdings Ltd, Amazon.com, and Netflix have multiples of 37, 171 and 145 respectively. In comparison, mature stocks that are not growing as fast, like Apple, DBS Group Holdings Limited (SGX: D05) and Starbucks Corporation have much lower multiples of 18, 13.5 and 16 respectively. As you can see, investors are willing to pay a premium for high-growth companies, in anticipation of greater profits in the future. But even with their premium valuations, growth stocks can provide excellent value for investors if the shares can live up to their expectati

The FTSE Value-Stocks ASEAN Index promises to curate a group of high quality value stocks from the ASEAN region. A recent report from local bourse operator SGX revealed that there are 10 Singapore-listed companies made the cut for the index. As a quick background, the FTSE Value-Stocks ASEAN Index is made up of approximately 50 value stocks from the ASEAN region, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore. The index provider uses a proprietary value screen that includes valuation, quality and contrarian factors. Over the past 10 years the FTSE Value-Stocks ASEAN Index has returned an annualised yield of 6.6%. In contrast, the Singapore stocks within the index which are included have returned a staggering 155% total return or 9.9% annualised. Let take a quick look at t

Over the last two weeks, the three major banks — DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Limited (SGX: O39) and United Overseas Bank Ltd (SGX: U11) — in Singapore released their earnings update for the second quarter of 2018. As expected, all three banks performed well over the last three-month period with year-on-year growth in net income and net profit. In particular, there are three broad trends that I believe bode well for the all three banks over the next few quarters. Net interest margin expansion Investors are probably aware that higher interest rates are not good for stocks and companies in general. This is because when interest rate rises, investors allocate less of their money in stocks and more to higher-yielding assets like bonds and saving

The FTSE Value-Stocks ASEAN Index promises to curate a group of high quality value stocks from the ASEAN region. Using a proprietary screening process, the index sieves out 50 select companies from the Indonesia Stock Exchange, Bursa Malaysia, the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Singapore Exchange, and the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The key value factors considered are the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio, the dividend yield, return on equity, operating profit margin, net gearing, and what the index calls a unique contrarian factor. Thankfully, a recent report from local bourse operator SGX provided more insight into the FTSE Value-Stocks ASEAN Index. It turns out that there are 10 Singapore-listed companies made the cut for the index. From there, we picked out five Singapore-listed stock

Banking stocks have slightly outperformed the general market so far with the FTSE ST Financial Index delivering a negative 3.1 percent year-to-date return as at 13 August 2018, in comparison to Straits Times Index’s 4.7 percent decline. However, investors fear that the outlook for the banking sector might deteriorate going forward in view of the recent round of property cooling measure which could slow down property transactions and limit mortgage loan growth. Nonetheless, judging from the banks’ recent release of their second quarter results, research analysts remain upbeat on their performances moving into the second half of the year. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation’s (OCBC) 2Q18 net profit rose 16.1 percent achieving a record profit of $1.

Here are three things about the local stock market that you might be interested in today. 1. The Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) ended the day down 0.4%, or 13.3 points, to 3,326.7. Of the 30 index components, 11 were in the red; 14 were in the green while the remaining five finished unchanged. The biggest loser among the blue-chip stocks was DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05). The bank’s shares fell 2.9% to S$26.00 each. Last week, DBS announced its second quarter of 2018 results. For the quarter, total income improved 10% year-on-year to S$3.2 billion while net profit (without one-off items) climbed 20% to S$1.4 billion. However, the bank’s chief executive warned that he expects the Singapore property loan growth to be affected by the latest cooling measures. To know more about the e

There are a number of companies that will be going ex-dividend in the next few days. In other words, you need to own them before a particular date to receive their dividends. Let’s take a look at three of them. Wednesday, 8 August 2018 A day before National Day, DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05) will be going ex-dividend. DBS, as many may already know, is one of the three major listed banks in Singapore. The bank is dishing out 60 Singapore cents per share for the second quarter of 2018. For the three months ended 30 June 2018, net interest income rose 18% year-on-year to S$2.22 billion while total income grew 10% to S$3.20 billion. Net profit, without one-off gains, climbed 20% to S$1.37 billion. The improvement was due to double-digit percentage growth in both net interest income and

Last month, 52.5 million shares or units were repurchased by 37 stocks for a total amount of S$109 million, according to a recent report by the Singapore Exchange. Compared to June 2018, the latest buyback consideration was down 37%. Blue-chip stocks took up seven spots out of the top 10 stocks with the largest buyback consideration value in July 2018. In terms of value, the five stocks with the most share buybacks were United Overseas Bank Ltd (SGX: U11), DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05), Wing Tai Holdings Limited (SGX: W05), Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd (SGX: BS6) and Keppel Corporation Limited (SGX: BN4). These five companies contributed to 74% of the S$109 million in total consideration. The only listed bank not featured in the list above, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Limited

Here are some of the most popular articles that have appeared on the Motley Fool Singapore’s website this month. 1. Singapore’s Stock Market Correction is Here: What Investors Should Do Now Earlier this month, the Singapore stock market took a beating due to the additional property cooling measures announced by the government. Investors might remember that well. The government raised the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates, and tightened the Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits for residential property purchases. In a knee-jerk reaction, the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) fell 2% on 6 July 2018. With the market decline, my Foolish colleague, Chin Hui Leong, reminded all of us in his article that the “sharp decline sounds like a horrible thing to happen, but it also quite a commo

Time flies. In the blink of an eye, half of year 2018 has already gone past us as we march into the third quarter of the year. It seems like yesterday when the Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted regional markets by continuing to chart historical new highs underpinned by strong corporate earnings as a result of the tax cut, but now we are engulfed by worries of a large-scale trade war between the two largest economies of the world. It is sometimes amusing to see how market sentiments can swing from one extreme to another so abruptly without any apparent prior warnings. As we brace ourselves for surprises in the upcoming earnings season, let us take a moment to review on how the market has performed in the first half of the year so far. Straits Times Index Still Holding Up The performance o

Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth tumbled US$16.8 billion on Wednesday night after Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) released its earnings update for the latest quarter. Its shares slid 20 percent, wiping US130 billion in market value, after revenue and daily visitor growth both fell short of analyst estimates. Revenue increased 42% to US$13.2 billion, missing estimates by US$0.1 billion. Zuckerberg, consequently, slipped to the sixth spot in the world’s rich list. The sudden drop in Facebook share price left him with less than US$70 billion in net worth. Home buyers now have an option of using DBS Group Holdings Limited‘s (SGX:D05) newly-launched online property marketplace. The new digital marketplace aggregates around 100,000 property listing from EdgeProp and Averspace. It is also intend

Today, we are going to share with you how to grow your CPF investment money in a no-brainer way. The best part? You need not be financial savvy to do this. A beginner can do it! And I’ll reveal the exact step-by-step process, which you can follow easily. What is CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS)? It is to provide option to CPF members to invest their CPF savings in various instruments such as insurance products, unit trusts, fixed deposits, bonds and shares. The Average CPF Interest Rate is 2.5% to 4% for Ordinary Account. Check their latest interest rate here. Below is the latest CPF rate. Share this Infographic On Your Site </p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

For the week, the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) rose 0.8%, or 27.15 points, to 3,324.98. Of the 30 index stocks, 18 were in the green; 10 were in the red while the remaining two were flat. The biggest winner of the lot was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd (SGX: BS6). The shipbuilder’s shares put on 5.2% to S$0.905 each. Other big winners of the Straits Times Index include the three banks. United Overseas Bank Ltd (SGX: U11) added 3.4% to S$27.32; Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Limited (SGX: O39) rose 3.1% to S$11.66 while DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05) increased 3.1% to S$27.06. Both United Overseas Bank and DBS will be announcing their 2018 second-quarter financial results next week. On the other end of the spectrum, Hutchison Port Hldg Trust (SGX: NS8U) lost the most ground. I

It is that time of the year again when companies provide updates on how they have performed over the quarter. Many things have happened since the last quarterly earnings update. Globally, the ongoing trade conflict between China and the United States has led investors to shy away from companies that rely on exports. Manufacturing companies in Singapore have predictably taken a big hit in the process with share prices of some of the major companies spiraling down more than 30% from their peaks. In June, the US Federal Reserve raised the benchmark lending rate to 1.75%to 2%. This is already the second increase of the year, and the Fed has signalled for two more hikes in 2018 and possibly another four in 2019. Central bankers now expect the rate to end the year at 2.4% rather than 2.1% projec

FTSE ST Financial Index, DBS, UOB and OCBC: A Comparision, 27 July 2018, Friday, 8.55am Singapore Time(Click on Technical Chart above to Expand)Attached is the Technicals for FTSE ST Financial Index, DBS, UOB and OCBC. The FTSE ST Financial Index is used as the benchmark for comparison. The financial index whipsawed below the band of moving averages during this healthy correction. This correction caused the herd to read the market as all supports broken (naive reading) and caused them to exit the markets completely. Markets used this chance, when the 90% herd are out and most traders are shorting, to rally strongly. This will cause maximum damage to the herd.During this correction, volumes were low meaning the stocks were passed from the weak mental strength herd to the hands of

There are many ways to find investment ideas. Some useful methods are to screen for stocks or to look at a list of stocks near their 52-week lows to sieve out potential bargains. Studying what institutional investors have been buying or selling is another avenue. Institutional investors are typically large investment organisations, such as hedge funds, mutual funds, unit trust companies, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and so on. These investors tend to possess vastly greater resources than individual investors like you and me when researching stocks. Hence, it may be useful to keep a close eye on what they are doing, as a way to generate ideas. In this article, I will look at three Singapore stocks that were in the list of the top 10 stocks that saw the highest net purchases i

On Wednesday, the Singapore Michelin Guide unveiled its Bib Gourmand list for 2018. There were 50 Singapore restaurants and hawkers which made the cut, up from 38 last year, cementing Singapore’s reputation as a food paradise. The total number of F&B establishments in Singapore has consistently increased over the past 10 years from 4,927 in 2006 to 7,679 in 2016, or 55.8%. This significantly outpaced Singapore’s population growth as during the same period, Singapore’s population rose from 4.4 million to 5.61 million, or 27.5%. F&B outlets have also been successful in driving higher sales, with operating receipts per square meter rising from $4,726 in 2006 to $7,138 in 2016, or 51%. However, despite increased sales, many F&B outlets in Singapore continue to be under immens

Development Bank of Singapore (DBS): 21 July 2018, Saturday, 2.53pm Singapore Time(Click on Technical Chart above to Expand)Attached is the updated Technicals for Development Bank of Singapore -- The Donovan Norfolk Rated Top Stock of Entire Singapore SGX. The 3 dark green circled regions are my live calls in January 2016 to buy bank stocks all over the world, especially DBS Bank stocks. Singapore was to have technical recession back in 2016, 90% herd were selling cheaply at $12, calling me ridiculous to buy on bear market and forgotten my track records back then; only my fans and followers were buying. The double light green classical supports are the points of +100% profits for my early fans and followers who bought at $12.00-$13.00. They are sitting on +100% profits with 8%-10

DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05) is one of the most recognisable companies in Singapore, given that it’s the largest bank we have here. In this article, I want to dig deep into DBS Group’ return on equity, or ROE. The choice of ROE Why the ROE some of you might be asking? That’s because the financial metric gives investors important insight on a company’s ability to generate a profit using the shareholders’ capital it has. A 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