The curtain will come down on the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) earnings season for the second quarter next week. There are just three laggards left to report. It wasn’t the best of quarters when Thai Beverage Public Company (SGX: Y92) reported in May. Earnings for the second three months fell 3.2% because of a decrease in profits at its beer business and a one-off expense for its acquisition of Havi Logistics. The brewer and distiller said that Thailand’s 2% excise tax on liquor was marginal, though. Wilmar International (SGX: F34) was also on the ropes in May. First-quarter profits slumped 40% because of difficulties in Tropical Oils and Sugar. However, Oilseeds and Grains fared better. The farmer said a prolonged standoff between the US and China could affect the utilisation of

Stocks selling near their 52-week low prices might prove to be good bargains for investors. Even among the blue-chip companies of the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI), several stocks are trading near their respective 52-week low prices. Let’s look at three of them which are trading close to their 52-week low prices. They are Hutchison Port Hldg Trust (SGX: NS8U), Wilmar International Limited (SGX: F34) and Sembcorp Industries Limited (SGX: U96). Source: Google Finance and SGX StockFacts (data as of 24 July 2018) Hutchison Port announced its financial results for the second quarter ended 30 June 2018 on Monday this week. For the latest period, revenue and other income dipped 3.6% year-on-year to HK$2.79 billion while net profit plunged 36.8% to HK$170 million. The bottom line was hit by

PE ratio is arguably the most commonly used financial metric in share investment. But many investors may not truly grasp the idea of PE and how can it be applied to shares investing.In this article, I try to explain PE ratio using simple language, and highlight how it can be used in your daily investing decisions.PE Ratio - The ConceptImagine this. You have a sum on hand, and is prepared to acquire a food stall in the neighbourhood as an investment. As you approach the business owner, what would be your first question to ask?Surely, one of the first few questions you would post is 'How is your business?'. That's in layman term. Essentially, you are asking 'How much does your food stall earn?'. The owner would probably reply 'Well, last year we earned $100k per year', or  'For the past

First quarter of 2018 has passed in a blink of an eye. I thought it would be interesting to look at STI and have a good sense how the STI blue chips are doing, especially when we just had some volatility in Feb and Mar this year.Source: Business Times, 31 Mar 2018Based on the table above, I noticed thatFive companies are at a price level of 75th percentile or higher based on their past one-year price range: City Developments, Venture Corp, DBS, OCBC and UOB. Among these, Venture at $28.11 is the closest to its 52 week high, owing to its recent inclusion into STI and the continued optimism on electronic manufacturing sector.Seventeen companies are now within 25% of their one-year lowest price. This is more than half of the 30 components of STI. Among them, Hutchison Port Holdings ($0.295) a

MARKET OVERVIEW- The market is likely to start the week with a slight positive bias as China appeared to back off from retaliatory tariff threats ahead of a slew of economic data, including GDP, industrial production and retail sales, - Investors will also turn their attention to Fed's semi-annual testimony to Congress, which could lay the groundwork for further tightening, and the start of the 2Q18 earnings season.- Technically, immediate resistance for STI is at 3,300, while crucial support level at 3,190-3,200 remains intact in the near-term.POSITIVE NEWS**Boardroom- Acquiring Symphony Corporatehouse Sdn Bhd for RM164.14m ($55.64m) via combination of cash (75%) and shares (25%).- The enlarged entity will command an industry-leading market share in the share registry, corporate secretari

An attractive stock is one with strong fundamentals sweetened by undemanding valuation that are compelling enough for investors. Here are two stocks touted to be worth accumulating at their current share price. SATS SATS is a long-term play for investors who are interested in investing in the aviation industry. As Changi Airport continues to see higher passenger throughput rates, SATS is one of the major beneficiaries as it handles about 80 percent of the traffic throughput in the airport. Further, with the opening of the fourth terminal (T4), Changi is expected to see higher traffic which means higher profitability for SATS which is handling operations at the new terminal through a joint venture with AirAsia. In the long run, SATS has chosen to diversify into different industry such as p

Wilmar International: 3 July 2018, Tuesday, 2.28pm Singapore Time(Click on Technical Chart above to Expand)Attached is the Technicals for Wilmar International that is listed in the Singapore SGX. Wilmar is currently doing a large rounding bottom of re-accumulation. The Inverse Shoulder-Head-Shoulder in play (illustrated in brown) is helping to propagate fear, with success as well. The price structure is a large price structure of uptrend.  The Donovan Norfolk Technical Rating:Long Term Bullish within Bull MarketDonovan Norfolk Ang

I’m a value investor. So, I like to search for companies that are trading at good value. A list of stocks that are near their respective 52-week lows is a good place to start my search for a good reason. These are the stocks that are either neglected or beaten down by investors. And, some of these stocks can be bargains in relation to their actual economic worth because market participants can at times react too negatively to certain companies that have sound long-term prospects but that have experienced some short-term stumbles. As such, I will screen for stocks that are trading near 52-week lows nearly once every week. There are many stocks that pop up on my screen each time I run it. So, what are the companies that have shown up on this week’s list? Here are three of them: Jardine

Wilmar International Limited (SGX: F34) is an agricultural company that operates through four main segments: Tropical Oils; Oilseeds and Grains; Sugar; and Others. Over the last 12 months, the company’s stock price has fallen by 13% to S$3.05. What may have caused this? Reasons for a decline There can be many reasons behind a stock’s price decline. But, the reasons can generally be classified as business-performance-related, or investor-sentiment-related. The former deals with how a stock’s business has performed or is expected to perform. And in terms of business performance, one of the really important numbers would be the stock’s profits. Meanwhile, the latter is about the overall mood of market participants – are investors more greedy than fearful, more pessimistic than opti

MARKET OVERVIEW- The grossly oversold market may take a breather as US stocks rebounded from the worst selloff since early Apr in tandem with the rally in oil price past US$70 a barrel following reports the US is pressing allies to halt all imports of Iranian crude, which took some attention from the uncertainty over Trump's trade policy.- Meanwhile, hard hit tech shares bounced back after Trump signalled he may rely on the Committee on Foreign Investment rather than blanket Chinese investment restrictions to protect US technology.- Technically, the STI is just touching its former support-turned-resistance of 3,280, with short term objective at 3,340. Underlying support is at 3,200.POSITIVE NEWS*CapitaLand- Acquiring Chongqing Zhonghua Real Estate Co (CQZRE) 32-ha prime mixed-use site in C

MARKET OVERVIEW- The market looks set to extend its 9-month low as the threat of US trade and investment restrictions against China and key partners jolted sentiment and triggered a global selloff. - Tech stocks may continue to come under pressure amid mixed signals that US will impose export controls and block Chinese investments in US technology companies.- Technically, the STI may head towards the crucial support area at 3,200, while upside will be capped by former support-turned-resistance at 3,280.CORPORATE RESULTS*Stamford Tyres- 4QFY18 net profit plunged 78.1% to $0.6m, dragging FY4/18 earnings to $5.2m (-36%).- For the full year, revenue rose 2.8% to $242.4m, mainly attributable to new sales in North Asia.- Gross margin narrowed to 25% (-1.2ppt)on higher cost of sales in tyres and

Wilmar International Limited (SGX: F34) is an agricultural company that operates through four main business segments: Tropical Oils; Oilseeds and Grains; Sugar; and Others. In this article, I want to dig deep into Wilmar’s 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 – whic

As we begin to enter the second half of 2018, DBS came up with some investment strategies that investors should adopt when approaching the stock market According to DBS, June is expected to be a quiet month with trading activities and volume to be mild. Investors should expect another round of interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, to see the federal fund rate rise by another 25 basis points to 2 percent. However, the forecast and outlook for interest rate hikes should remain at three hikes in 2018. With regards to crude oil, the OPEC is scheduled to meet on 22 June 2018 and a decision is like to be reached on whether to raise production levels as proposed by Saudi Arabia and Russia. On the local front, May has not been a great month for the local stock market as the local benchmark St

The plantation sector is set to post a weak set of result this year. Investors should see the weaker-than-expected 1Q18 performance as a cautionary sign. According to UOBKH, with the exception of Bumitama Agri, all other plantation stocks in its coverage reported weaker-than-expected results. The sector weakness was largely attributed to lower-than-expected production volume, as well as reduction in sales volume due to delivery delays. Most plantation companies under coverage saw Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) production fall in volume due to seasonality except in Bumitama Agri, First Resources and Wilmar International which instead saw increase in production as FFB yields improved. The fall in overall FFB production in 1Q18 could be due to the high base compared to 1Q17. Going forward, 2Q18 c

Here are three things about the local stock market that you might be interested in today. 1. The Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) ended Friday down 0.2%, or 7.5 points, to 3,529.27. The biggest loser in the index was Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd (SGX: BS6), falling 4.5% to S$1.06. On the other hand, the STI component that gained the most was Singapore Airlines Ltd (SGX: C6L). The firm’s shares rose 3.8% to S$11.56. Other big gainers in the index were Venture Corporation Ltd (SGX: V03), Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (SGX: J36) and Wilmar International Limited (SGX: F34). In all, seven stocks ended the day in the green, 17 were in the red while the remaining six finished unchanged. 2. Singapore Airlines Ltd is looking to merge SilkAir, its regional wing, into Singapore’s flag

The general consensus in the market is to ‘Sell In May And Go Away’. While DBS does not think that the stock market is going down in 2018 (having just raised its year-end estimate of STI to 3,850), DBS thinks that the near-term performance of the Singapore market might take a slight dip. With the World Cup coming up in a month’s time, it could be a time for investors to look for a break in the month of May. Historically, the Straits Times Index fell by an average of 8.6 percent during the past six tournaments as trading activity starts to slow in May. Based on past statistics, the best market re-entry time is in the beginning of July, if history repeats. Investors Takeaway: 3 Stock Strategies To Recalibrate Your Portfolio Ahead Of FIFA World Cup Mid-To-Late-Cycle Plays As Singapo

Trump (USA) and Kim (North Korea) will meet on 12 June 2018 in Shangri-La Hotel of Singapore, the same place for historical meeting of Xi Jinping (China) and Ma Ying Jeou (Taiwan) in 2015. Sometimes when we read the news, need to read in between the lines to understand the stock investment opportunities.   Singapore: ========== Establish reputation similar to Switzerland as a neutral country. This is crucial for a small country to survive in a competitive international market, both in economy and politics.   Shangri-La Hotel: ============== Owner of Shangri-La Hotel is Robert Kuok, the richest person in Malaysia, who also owns businesses through major shareholding of giant stocks such as PPB (Bursa: 4065), Wilmar (SGX: F34), Shangri-La Asia (S07), Kerry Properties

With more than two-thirds of the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) having reported, the first-quarter earnings season will enter the home straight next week. Genting Singapore (SGX: G13) will be the first blue chip to report next week. In February, the integrated resorts owner lifted its dividends, even though earnings fell 17%. It said that it had seen a stronger underlying performance from the leisure and hospitality segment, thanks to higher business volume. Singapore’s second-largest bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (SGX: O39), will also report on Monday. The bank soundly beat analyst estimates in the fourth quarter, when it posted a 31% jump in net profits. It said it had seen sustained growth momentum in banking, wealth management and insurance. But will it be able to compl

With STI now leading the race as Asia’s top performing market index, the market is starting to be concerned about overvaluation. However, there are still some blue chips that have yet to hit its peak. Here are four blue chips that Daiwa Capital Markets thinks will continue to prosper and help investors make alpha return in the second half of 2018. Investors Takeaway: 4 Blue Chips That Will Prosper In 2H18 DBS Group Holdings Combination Of Growth And Yield Play Among regional banks, the “earnings-per-share” growth outlook looks the most compelling for Singapore banks. According to Daiwa, Singapore banks have the highest EPS growth outlook in the region. Within the Singapore banks, DBS Group Holdings (DBS) is the runaway leader for its EPS growth. Apart from growth, DBS is also emer