One of the best articles that I’ve read in 2018 was a Bloomberg piece I opened while commuting in the subway on a rainy weekday. Kit Chellel’s ‘The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code’ was simply breath-taking. It chronicles the life of Mr Bill Benter, a swashbuckling horse-racing gambler born in Pittsburgh in the United States, who originally started as a professional blackjack player in the colourful casinos of Las Vegas. According to the article, Benter created algorithms to win bets at horse races, which led him to win close to a billion dollars in terms of accumulated gains over his entire career in Hong Kong’s famous Jockey Club. That’s truly phenomenal… and inspirational. I don’t know about you, but I know it isn’t easy to consistently win horse-racing bets

This one metric will help us better understand the asset utilization, profit margin, and gearing of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63).

Following the first part of the series where we focus on four of CIMB’s nine quality stock picks, we continue the series with another five quality stocks that are worth investing in. Investors Takeaway: 5 Gems To Invest In If You Are Looking For Quality DBS According to CIMB, DBS is forecasted to grow its earnings in 2019 on the back of a slew of macro tailwind. CIMB notes that DBS will continue to enjoy upside in net interest margin as mortgage board rate loans continue to catch up to SIBOR-pegged loans. Furthermore, with a high CASA deposit base (59 percent), the low funding cost will further support DBS’ net interest margin. Besides growing net interest margin, CIMB also foresee an improvement in market-related fee income. BUY, TP $29.00; Current $25.28 Keppel Corp Keppel Corp h

Moving forward, UOBKH believes that a shift in portfolio strategy is needed to regain its alpha. UOBKH will re-position its portfolio by removing telco picks and adding REIT and small cap gems in a bid to achieve higher alpha. Investors Takeaway: 5 Stock Picks To Refresh Your Portfolio For Greater Alpha By UOBKH Here are UOBKH’s top five alpha recommendation that is intended to help investors refresh your portfolio for greater alpha. Memtech International UOBKH singled out Memtech International as a compelling buy for its strong net profit growth of 31 percent in 2019. The main growth drivers will be several new projects in the consumer electronics and medical segments. Production in 1H19 is expected to pick up significantly as several new and existing multinational customers are targ

The latest earnings season was a disappointment, to say the least. Multiple sectors such as banks, property, telco and O&G saw earnings cut due to slowing global growth and US-China trade war. As a result, earnings growth was slashed for FY19. This contributed to the fall in STI from its February high of 3,286. Going forward, DBS is expecting STI to stay around the support area of 3,180 with a bull-case forecast of 3,500 by end of the year. Investors Takeaway: 3 Strategies After A Disappointing Quarter By DBS For investors, the deepening cuts point to a worrying sign of things to come in the upcoming quarters. So, how should investors adjust their investment strategy to avoid underperformance in the upcoming month? According to DBS, there are three strategies that investors should cons

US-China trade war has hit a stalemate and there are still major differences to be hammered out. US President Trump reiterated that he would either sign a “great” China trade deal or he would choose to walk away like how he did in the second nuclear summit with North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un. Chinese negotiators, however, have grown wary of putting China President Xi Jinping in a position where he might be embarrassed by Trump. As trade talks near end, fears of Trump walking out on Xi weigh on the stock market as investors worry about the absence of a trade deal. Domestically, the Chinese government has already introduced some fiscal measures that will see Rmb2 trillion of cuts in taxes and fees. Such pro-growth measures should also translate to higher cost-savings for Chinese ho

By now, you should already have heard of the news that each Singaporean will receive up to $300 from the government from the one-off BiCentennial Bonus. While most attention goes to the one-off BiCentennial Bonus for Singaporeans, there are much more takeaways form this year’s Budget, especially if you are an investor. Here are four key investment takeaways from this year’s Budget to help you position your portfolio for long term investments. Investors Takeaway: 4 Investment Takeaways From SG Budget 2019 More Spending On Healthcare To Tackle Ageing Population Perhaps, the biggest talking point of this Budget (other than the timing of GST hike) is the increase in healthcare spending. A few initiatives were announced in this year’s Budget to help Singaporeans manage healthcare cost

Japfa Ltd (SGX: UD2), Singapore Post Limited (SGX: S08) and Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63) bought back their shares for the week.

After ending 2018 on a bad note, the performance of the stock market in the first two months of 2019 has gave investors a reason to cheer. If you are looking to repeat the splendid performance, here are some strategies for you to consider. Investors Takeaway: 3 Strategies If You Want To Beat The Market Again By DBS Take Advantage Of Interest In S-REITs With Fed Chairman Powell re-iterating the Fed’s dovish stance to be patient on rate hikes, interest in REITs should sustain going forward. The consensus now appears to be zero rate hikes for this year as the Fed continues to monitor how the economy evolves. Previously, DBS recommended investors to focus on large cap REITs in resilient segments such as retail and industrial (warehouse and business parks). DBS likes these large cap REITs f

1. SPH Reit  --  4th Jan 20192. SPH  --  11th Jan 20193. First Reit  --  16th Jan 20194. FrasersCom Trust  --  18th Jan 20195. Kep Reit  --  21st Jan 20196. Frasers Cpt Trust  --  21st Jan 20197. Mapletreelog Trust  --  21st Jan 20198. Kep DC Reit  --  22nd Jan 20199. Kep Infra Trust  --  22nd Jan 201910. MapletreeInd Trust  --  22nd Jan 201911. MapletreeCom Trust  --  23rd Jan 201912. Kep T&T  --  23rd Jan 201913. Suntec Reit  --  23rd Jan 201914. CapitaMall Trust  --  23rd Jan 201915. SGX  --  24th Jan 201916. Kep-KBS US Reit  --  24th Jan 201917. Kep Corp  --  24th Jan 201918. Frasers L&T  --  24th Jan

On 18 February 2019, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat delivered the Singapore Budget 2019 in Parliament. In the largely expansionary budget for the year, the main highlights were the Bicentennial Bonus, details on the Merdeka Generation Package, expansion in the scope of public spending on healthcare via CHAS, and maintaining a high rate of spending on defence. Read Also: Singapore Budget 2019: Here Are 4 Of The Most Important Announcements That Affect All Of Us In this edition of our 4 Stocks This Week column, we can’t look any further than the stocks that will benefit the most from the Singapore Budget 2019. # 1 ST Engineering (SGX: S63) During the Singapore Budget 2019, one of the first things Minister Heng spoke about was the need for our country to stay vigilant to the threats around

If you're a Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63) shareholder, come check out the highlights from its latest earnings update.

With the negative momentum from 2018, the STI could remain under pressure despite the strong performance in January 2019, according to RHB. While the valuation and dividend yield of STI makes it compelling for long-term investments, RHB thinks that investors should continue to stay selective in navigating the market in 2019. RHB recommends four investment strategies that focus on stocks with stable earnings, strong balance sheets and sustainable dividends. Investors Takeaway: 4 Investment Strategies To Navigate Singapore’s Stock Market By RHB Rotate Into Defensive Sectors While RHB notes that the markets could move sideways for now, RHB believes that now is not the time to abandon risk assets, especially for long-term investors. RHB highlights that the current sell-off in the market is

SIA Engineering Company Ltd (SGX: S59) has a higher dividend yield than Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63), but is it a better dividend share overall?

With the 90-day truce in the US-China trade war coming to a halfway mark, attention is now on the outcome of those talks. While the news so far appears to be indicating that the talks will end in a positive note, it is hardly a foregone conclusion. Things could still change in a swift if either party changes its mind. So, what happens if the US-China trade talks fall apart? Investors Takeaway: 3 Things To Do If US-China Trade Talks Go Wrong By DBS Stay Invested In REITs S-REITs managed to put in the second-best performance in 2H18 after healthcare. According to DBS, S-REITs should continue to garner investors’ interest as bond yields are still pressured by the Fed turning more dovish. The Federal Reserve’s previous guidance in December last year pointed to two interest rate hikes in

The Trump effect that had buoyed global markets has ironically turned to take its toll on as tensions with China ratcheted up a notch. Despite the underperformance of the Straits Times Index in 2018, UOBKH’s top picks managed to outperform the broader market last year. Given UOBKH’s good track record, it may pay off to heed UOBKH’s top picks for 2019. Investors Takeaway: 4 Investment Ideas For Alpha In 2019 By UOBKH Recovery Of Thai Beverage According to UOBKH, with the dismal share price performance in 2018, there is a good chance Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) will fare much better this year. Since the start of the year, the stock has already risen over 20 percent to $0.735. With a $0.80 price target, UOBKH sees almost another nine percent potential upside, with limited downside risks.

The strong rebound in January so far, following the worst December since the Great Depression, prompted me to look at historical precedents since the 1950's, where the S&P 500 also had a strong rebound following a monthly loss greater than 8% (the loss in December 2018 was 9.2%). What I found was that all such precedents occurred either during recessions or significant market events. This makes the most recent whipsaw look very strange indeed as there is neither a recession nor any significant market event unless you call the flipping of Powell a market event. Or unless there is something which has yet to reveal itself. I have listed them below in chronological order showing the significant monthly losses before the rebound and the corresponding re-based S&P 500 chart.Kennedy Slide

The last few days of 2018 were a roller coaster ride for investors around the world. The US stock market sunk into correction territory before rebounding with the highest daily gain in US history. DBS foresees uncertainty to continue affecting the market following a climbing wall of worries from trade war to interest rate hike to currency turmoil. For investors, DBS recommends investors to stay defensive with stocks in these four investment themes: Defensive plays with strong earnings visibility Yield play with growth Bombed out value play Trade diversion beneficiaries Investors Takeaway: Defensive Stocks With Strong Earnings Visibility By DBS Yangzijiang Shipbuilding According to DBS, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Yangzijiang) holds a strong order book with a value of US$4 billion as of 3

For the past three years, sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings has been partnering with Google to publish an annual report on Southeast Asia’s digital economy. This year, in their latest report, Google and Temasek continued to revise their growth projections for the future of the region’s digital economy. Based on the report, Southeast Asia’s online economy reached US$72 billion in value this year. By 2025, it is projected to triple to US$240 billion. This is 20 percent higher than what Google and Temasek had estimated in their first report in 2016. 3 Reasons Why SEA Internet Economy Is Booming So, what are the reasons why Southeast Asia’s internet economy is booming? According to the report, there are three key reasons: Southeast Asians Are Mobile-First Consumers The cost of a

The Straits Times Index (STI) is made up of the 30 strongest and most liquid stocks listed in Singapore. Comprising close to 80% of the entire market value in Singapore, the returns that the stocks on the STI provides is essentially the market returns or benchmark returns. For investors who are new or prefer taking a hands-off approach, being able to invest in the STI can be the most practical way to invest. This is primarily because it offers several advantages such as diversifying our investment portfolio with just one investment as well as receiving the market returns without requiring much knowledge or spending time monitoring and adjusting our portfolios. Currently, there are two listed STI exchange traded funds (ETFs) – the SPDR STI ETF and the Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF – that w