When investors search for good dividend stocks, they may have the impression that smaller companies can pay higher dividend yields, as large companies are normally so well-known that their share prices are bid up to levels where the dividend yield is compressed. However, the truth is, there are many large-cap companies with long histories and track records of paying steady and sustainable dividends. Of course, investors may have different definitions as to what constitutes a “high dividend yield.” For blue-chip companies that are stalwarts in their own industries, a decent dividend yield would range from 3.5% to 5%. Remember that the idea is for the investor to beat long-term inflation, which falls in the range of 2% to 3%. With growth factored into each of these companies, there is a

A lot has been written on companies to be purchased for retirement, especially the need for them to be stable, predictable stalwarts that are unlikely to go bust. I thought it would be useful to look into companies a young working adult could consider investing in, as many such adults likely won’t yet have built up a large cash stash for investing, and they may also not have enough time to research companies because of work commitments and on-the-job training. Companies need to have the following characteristics to qualify as investment possibilities for young adults: They should be stable, solid, and dependable names the investor does not have to dig into too deeply. They should preferably have some element of growth as young investors on the cusp of their investment journeys have m

ST Engineering is an integrated engineering company with four key segments: aerospace, electronics, land systems, and marine. It provides products and services for both commercial and military applications, which means that its financial figures usually demonstrate more resilience than its less diversified peers. I attended ST Engineering’s 2019 AGM thinking that there wouldn’t be anything too interesting; I was expecting it to be boring, actually. You can’t blame me — revenues grew at a CAGR of 0.2% over the past five years, while earnings fell over the same period. It seemed like a stable blue chip having immense difficulties with growth. While the company’s growth is still lackluster, I left ST Engineering’s AGM with a radically different view of the company. In

Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (SGX: S63) is a blue-chip conglomerate. Breaking down its divisions will make it easier for investors to understand this giant of a company.

At various points during the Hyflux saga so far, I have given comments to the media and made periodic postings about the company’s corporate governance and its restructuring. I have not to this point written extensive commentaries on it like I have done for many other companies, like SingPost, Datapulse, YuuZoo, Noble and others. There were a number of reasons. First, I thought there were enough people commenting on every single development (in fact, I had turned down requests for comments from the media on several occasions). Second, I did not think there was the kind of egregious behaviour that we have seen in many other companies, even though I thought the Hyflux board was flawed and let down stakeholders. More recently, there was a third reason – I had set a major examinati

The STI rallied to a year-to-date high of 3,400 points in April, but that came to an end. As the market enters correction mode following renewed trade war tensions, Credit Suisse thinks that a high risk-to-reward investment strategy will be the go-to strategy in the current investment environment. Here are three high risk-to-reward plays for investors who are looking to shift gears in your investment portfolio. Investors Takeaway: Shifting Gears With 3 High Risk-To-Reward Plays Keppel Corporation A key reason that Credit Suisse picked Keppel Corporation (Keppel Corp) as one of its top risk-to-reward play is the improving O&M outlook. With plans to hire 1,800 full-time staff over the course of 2019, it seems that Keppel Corp’s management is confident of the improving prospects in t

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.

4 Refreshing Stock Picks You Should Consider After a splendid run-up in the past 4 months, stocks are looking a tad expensive. A correction seems overdue, as markets began to feel jittery about renewed trade tensions. For investors who are out on a hunt for bargain stocks to rebalance your portfolio, here are four stocks that you should consider. Investors Takeaway: 4 Refreshing Stock Picks You Should Consider By UOBKH ST Engineering ST Engineering has been on an acquisition spree of companies that are earnings accretive. Its latest acquisition, Newtec, is a satellite communication company in the broadcast & consumer space. According to UOBKH, Newtec’s satellite communication technology is a critical infrastructure in providing real-time content. Industry sources have estimated t

Earlier this month, the US Federal Reserve came to a decision to maintain a larger balance sheet relative to the pre-2008 crisis period. This decision to end quantitative tightening came earlier after much internal deliberation. Revising Balance Sheet Normalisation Principles The Fed also announced the revision and replacement of its balance sheet normalisation principles. It will cease downsizing its balance sheet starting from October 2019. It will focus on holding treasury securities while its holdings of mortgage-backed securities gradually run-off to zero. Starting from October 2019, principal repayments received from mortgage-backed securities would be reinvested in treasury securities, subject to a maximum of US$20 billion per month. The Fed Slamming Brakes On Interest Rate Hike In

In the last earnings season, around 20 percent of companies reported earnings that fell below RHB’s estimates. Going into 1Q19 and beyond, RHB recommends some quality counters that investors would not have to lose sleep over. Big Names Falling Prey To Earnings Downgrade Among them, Dairy Farm, Genting Singapore and Golden Agri-Resources were some of the big names that missed earnings expectations. Given the moderation of growth in 2019, RHB has downgraded the outlook in its coverage universe. A Sign Of More To Come Prior to 4Q18, downgrades eased during 3Q18. However, as the 4Q18 earnings season progressed, the pace of downgrades started picking up. Since September 2018, the telecom, transport, consumer staples and banking sectors have seen the most downgrades to consensus earnings. RHB:

In the first quarter of 2019, local benchmark Straits Times Index ended flat as investors juggled between worries about higher US recession risks and the impending outcome of the US-China trade talks. The only bright spot was the S-REIT sector as it outperformed on the Fed’s dovish interest rate hike forecast. The slowdown in hike came from lower GDP growth expectations and rising unemployment, leading to the inversion of US yield curve to heighten recession fears. According to DBS, here are three investment strategies for you to jumpstart your portfolio. Investors Takeaway: 3 Investment Strategies To Jumpstart Your Portfolio By DBS Strategy 1: ‘Peak’ Interest Rate, Uncertain Growth Environment Calls For Greater Focus On Yield/Defensive Stocks According to the Fed’s dot plot, they

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