Year: 2016

The nightmare continues. Just when investors think that the stock market storm is over, the correction resumes lately. The reality is that business fundamentals don’t change overnight and so does the stock market. China’s slow down began a couple of years ago and not weeks before. The build up to the oil supply glut began a few years ago and not recently. So investors need to be clear that this down-turn is going to be a painfully long winter and it’s not going to go away soon. But amid the bearish market sentiment, there are certainly companies that are worth investing but currently facing price corrections. Among them is SingTel.

The first thing that investors should note is that SingTel is a regional giant that serves more than 550 million mobile customers in Asia, Australia and Africa. This investment moat sets them apart from the other two smaller local rivals, M1 and Starhub. Having this investment moat gives SingTel the economies of scale for procurement and marketing. Most importantly, being the market leader, they are able to influence market trends and set data and mobile plan prices to their advantages.

Over the past one year, the announcement of a fourth telco in Singapore has brought a lot of buzz to the market.

One of the most over-looked value stocks in Singapore’s stock market, K1 Ventures is giving out a huge Chinese New Year Hong Bao to its investors. Amid the bearish stock market sentiments, K1 Ventures is rewarding shareholders $0.21 dividend per share, even though it recorded a loss of $8.47 million for 2Q 2016. Notwithstanding this, I am sold on the company’s performance and bought the stock at $0.965 based on the management investment track record. In this article, I will share how to derive my entry and exit level for K1 Ventures.

K1 Ventures’ proven record

Since the Greenstreet Partners assumed management responsibilities within K1 Ventures, they have distributed $0.35 per share or $742 million, a “frightening record” that is extremely difficult to match in Singapore market, given the fact that K1 Ventures used to trade at $0.20 to $0.30 range. The company choose to be low profile all the while and thus, has been overlooked by many SGX investors. Recently, the company underwent a 5-in-1 share consolidation to meet SGX’s minimum trading price requirements, resulting in the share price to be adjusted to $0.90 to $1.00 range.

Ever since the failed management takeover in 2013, the company has been in divestment mode.

Last week, the big boys, the so-called “whales” are in action again. Keppel Corporation was the subject target and was relentlessly shorted in huge volumes. The short sell orders executed were:

• 25 January 2016: Short sale volume: 4,918,000 worth SGD 24,158,094
• 26 January 2016: Short sale volume: 5,875,800 worth SGD 27,831,381
• 27 January 2016: Short sale volume: 3,895,600 worth SGD 18,456,686

It seems like the whales are hell-bent on lowering the value of Keppel Corporation as oil prices crash to a 14-year low. Due to the oil crisis, Keppel Corp latest Q4 profit fell 44% and its 2015 profit dropped to a 5-year low. Incidentally, Keppel Corp is also a conglomerate with stakes in the property sector, which is also facing a slowdown. The double-whammy gave the whales the perfect opportunity to “wallop” Keppel Corporation and short the counter like nobody’s business.

Of course there were other blue chips which suffered from the recent whales’ attacks but the data from SGX’s Marking of Selling Orders revealed that Keppel Corporation was consistently being shorted for practically the whole of last month. If you are holding on to Keppel Corp shares, you have to be careful because this is abnormal. If the whales consistently targeted and whacked your stocks ferociously, it could mean something big is looming.

In perhaps one of the most disturbing scenes ever shown on TV, Adam Cheng’s character in TVB’s block-buster drama threw his four sons from the top of the stock exchange building after losing his fortunes in the stock market. That was in 1992 and the controversial scene was aired during the first episode of the epic drama. If the Hong Kong producers wanted to deliver a devastating impact on viewers, they succeeded because until today, this drama set the gold standard for a stock market drama series.

I was only 12 when The Greed of Man was shown and obviously I knew nothing about the stock market back then. Nonetheless, the drama has delivered a shocking message and that is to always respect the market. You can make a fortune from the stock market and conversely, you can also lose everything to the stock market if you cannot manage your emotions. At the end of the day, you must remember that nobody can beat the market.

In the real life, many Singapore investors and bloggers were taught a sobering lesson on how cruel the market can be. Within a year, the mighty Keppel Corporation’s stock price plummeted from $9.00 to $5.00.

Benjamin Graham invented the Net Current Asset Value per Share – NCAVPS, which he used to determine the value of the company he invested in. Based on his formula, Raffles Medical Group (RMG)’s stock price is worth only $0.10, way below the $4.00+ currently traded at the Singapore stock exchange. Being one of my favourite stocks, let’s look into whether the company is undervalued or overpriced.

Market Trend

First of all, from a macro viewpoint, the healthcare sector is an evergreen industry because of Singapore rapidly ageing population. In the coming years, as Singaporeans grow older, the demand for quality healthcare will grow as well. In fact, in the past few years, the Singapore government has been implementing measures to address the bed crunch situation faced by many public and private hospitals. New hospitals will be built and collaborations between the public agencies and private hospital will be developed to alleviate the pressing issue.

An example is the Emergency Care Collaboration between Ministry of Health and Raffles Hospital. Under the collaboration, first announced in December 2014, SCDF ambulances will send patients assessed with non-life threatening conditions to Raffles Hospital’s Emergency Department for treatment if it is the nearest available and appropriate hospital.

One of the largest local banks in Singapore, OCBC stock price closed at $7.77, a six-year low. The last time OCBC shares traded below $5.00 was during the Great Financial Recession, recording a low of $4.14 on 6 March 2009.

OCBC will be releasing its full year financial results on 17 February 2016. However, based on its 3Q results in October last year, the Net Asset Value for each OCBC stock price was $7.78, slightly above today’s closing price. It is still premature to assess whether OCBC stock price is undervalued because the latest data has not been released. But given the current weak market sentiments, OCBC stock price is expected to slide further.

The non-performing assets (NPAs) were S$1.93 billion as at 30 September 2015, up 41% from S$1.37 billion a year ago. The year-on-year increase in NPAs was largely attributed to [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]

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Many investment bloggers can quote Warren Buffett’s famous saying “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”. But how many of them can actually truly understand what he means?

One of the greatest cardinal sins made by investors is to fall in love with the stocks they have invested in. In doing so, they suffer from investment blind spots and subsequently sustain heavy losses when market turns sour. It is as though they go to sit in for an examination without studying for the subject and then expecting to obtain an ace for it.

Many investors don’t determine the value of the stocks and don’t set entry/exit levels. Most of them buy stocks based on prices. The key reason for this folly is because most investors cannot differentiate between price and value.

A classic example would be Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX), Singapore’s stock market operator. The counter surged to a high of $15.90 in 2007 and then dropped to today’s $6.82. Die-hard fans who bought the counter in 2007 at such price would be staring at massive losses now.

Even though the company has been consistently paying good dividends, the amount of losses would have wiped off the dividend gains accumulated throughout the years.

The current stock market mayhem may represent a perfect opportunity for investors to enter the market but then again, it is important to refrain from timing the market. You never know whether the correction is the start of a long term bear trend or just a short term flip. In this regard, Osim is riding the storm finely.

Regardless the situation, it is important to set an entry or exit point in your stock investments. Apart from this, wealth builders must understand the importance of allocating wealth across different asset classes like gold bullion.

One of my favourite stocks that I have been monitoring is Osim, a Singapore-based company with substantial overseas market reach, especially in China. The current China’s slowdown is expected to have significant impact on Osim but under the leadership of its founder, the company is likely to ride the storm.

Osim was founded by local entrepreneur, Ron Sim Chye Hock. The company is well known for its luxury massage armchair and over the years, Ron Sim has transformed Osim to a powerhouse lifestyle company with more than 1,100 outlets in over 360 cities across 28 countries. What is more impressive is that Ron has single-handedly established a strong Singapore brand name, similar to successes enjoyed by global companies like Starbucks and Apple.

According to a report, the Strait Times Index (STI) fared the worst in South East Asia last year, declining 14.3% of its value. As a result, many Singapore investors and investment bloggers suffered heavy losses in their stock investments. Although not technically a bear market, investors should be aware of the risks in stock investing and equip themselves the knowledge on how to value a stock before surrendering their hard-earned money to the market. Fundamentally at the point of buying the stock, the investor must not be making losses. Easier said than done, but it can be achieved. In this article, lets delve into how to avoid making losses in SGX stocks.

Generally there are two ways to measure the value of a stock. The first is using the Price/Earning (P/E) method, which actually divides the price per stock by the earning of the company in that year. Essentially, this simple metric uses the earning performance of a stock to determine if a stock is over or under value. So if the earning, which is a denominator, decreases, the P/E will increase. Personally I find this method highly inaccurate as past performances would not guarantee future performances and furthermore, prices can be very subjective to everyone.

One of the largest Warren Buffett’s investments to date is Coca-Cola, which is one of the world’s largest F&B companies. Buffett’s affinity to Coca-Cola dated way back to his childhood when he started his entrepreneurship journey selling cokes. Years later, he would become a major shareholder of Coca-Cola. It is a well-known fact that what attracted Warren Buffett to Coca-Cola was its simple and understandable business model – selling soft drinks to consumers, supermarkets and restaurants. This trait of Coca-Cola turned out to be one of its investment moats.

Even though Warren Buffett has built his fortune from his investments in Coca-Cola, does it means that the Food & Beverage (F&B) industry should be in your investment menu? Let’s delve into some of the common myths and check out whether it’s worthwhile to invest in Singapore F&B stocks.

Myth 1: F&B stocks are simple and easy to understand

While Warren Buffett may have struck gold with Coca-Cola, it would be a sweeping statement to say that investing in an F&B stock is straightforward and simple. This is because no two F&B companies are created alike.

For example, an F&B brand that does well in Singapore may not be palatable at the global stage.