Month: March 2022

Talk about being at the right time and right place! On 25 March, Singapore Prime Minister announced the ease of public health measures for the pandemic, thereby improving business sentiments for aviation, hospitality and F&B. The relaxation of measures should bode well for local banks due to the loan exposures to these sectors which had been hit by the pandemic. As the operating environment improved significantly, OCBC share price should enjoy some tailwinds in the coming months.

At the moment, OCBC share price should be at a turning point as the counter has largely factored in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and pandemic impacts. The series of interest rate hikes should be the key catalyst driving the share price upward. Is this a good opportunity to enter? I would say so if you have done your risk assessment and diversified your portfolio. Being the oldest bank in Singapore, this blue chip is an evergreen STI component that will withstand the test of time.

Looking back, the past two months had been an absolutely gut-wrenching ride for investors as OCBC share price plunged into chaos. The day of Russia’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine coincided with the release of OCBC’s full-year financial result for FY2021.

Amid the raging inflation and uncertainty inflicted by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, market sentiments had been gloomy in the past three months. And rightly so. After all, many analysts had previously predicted that 2022 could be the year of global recovery from the devastating pandemic. But the Russia-Ukraine conflict had emerged out of nowhere to torpedo global stock markets. Of course, DBS share price was not spared from the fallout.

Despite the chaos in the market, DBS share price appreciated 6.8% year-to-date. Looking back, DBS share price had been on a rather bullish form in the start of the year. Investors had bought into this counter with anticipation of a stellar full-year FY2021 result. And the bank delivered. Then again Man proposes, God disposes. Unexpectedly, Dow Jones fell 500 points on 11 February 2022 following news of a potential Russian-Ukraine conflict. In the aftermath, DBS share price had a minor correction.

Investors’ worst nightmare came true as the Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine unfolded. As a result, DBS share price tumbled from a high of $37.20 on 14 February to a low of $31.20 on 8 March, representing a correction of 16% within the span of three weeks. Yet the announcement of the much-anticipated 0.25% interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve on 16 March had rescued DBS share price from the gallows.

The last time that I covered Boustead share price was in November 2016. Back then, the company was still struggling from the fallout due to the oil slump. Recently, a member of SG Wealth Builder requested for a coverage of Boustead share price, which I would duly oblige to do so.

Ten years ago, this counter had been on my watchlist as Boustead share price rose from $0.80 in January 2012 to an incredible high of $1.90 in April 2014. Back then, investors must have felt so surreal. By the time of my last coverage in November 2016, the bubble has burst for Boustead share price as the stock collapsed to the $0.80 bandwidth. The collapse of Boustead share price was largely due to the ailing oil and gas industry from 2014 to 2019.

During the initial onset of the pandemic in 2020, Boustead share price came under further pressure as the counter plummeted to a low of $0.60 in April 2020. That was the period when crude oil prices were being traded at negative levels. Fast forward to 2022, as we approached endemic, Boustead share price has somewhat recovered to $0.90. Having said that, retail investors’ interest in Boustead share price has cooled considerably.

The year 2022 turns out to be a terrifying year for investors. Barely emerging from the protracted pandemic, the world economy looks set for another tumultuous ride as Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine continues to rock global community. Against this backdrop, AEM share price spirals out of control. Will AEM share price rise from the ashes like a phoenix to fulfil its destiny to be a $1 billion revenue company?

AEM share price rockets with Temasek Holdings!

Despite the gloomy operating climate, it is too early to write off AEM share price. On 7 March 2022, Temasek Holdings increased its stake in AEM to 10.29% following the acquisition of 1.41 million shares for about $3.95. The shares acquisition by Temasek Holdings is deemed by many to be a vote of confidence on the outlook for AEM share price.

AEM share price was then given further boost on 8 March when there was a transaction of 3 million shares for its USD counter. The AEM USD counter had been under pressure lately due to the perceived lack of turnover. On hindsight, the move by the management to launch the USD counter is prudent as we can extrapolate how well AEM may perform if it is dual-listed in NASDAQ.

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP The last time that I had covered Q&M share price was in 2019. That was really the land before time! Recently, a Lifetime Member requested for an update on this counter. If you would like me to provide my insights on SGX stocks, please do sign up as member here!

The coverage of Q&M share price is timely as I realized that the company recently managed to turn around from years of stagnant revenue and profit. COVID-19 imploded out of nowhere in 2020 and the company rode on the wave to stage an impressive recovery. But what truly got me excited was Q&M’s stunning announcement in January 2022 to explore a proposed listing of Acumen Diagnostics on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Acumen Diagnostics is a joint venture of Q&M Dental and it researches, manufactures, sells and distributes COVID-19 diagnostic test kits, as well as provides COVID19 testing services. Question now is: what is the kind of impact that a NASDAQ listing would bring for Q&M share price?

It seems that Q&M Dental has hit the jackpot with Acumen Diagnostics. Q&M Dental recorded a record revenue and profit for FY2021 as gross profit for the COVID-19 medical laboratories rocketed nearly 20-fold from last year to hit $22.3 million.

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP On 24 February, Russia sent global markets into a devastating turmoil following the full-scale invasion on Ukraine. Yet on that fateful day, Global Testing share price stunned Singapore stock market when it took off like a rocket, surging an eye-popping 130% within a week to hit a high of $1.42. The incredible surge of Global Testing share price confounded many investors. Due to this, a Lifetime Member has requested a coverage on this interesting counter.

For background, Global Testing provides testing services such as wafer sorting and final testing for mixed-signal and logic integrated circuits to the semiconductor industry. Its testing services include test program development and conversion. In addition, they also help their customers to convert single-site testing to multi-site testing to shorter their turn around time. Being listed in SGX, the company’s main testing facilities are based in Taiwan. Its customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC).

Although Global Testing has been listed in SGX Mainboard since 2005, the market capitalization is very small – at about $43 million. The market capitalization would have been even much lesser if not for the meteoric rise of Global Testing share price lately. The total number of outstanding shares stood at just 35 million and 45% of the stakes are held by Yageo Corp, Mr Chia Soon Loi (Non-Executive Chairman of Global Testing) and Mr Chen Tie-Min (Chairman of Yageo Corp).

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP The on-going Ukraine crisis has sent global stock markets into a devastating tailspin. The war occurs at a very bad timing as global economy is in the midst of recovering from the protracted pandemic. In this context, how will Healthway Medical share price unravel in 2022? A concerned Lifetime member has written in to enquire the lack of vitality for this counter.

Due to the request from a Lifetime Member, I am writing this article to provide my insights on Healthway Medical share price. Apart from the request, I have been wanting to cover this counter for some time because of my recent annual body check-up at one of Healthway Medical clinics.

For background, Healthway Medical is a private outpatient medical service provider operating more than 100 clinics and medical centres in Singapore. Within Singapore, Raffles Medical is a competitor of Healthway Medical. The difference between the two is that the former is listed in SGX Mainboard while the latter is listed in Catalist.

On 25 February, the Group announced a set of stellar financial result yet Healthway Medical share price remained moribund. Why is this so? Average 3-month trading volume amounted to just 19.75 million while 5-year Beta was 0.58.