Stocks

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! DBS will release its full-year FY2021 financial result on 14 February 2022, before the market opens. When a listed company releases its financial result before market opens, it usually means one thing – the result should be good. In this regard, investors should expect plenty of fireworks for DBS share price.

DBS share price has been on a solid bull run for the past few weeks that not even the MAS’ regulatory action on its digital disruption in November 2021 could derail its bullish form. Year-to-date, DBS share had increased 13.6% to $37.25. With the stellar full-year financial result, it is not inconceivable that DBS share price would hit $50 in the coming weeks.

It has not been a bed of rose for investors as DBS share price had previously endured a torrid run in late 2021 following market’s reaction to a subpar 9MFY2021. Omicron had emerged out of nowhere to create much uncertainties for DBS share price. And with the occurrence of the online disruptions, we have the perfect storm for DBS share price.

Then again, no winter lasts forever. For DBS share price, this is no exception. Investors were relieved that MAS’ regulatory action requires DBS to set aside additional capital amounting to $930 million. The bank assures investors that it will have no impact on the dividend policy. To put the icing on the cake, the acquisition of Citibank Taiwan is expected to accelerate growth, adding at least $250 million of net profit per annum post-pandemic.

But the strongest catalyst for DBS share price should be the looming interest rate hikes by US Federal Reserve. On 27 January 2022, the US Federal Reserves indicated that the interest rate hikes will likely take place in March. The interest rate hikes will benefit Singapore …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! The incredible form of OCBC share price must have left investors in surreal. Many of them must be pinching themselves if the explosive form of OCBC share price is for real. After all, OCBC share price had been lagging behind DBS and UOB for a number of years.

On 8 February 2022, OCBC share price crossed the pivotal $13 mark to hit a high of $13.13. The last time that OCBC share price was trading at the $13 bandwidth was in May 2018. Back then, the implementation of the additional property cooling measures impacted the home loan market, causing local banks to suffer collateral damage. Not surprisingly, OCBC share price got bombed out during that period.

Since then, OCBC share price had not recaptured the sizzling form of 2018 until in recent days. Luckily, the new property cooling measures unleashed in December 2021 did not affect OCBC share price because the tightening of LTV limit is applicable to only HDB housing loans. The revised LTV limit does not apply to loans granted by financial institutions, for which the LTV limit remains at 75%.

Looking back, the explosive bull run of OCBC share price from 2015 to 2018 was largely due to the nine US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. During that period, the US Federal Reserve raised the interest rate to a high of 2.5% in December 2018. Will history repeat itself for OCBC share price?

In the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, the US Federal Reserve had kept interest rates effectively zero until 2015. Similarly, the Fed has kept interest rates effectively zero since the start of the pandemic. Nonetheless, on 27 January 2022, the US Federal Reserves indicated that the interest rate hikes will likely take place in March. The interest …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Will SIA share price (SGX: C6L) roar in the Year of the Tiger? In peace times, there are no dragons to slay. But this is not peace time we are talking now right now. As global economy emerges from the protracted pandemic crisis, what will the outlook be like for SIA share price in 2022?

SIA share price was actually cruising in 2021 until Delta and Omicron variants brought the counter to its knees in May and November respectively. In this respect, whether SIA share price will return to form in 2022 will depend a lot on the pandemic situation. On 4 February 2022, Singapore announced a whopping 13,208 COVID cases. The spike in cases may cause not just supply chain issue for Singapore, but also manpower disruptions for the national airline.

Just a caveat: it is still premature to claim that the latest infection wave would disrupt SIA’s operation and puncture the form of SIA share price in the process. Given that the 4 February report was released after market closed, it is an unknown how the stock market will react when it reopens on 7 February. Due to the countless twists and turns of the pandemic saga, analysing the outlook of SIA share price is always a tricky business.

SIA share price so bad its good!

SIA share price in explosive form

SIA share price (SGX: C6L) faces ambush from another cash call?

SIA share price rises from ashes

The latest development takes place at a very bad timing for SIA share price as the company is expected to post a strong operating result for third quarter business update. The result should be stellar as December operating results were solid. For that month, SIA carried 596,300 passengers (2020: 85,200) while SIA Cargo carried 95.8 …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! The wheels finally came off the wagon for iFAST share price. From nearly $10 in October 2021, iFAST share price plunged 38.7% within three months to reach the current $6.10. Year-to-date, iFAST share price corrected 26%. The devastating meltdown of iFAST share price caught many investors by surprise, not least due to a confluence of factors. One of my Lifetime Members reached out to me and sought my insights.

My last article on this counter was a year ago – 25 January 2021. Back then, iFAST share price was trading at around $5.20 and I had warned that there was tell-tale sign of a massive bubble building up. My opinion was that retail investors should be cautious of being caught with their pants down when the tide turned against them. In 2021 alone, volatility of iFAST share price had attracted three SGX queries. Despite so, iFAST share price went on to confound investors to hit almost $10 in October 2021.

For investors who had exited at $10 and made a killing from iFAST shares, they must be laughing all the way to the bank. For those who had entered when iFAST share price was trading nearly $10, should they run for their lives or be the last man standing? This is a tricky question because it is certainly not the end of the road for iFAST share price. In this article, I will provide a balance analysis on the outlook of iFAST share price in the coming months.

Like many other growth stocks in SGX mainboard (Nanofilm and AEM Holdings), iFAST is not for the faint-hearted. News of the impending US Federal Reserves interest rate hikes had hammered these stocks left, right and centre. Year-to-date, Nanofilm share price dropped 25% while AEM’s declined 12.4%.

History …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Crisis? What crisis?! OCBC share price rubbished all talks of crisis to stage a return of the King! Year-to-date, OCBC share price rocketed 9.5% (at the point of writing). On the basis of the current run, will OCBC hit a record high of $14 in the coming days? This will be a quick article to update readers on the outlook of OCBC share price in the next two months.

On 27 January 2022, the US Federal Reserves indicated that the interest rate hikes will likely to take place in March and confirmed its plan to end bond purchases in that month. As I have mentioned many times in this blog, the interest rate hikes will benefit Singapore banks because of the increase in net interest income. For this reason, the upcoming interest rate hike news sent OCBC share price to the moon.

The sizzling form of OCBC share price comes at a time when the bank is about to release its full year financial result for FY2021. The red-hot form of OCBC share price also coincided with the recovery of Singapore’ economy, which grew 7.2% in 2021. Talk about being at the right time and right place!

Admittedly, the recent phishing scams had rocked market sentiments to a certain extent. Arising from this, OCBC share price had been sluggish for the past two weeks. 470 victims had lost $8.5 million to the OCBC phishing scams. Nonetheless, it seems to me that the saga has come to an end as the bank offered to make goodwill payments to the victims.

OCBC share price to hit $19 by end 2022?

OCBC share price in supersonic boom!

OCBC share price to rocket with record earnings?

OCBC share price to rocket with Great Eastern Holdings exit?

Note that this is …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Volatility remains the name of the game for Wilmar share price. In my last article on this counter, my forecast was that Wilmar share price may hit a high of $5.70 in February 2022. I have also suggested that the violent swings of Wilmar share price mean that this counter is not for the faint-hearted. Indeed, the see-saw movements of Wilmar share price had led to an SG Wealth Builder Lifetime member seeking my insights.

The performances of Wilmar share price remain one of the biggest enigmas of SGX mainboard. There are so many catalysts providing wind to the sail of Wilmar share price but the counter always flatter to deceive.

Take for example, the crude palm oil (CPO) price has hit the record high of RM5,497 per tonne on 24 January 2022. Being one of the largest oil palm plantation owners in the world, Wilmar should have benefitted from the raging CPO prices. Yet Wilmar share price did not rocket and has been blowing hot and cold lately. And then there is the upcoming India IPO of Adani Wilmar.

Although the Adani Wilmar India IPO is expected to unlock value for investors and provides positive sentiments for Wilmar share price, it is of significantly smaller scale as compared to the Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings Co., Ltd, (“YKA”)’s IPO in October 2020. The YKA’s IPO resulted in a market capitalisation of RMB303.61 billion (approximately US$45.24 billion) as at 15 October 2020. On the other hand, Adani Wilmar is a 50-50 joint venture between Adani and Wilmar and the IPO is valued at about $646 million only.

Due to the massive size of the IPO, YKA has a huge bearing on Wilmar share price from October 2020 to early 2021. Despite being a subsidiary of Wilmar, YKA’s …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! What a devastating meltdown. From a high of $6.30 in July 2021, Nanofilm share price (SGX: MZH) plunged more than 50% to reach the current low of $3.05. The capitulation of Nanofilm share price caught the attention of the investment community. Should Nanofilm investors run for their lives?

A Lifetime Member has written in to seek my views on this counter. Henceforth, I will share my insights on the two potential factors that could have knocked the wind out of Nanofilm share price.

At the rate of correction, Nanofilm share price may reach the IPO price of $2.59. This is especially so if the upcoming full-year failed to meet investors’ expectations. When Nanofilm got listed on 30 October 2020, there was much hype among Singapore investment community due to the dearth of billion-dollar technology firm listings in SGX in recent years.

Indeed, Nanofilm share price made a strong start with an opening price of $2.77 and an intra-day high of $3.02. With solid support from a stellar group of institutional investors like Temasek Holdings, AIA, Credit Suisse, investing in this company seems like a no-brainer. Admittedly, I was tempted to enter this counter but stopped short of doing so because of my personal policy of not investing in a company that just got listed within the first five years. The explosive meltdown of Nanofilm share price vindicated my investment principle.

Just like retail investors, institutional investors also want to make money from IPOs. However, the key difference between these two groups of investors is that retail investors make money at the point of selling whereas big boys often make money at the point of buying. For this reason, retail investors would often buy high and sell high while big boys would big low and sell …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! This will be my first article on AEM share price in 2022. All eyes should be on the upcoming FY2021 full-year financial result. Will it set AEM share price on fire like what it did in 2018?

From January to March 2018, AEM share price rocketed 100% to reach $1.87. The supersonic run of AEM share price was attributed to two factors – the award of patent for the technology used in its flagship product, High Density Modular Test (HDMT) equipment and also the ramp up of orders from its key customer, Intel.

The ramp up of orders from Intel led to an increase of 216% and 560% in revenue and profit for FY2017. The release of the full-year FY2017 financial result in early 2018 saw AEM share price roaring to high heavens. Will history repeat itself for AEM share price? Fast forward four years, the ramping of HDMT by Intel is over. However, AEM is launching is its next blockbuster product test equipment product – Asynchronous Massive Parallel (AMPS). This new capability allows high powered chip to be tested under thermal controlled environment without damaging the chip.

In my research, I found out that AEM had obtained the patent used in its AMPS (patent number: 20210325452). The patent was granted only on 21 October 2021. Prior to this, Temasek Holdings took up a substantial stake in AEM in August 2021. My hypothesis is that Temasek Holdings might have anticipated the grant of this patent to AEM and this could have prompted the sovereign wealth fund to invest in the company. Then on 25 November 2021, Temasek Holdings purchased another 443,700 shares from the market.

If you scan the landscape in Singapore, you would realize that there are very few listed home-grown technology companies …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! It appears to me that UOB share price is on fire after being given a booster shot! Lately, Singapore bank stocks were given a lift following news of the impending interest rate hikes by US Federal Reserves. However, UOB share price jumped to a whole new level following the announcement of the $5 billion acquisition of Citigroup’s Southeast Asia consumer business.

The Citigroup acquisition pushed UOB share price briefly passed the psychological $30 mark. This is a record level for UOB share price. Whether UOB share price can sustain this level remains to be seen in the coming days. Nonetheless, I doubt that UOB share price has peaked as the full-year financial result will be released only on 16 February. Given the lower allowances being made in FY2021, we should see full-year net profit registering a double-digit growth. In view of this, there should be plenty of headroom for UOB share price to rise in the next few weeks.

From a long-term perspective, the recent Citigroup acquisition is an interesting deal that could possibly shape the dynamics between the Singapore banking trio. Notably, this deal marked the first overseas acquisition under the helm of CEO Wee Ee Cheong. Wee Cho Yaw, handed the reins to Wee Ee Cheong in 2007. The last overseas acquisition under Wee Cho Yaw was for Indonesia bank, Buana, in 2005. Under the tenure of the senior Wee, UOB made a series of banks that included Bank of Asia, Chung Khiaw Bank, Far Eastern Bank. Radanasin Bank Thailand and Lee Wah Bank and OUB.

Despite the massive hype, the Citigroup deal is still less than the $10 billion that UOB paid for the acquisition of OUB. In June 2001, DBS launched a hostile takeover for OUB by tabling a bid …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Boom! OCBC share price turns on the style to hit a five-month high! The bullish form of OCBC share price comes at a time when the bank is about to release its full year financial result for FY2021. The red-hot form of OCBC share price also coincides with the recovery of Singapore’ economy, which grew 7.2% in 2021. Talk about being at the right time and right place!

Based on the past five years’ trend, OCBC share price would always start to rise in February and then peak in May. Following that OCBC share price would fall and then start to rise again and then peak in August. The cycle would keep on repeating based on data of past few years. The reason could be due to investors selling the shares after ex-dividend. Therefore, January could be the perfect window for investors to enter this counter.

Take for example, OCBC share price surged from $12.20 in February 2018 to hit a high of $13.65 in May 2018. Subsequently, the counter nose-dived to a low of $11.25 in July 2018 before recovering to $11.80 in August 2018. Thereafter, the stock plunged to $10.40 in October 2018. The pattern would continue in the subsequent years. 2020 was an exception due to the onset of pandemic.

The correction of OCBC share price in May 2018 was probably also attributed to the implementation of the additional property cooling measures – implementation of the 12% Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) and tightening of Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit by 5%. Back then, the cooling measures impacted the home loan market, causing local banks to suffer collateral damage. Not surprisingly, the share prices of all three local banks got bombed out during that period.

The new property cooling measures unleashed in December 2021 did …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! On 3 November 2021, the shareholders of ESR Cayman gave the green light for the US$5.2 billion acquisition of the ARA Asset Management. ESR Cayman is listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is the sponsor of SGX-listed ESR-REIT. On the other hand, LOGOS is the sponsor of ARA Logos Logistics Trust and is majority-owned by ARA Asset Management. The acquisition of ARA Asset Management by ESR Cayman effectively paves the way for the ESR-REIT merger with ARA Logos Logistics Trust.

Although the writing is on the wall that the ESR-REIT merger is going to take place sooner or later, it is not a done deal yet. ESR-REIT unitholders are to cast the vote on 27 January 2022. For the resolution to be passed, more than 50% of the total number of votes is required. ARA Logos Logistics Trust unitholders will meet on the same day to vote but more than 75% of the votes is required for the resolution to be passed.

A Lifetime Member has requested for my insight on the ESR-REIT merger. As such, I will share my insights on this interesting development within the industrial S-REIT sector. Although I have no skin in the game, I am vested in Mapletree Logistics Trust which is a close competitor of ESR-REIT and ARA Logos Logistics Trust.

Big fish eat small fish and small fish eat shrimps. This is the fundamental fact of life. Amidst the fallout from the protracted pandemic crisis, the S-REIT sector is undergoing a sweeping consolidation. Before I touch on my thoughts on the ESR-REIT merger, it may be useful to lay out some background information on the two S-REITs. Interestingly, the two candidates in this story were the result of a series of mergers and acquisitions prior to this ESR-REIT …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! What a cocktail of headwinds for Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT). Following the $700 million equity fund raising announced on 23 November 2021, MLT share price plunged from $2.00 to the current low of $1.78. To rub salt into injury, the proposed merger between Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) and Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) compounds further misery on MLT share price as market rumours spread like wildfire that the MLT and MINT could be the next merger on the cards.

To put things into perspective, rumours of a merger between MLT and MINT have been brewing for a number of years. To address the market rumours, the management clarified on 10 January 2022 that there was no plan to merge MLT and MINT as both entities have different investment mandates and operate in different asset classes. Despite that clarification, the recent merger between MCT and MNACT rattled MLT share price.

MLT invests primarily in logistics and warehouses assets whereas MINT’s assets comprise of mainly industrial real estates in Singapore and data centres. Both S-REITs share the same sponsor and both are Straits Times Index (STI) components.

MLT has a slightly bigger market capitalization ($8.5 billion) as compared to MINT ($7 billion). Thus, if a merger is to take place, it should be MLT “acquiring” MINT. Given that the share price of the acquiring company usually declines, this may be the reason for the bearish trend of MLT share price in recent days. Year-to-date, MLT share price fell 5.3% vis-à-vis MINT’s decline of 3.3% (at the point of writing).

In my opinion, I hope the merger will not take place as MLT’s competitive edge in the warehouse logistics is rather niche. A merger with MINT could complicate things and create new risk exposures in different …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! In my last article on Wilmar share price (SGX: F34) in September 2021, I wrote that this counter could face huge turmoil in the short-term. Indeed, Wilmar share price continued to disappoint for the rest of 2021. The counter ended the year on $4.140, a far cry from the high of $5.57 seen in February 2021. Will Wilmar share price return to form in 2022?

The dismal form of Wilmar share price is indeed puzzling as the Group has been racking in explosive profits in FY2021. Thus, investors must be wondering what on earth could have caused the rupture of Wilmar share price. In this article, I will share with readers the compelling reason for the downtrend of Wilmar share price, which is linked to the business fundamentals. In the latter part of the article, I will also share my analysis on why Wilmar share price may hit $5.70 in February 2022.

In 2020, I invested in Wilmar and exited at a profit of $2,700 in early 2021. My lowest entry for Wilmar share price was $4.84 and I exited at $5.20. While I did not exit at the highest point of $5.60, I have no regrets selling my Wilmar stocks. In life, you can never sell at the highest price. I am happy as long as I made decent profits. Although I am not vested in this counter any more, I am still bullish about Wilmar share price in the long-run because of the business strategies undertaken by the management.

The key reason for my exit in early 2021 was due to the financial result for FY2020. In my analysis, I saw that the net cash flows from operating activities for six months ended 31 December 2020 was a negative US$1.52 billion vis-à-vis the positive …

Sign up for only $19.99! My first article of the year will be on OCBC share price (SGX: O39). 2022 is considered by many investors to be a pivotal year as Singapore’s economy continues its path of recovery from the devastating pandemic. Many of us harbour fervent hopes that 2022 will herald the light at end of tunnel for this never-ending crisis. Inevitably, investors’ attention will focus on bank stocks like DBS, OCBC and UOB as they are the bellwether of the economy.

All eyes should be on the full-year financial result, which is expected to be released in the third week of February 2022. Will the result set OCBC share price on fire? Based on 9MFY2021 result, the net profit reached $3.885 billion while the net profit amounted to $1.224 billion in 3QFY2021. Looking at the trend of the past three quarters’ result, there is a strong possibility that 4QFY2021 may hit at least $1.2 billion of profit. If so, then full-year net profit for OCBC could smash a record $5 billion!

The previous record net profit for OCBC was in FY2019 ($4.87 billion). Unfortunately, that result was released in February 2020, which was right smack in the initial onset of the pandemic. The ensuing chaos in the global markets caused OCBC share price to plummet to a low of $8.40 on 20 March 2020.

Before the current crisis, the first time that OCBC Bank’s reported a net profit surpassing the $4 billion mark was for full-year 2017. Consequently, OCBC share price turbocharged to hit a record high of $13.70 in April 2018. If history is to repeat itself, there is a strong possibility that OCBC share price could be charging its way to $14 in the coming months.

Interestingly, OCBC Bank has ceased its relentless daily …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! In my last article on Singtel share price, I wrote that this counter has bottomed out. Yet, following that article, Singtel share price plunged 8.5%, falling from $2.58 to a low of $2.36 on 30 November. Apparently, Omicron variant has emerged out of nowhere to cause the train-wreck of Singtel share price.

Singtel’s sprawling telco businesses are prone to the impact of the pandemic as a significant portion of the Group’s revenue is derived from roaming revenue from tourists. Hence, a protracted pandemic crisis could possibly shake confidence in Singtel share price. Nevertheless, as we entered December, Singtel share price stabilized to $2.40 level as the market digested emerging data on Omicron variant, which is deemed to be highly contagious but less likely to cause severe illnesses among patients.

For the past two years, I reckon many Singtel investors did not have a good sleep as COVID-19 has caused plenty of uncertainties for Singtel share price. But that’s not all. On 17 December, another bombshell awaited investors. The Group announced that its subsidiary, Singapore Telecom Australia Investments Pty Ltd (“STAI”), has received an unfavorable judgment from the Federal Court of Australia over the acquisition financing of Singtel Optus Pty Limited in 2001.

The net tax exposure and related interest and penalties amount to A$304 million. Although the case relates to an incident that happened 20 years ago, it was actually reflected in the recent annual financial statements. In fact, I have always stressed that one of the key risks for Singtel share price is the contingent liabilities arising from the telco’s overseas acquisitions.

Given that Optus has evolved to become Singtel’s crown jewel over the decades, I am sure the telco will settle the tax penalty swiftly to avoid further negative publicity. Furthermore, the amount …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! What a roller-coaster ride for investors! This year’s November was one of the most terrifying months in recent years for DBS Bank as it endured market’s reaction to a subpar 9MFY2021 financial result and suffered one of the worst service disruptions in the past decade. Adding the emergence of Omicron variant, we have the perfect storm for DBS share price. But as we approach 2022, DBS share price is poised for an explosive bull run that could see the counter smashing the pivotal $50 mark.

Year-to-date, DBS share price surged 28%. In fact, the majestic run of DBS share price saw the counter hitting a record high of $32.60 on 8 November. However, the wheels came off the wagon after the bank reported a disappointing 9MFY2021 financial result that saw net income interest falling 9% year-on-year. The following Monday (8 November), DBS share price turned bearish.

Suffice to say, the much-publicised outage of DBS online services further dented investors’ confidence on DBS share price. And then Omicron variant arrived to cause DBS share price to plunge to a low of $30 on 30 November. Looking at the data extracted from SGX, it is evident that the massive correction of DBS share price was largely due to short-selling activities. Analysing the short selling activities could provide vital clue on the projection of DBS share price in the coming months.

Source: SGX…

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! And then, there are left with four of them. With the delisting of Jardine Strategic from SGX in April 2021, the four affiliated members of the Jardine Matheson group remains in Straits Times Index (STI) – HongKong Land, Dairy Farm, Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine C&C. These four “Hong Kong Heavenly Kings” had dominated STI for years and are all part of the Jardine Matheson Group. Recently, a Lifetime Member has requested me to do a research on Jardine C&C share price, which I will gladly do so in this article.

Previously, I had written an article on HongKong Land. For many Singaporeans, Cycle and Carriage needs no introduction. The company is the authorized dealer for automotive brands like Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Kia and etc. Their business includes automotive distribution, retail and aftermarket services, spanning across Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar. Cycle and Carriage is one of the Direct Motor businesses under Jardine C&C portfolio. However, in analysing Jardine C&C share price, it is important to note the other key businesses of the Group. Take note that Direct Motor contributed to just 30% of Jardine C&C’s underlying profits in 2020.

Although Jardine C&C is listed in SGX and has presence in Singapore through its automotive business, analysing Jardine C&C share price is not so straightforward. This is because the Group has a sprawling and diversified businesses in Southeast Asia. In this regard, it will not make sense for investors to analyse the stock based solely on its automotive business in Singapore as the bulk of its earnings are derived from its businesses in eight sectors and six countries in Southeast Asia.

For the uninitiated, Jardine C&C has a 50.1% interest in Astra, a diversified group in Indonesia, which is also the largest independent automotive group in Southeast …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Being the largest vehicle inspection and testing provider in Singapore, Vicom needs no introduction. In 2019, Vicom share price had been in a splendid form, surging from $6 in January 2019 to cap a high of $7.70 at end of 2019. In June 2020, the completion of the 1-to-4 stock split saw the counter trading at about $8.50 (in terms of pre-stock split level) at end of 2020.

In 2021, Vicom share price continued its fine form till May 2021. Since then, the counter fell to the current $2.05 bandwidth (which is about $8.20 in terms of pre-stock split level). The sudden loss of form of Vicom share price caught some investors by surprise. Is this the end of the road for Vicom share price? A long-time SG Wealth Builder Lifetime Member is concerned about the loss of form for Vicom share price and requested my insight.

Vicom’s vehicle inspection and testing services are essential services. Thus, this business segment should be immune to the impact of the pandemic. Amid the pandemic, the Group even increased its market share in the vehicle testing business from 74% in 2019 to 75.2% in 2020. In view of this, investors must be wondering what could be the underlying causes for the mystery slump of Vicom share price in 2021.

In my opinion, the problem with this counter is that most investors tend to overlook its other core business – the non-vehicle testing business. This is probably because Vicom’s vehicle testing is a public facing business while its non-vehicle insection business, Setsco Services Pte Ltd (SETSCO), provides services to the Construction, Marine and Process sectors. As Vicom provides services to the oil and gas industry, there was a strong correlation between the crude oil prices and Vicom share price.…

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Will it be 3^rd time lucky for OCBC Bank? The venerable bank tried to privatise Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) unsuccessfully in 2004 and 2006. In the 2006 attempt, OCBC Bank managed to raised its stake in Great Eastern to 87.1%. Since then, OCBC Bank has steadily increased its stake to 87.91% as at 31 March 2021. If a privatisation does materialise, what would be the impact on OCBC share price (SGX: O39)?

Under SGX Rule 723 of the Listing Manual, listed companies must ensure that at least 10% of their issued shares must be held by the public. As OCBC currently holds about 12% of Great Eastern, the bank would just need to acquire only 2% more of Great Eastern shares in order to trigger the mandatory delisting requirement. The impetus for the acquisition should be the ailing OCBC share price.

Year-to-date, OCBC share price has increased by a mere 12.9%. In contrast, DBS share price has surged by a whopping 26.7% year-to-date. Notably, the explosive surge in DBS share price came after its acquisition of 13% stake in Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank in April 2021 and India’s Lakshmi Vilas Bank in November 2020. The acquisitions signalled the growth initiatives of DBS and helped to diversify revenue sources. Hence, it is not surprising that DBS share price had been on fantastic form throughout the year. Over at OCBC, the lack of major acquisitions for the past two years coincided with the tepid form of OCBC share price.

OCBC share price (SGX: )39) went AWOL

OCBC share price (SGX: )39) to rocket to Mars!

OCBC share price in Ring of Fire

To be fair to OCBC, CEO Helen Wong has just taken over the CEO position in April this year. So it would not be …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! What a roller coaster ride for SIA investors! From a high of $5.55 on 15 October, SIA share price languished to $5.00 following the torpedo from Omicron variant. Due to the countless twists and turns of the pandemic saga, analyzing the outlook of SIA share price is always a tricky business. Prior to the arrival of Omicron, SIA share price was in bullish form due to the launch of a slew of Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) with countries in US and Europe. And then Omicron emerged out of nowhere to wretch the form of SIA share price. Should investors run for their lives?

When news of Omicron broke, SIA share price took a hit as the market initially did not have a sense of how deadly or contagious this variant is. The fear then was that Omicron could lead to another wave of crippling lockdowns and borders’ restrictions among countries. The knee jerk reactions could be forgiven due to the lack of data. But recent release by health authorities suggested that this variant may not be as deadly as the Delta variant. In addition to that, Pfizer has claimed that three shots of its vaccines could neutralize Omicron variant based on laboratory tests.

SIA share price in explosive form

SIA share price (SGX: C6L) faces ambush from another cash call?

SIA share price rises from ashes

For SIA investors, the carnage of SIA share price must be déjà vu. During the peak of the Delta outbreak, the counter also collapsed, falling from $5.70 in early April to a low of $4.50 in May. So the recent correction of SIA should not be surprising. Obviously, short-selling activities played a major part in the collapse of SIA share price. From data extracted from SGX website, below is the …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts many boats. The much-anticipated interest rate hikes in 2022 are expected to set fire on local bank stocks, including UOB share price. Despite the buoyant outlook, UOB share price has not reached the record level of $30 last seen in May 2018. This is unlike its peer, DBS share price, which has raced past the $30 mark in July 2021. If UOB share price had matched the form of DBS share price, UOB would have become Singapore’s second largest bank (in terms of market capitalization).

The last time that I covered UOB share price was on 15 May 2020. That was one of the darkest chapters for UOB share price as the global stock markets were reeling from the onset of the pandemic. In Singapore, there were plenty of uncertainties due to the implementation of Circuit Breaker measures. Subsequently, UOB share price staged a U-shaped recovery as the unprecedented three Budget stimulus packages worked their magic.

The announcement of COVID-19 vaccine in late 2020 had sparked off a rally for UOB share price. Investors were given hope that the vaccine will spell the end of the terrible pandemic. As we entered 2021, we have not seen the light at end of tunnel due to the emergence of variants, the latest being Omicron. Throughout 2020, UOB share price had been affected by impacts inflicted by Delta variant. But of noteworthy is that UOB share price has increased 17.20% year-to-date.

The impending interest rate hike is expected to turbocharge UOB share price in FY2022. To put things into perspective, the narrative for the past two years for local banks is all about containing non-performing loans and impairments. Due to the gravity of the crisis, headline growth for UOB has been …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Will AEM share price become the next fairytale of SGX? Following the release of the 3^rd quarter business update, AEM share price (SGX: AWX) has been in rocket form in recent weeks. The bullish form of AEM share price sent the counter to a record high of $5.22 on 30 November. Based on the current run of AEM share price, there is a good chance that the stock could knock iFAST off the perch to become the best performing SGX stock of the year.

Despite the positive business outlook, AEM share price has been rocked by the recent market turmoil caused by the Omicron variant. Amid the market chaos, AEM filed an SGX disclosure that Temasek Holdings purchased 443,700 shares from the market on 25 November. Although the shares were bought before the Omicron variant news, it provided much stabilizing support for AEM share price.

My vision for AEM share price is that it would become a $10 stock in SGX Mainboard. Having a conviction is important in stock investing as it can provide a calming effect when the share price movements are not in your favor. Obviously, the current AEM share price is still some way off my target level but my conviction is not based on blind faith.

First off, the bullish form of AEM share price had fended off short-selling attacks. According to data pulled from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Short Position Reporting System (SPRS), open short positions against AEM share price fell to a low of 1.77 million as of 19 November 2021. Prior to this, the open short positions amounted to a staggering 8.4 million as of 8 October 2021.

The presence of short-sellers can exacerbate the downtrend of stock movements. As in the case of the …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Troubles come in troops for DBS Group Holdings share price. Looking back, the counter smashed a record high of $32.60 on 5 November following a splendid bull run. It certainly seemed that the sky was the limit for DBS Group Holdings share price. But unexpectedly, the wheels came off the wagon for DBS Group Holdings after the bank reported a subpar 9MFY2021 financial result that saw net income interest falling 9% year-on-year. The following Monday (8 November), DBS Group Holdings share price turned bearish.

Shortly after the release of the latest financial result, the bank suffered one of its worst service disruptions in the past decade, prompting Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to mull taking regulatory actions against the bank in the coming days. The outage led to temporary crisis of confidence on DBS Group Holdings share price.

Just when investors thought that the worst was over for DBS Group Holdings share price, another nightmare unfolded. On 26 November, investors woke up to stunning revelation of a new COVID-19 variant that may be more contagious than the Delta variant. What spooked investors is that the variant could render current vaccines ineffective given its significant mutations. Due to the uncertainties, Straits Times Index (STI) suffered a carnage, and DBS Group Holdings share price was not spared from the market sell-offs.

From my assessment, I do not foresee the new variant to have a major impact on DBS’ core banking business. According to CEO Piyush Gupta, the loan exposure in FY2020 for aviation, oil and gas and SME sectors amounted to $6 billion, $23 billion and $39 billion. The major bulk of its loan portfolio is still concentrated in housing and building and construction. Hence, even if the authorities tighten the public health measures in the coming days, …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Will ISDN share price do an AEM? Since January 2020, ISDN share price has rocketed more than 300% to reach the current $0.75. The meteoric rise of ISDN share price has led investors to compare the counter to fellow SGX peer, AEM. Apart from this, what is the possibility of Temasek Holdings taking a stake in ISDN?

In life, never say never. Temasek Holdings investments in AEM and CSE Global showed that the sovereign wealth fund is open in taking majority stakes in promising home-grown companies listed in SGX mainboard. Like AEM and CSE Global, ISDN is an engineering company that provides technological solutions to its customers. In this article, I will examine the possibility of Temasek Holdings taking a stake in ISDN and the potential impacts on ISDN share price.

The principal activities of ISDN are mainly on motion control, industrial computing, other specialised engineering solutions and construction of hydropower plants. The Group is listed on SGX Mainboard since 24 November 2005 and achieved a dual primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 12 January 2017.

In Singapore ISDN share price is largely under the radar of institutional investors. For the past one year, this counter did not feature in any of the monthly top ten institutional net buy or sell lists. Nonetheless, this is not a dead stock as average 3-month volume is 116 million. This suggests that the surging form of ISDN share price in recent months could be attributed to strong retail buying interests.

If we turn back the clock, we can actually see that ISDN share price rocketed from $0.11 in November 2012 to an incredibly high of $1.42 in June 2013. That was an amazing 12-fold increase within the span of just seven months! Back then, those who …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! For the past one week, AEM share price (SGX: AWX) has been in outrageous form. Apparently, the 3^rd quarter business update had ignited the rally of AEM share price (SGX: AWX). At the point of writing, this counter is still in red hot form and showing no sign of cooling down. What truly confounded many investors was the fact that net profit for 9MFY2021 had plummeted 33.4% to $53 million. The rise of AEM share price (SGX: AWX) defied all sense of logic as poorer financial result usually leads to lower share price. Against this backdrop, what could be the triggering factor that led to the raging form of AEM share price (SGX: AWX)?

In my view, the sudden burst of form of AEM share price (SGX: AWX) may not be attributed to a potential Nasdaq listing nor the positive outlook for its chip testing business. Although these are important catalysts for AEM share (SGX: AWX), I honestly doubt that they played a part in the recent meteoric rise of 21% in AEM share price (SGX: AWX) in the past one month.

Based on my hypothesis, I think the recent superb form of AEM share price (SGX: AWX) should be due to the recent award of the patent crucial for its next generation System Level Test platform (patent no: 20210325452). The Group filed the application for the patent on 16 September 2020 but was only awarded the patent on 21 October 2021. The patent effectively paved the way for the volume ramp up with its key customer, Intel. The patent award also coincided with the explosive form of AEM share price (SGX: AWX). Talk about being at the right time and right place!

AEM share price (SGX: AWX) to rocket to $8.30?

AEM …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Christmas comes early for Singtel share price (SGX: Z74)! The counter is in buoyant form following the release of a set of stellar first half financial result that saw net profit more than doubled to $954 million. In my last article, I had suggested that winter may be over for Singtel share price (SGX: Z74). On the basis of the latest financial result, it seems that the telco has managed to turnaround.

Singtel share price (SGX: Z74) was also given a boost as the management made a couple of shares buybacks in the past few days. 620,989 shares were bought back on 12 November while 620,500 shares were bought back on 15 November. It is unknown if the shares repurchase will continue in the coming days. Year-to-date, Singtel share price (SGX: Z74) has climbed about 10%.

Looking at the results, there are several factors that led to the revival of Singtel’s businesses, namely the resumption in regional economic activities and Airtel’s turnaround. If the telco continues to perform like this for the next two quarters, Singtel share price (SGX: Z74) should be able to breakthrough $3.00 – the level at which Singtel share price (SGX: Z74) used to be traded during pre-pandemic period.

Despite the good showing, the Group announced interim dividend of merely 4.5 cents per share. This is even lower than the interim dividend of 5.1 cents per share given out in last year. Assuming the final dividend pay-out is also 4.5 cents per share and based on current Singtel share price (SGX: Z74) of $2.58, the annualized yield is just 3.5%.  Given the volatility of Singtel share price (SGX: Z74), the dividends are not exactly appealing to investors.

The lower dividend pay outs will weigh on Singtel share price (SGX: Z74) and …

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP Hurry! The train is leaving! What a swashbuckling return in form for AEM share price (SGX: AWX). Following the release of the 3^rd quarter business update on 10 November, the counter surged 4.5% the next trading day. As of 12 November, AEM share price (SGX: AWX) rocketed 9% to hit a record high of $4.78. Can anything stop AEM share price (SGX: AWX)?

Although net profit for 9MFY2021 plummeted 33.4% to $53 million, the latest business update revealed a glowing outlook for AEM share (SGX: AWX).

In the business update, the management raised the full-year revenue guidance to between $525 million and $550 million. For AEM to meet this revenue guidance, the Group needs to achieve about $200 million in the 4^th quarter. The management has a strong track record of meeting its revenue guidance, so I am confident that AEM is able to meet this target. However, the key sentence in the business update that could turbocharge AEM share price (SGX: AWX) is “the Group expects the ramp to continue through 4Q2021 and into FY2022”.

Based on the above statement, AEM should be raking in about $200 million of revenue in each quarter of FY2022 due to the volume ramp of their test platforms to key customer, Intel. Assuming net profit margin of 16%, the full-year net profit for FY2022 could be $128 million. This will translate to earning per share of $0.42. Attaching a PE ratio of 20, the forward AEM share price (SGX: AWX) could be $8.30.

Given that AEM share price (SGX: AWX) is being traded at $4.38 at the point of writing, it would take a leap of faith for this counter to reach $8.30. Then again, AEM share price (SGX: AWX) does not follow the script. The counter is …

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP My last coverage on Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) was in June 2020. Back then, the counter was recovering from the initial impact of the pandemic. Nonetheless, Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) remained sluggish for most of 2020 until news of vaccines broke out in November 2020. Since then, global roll-out of vaccine programmes and easing of border restrictions led to Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) rocketing to a near-record high of $1.55 in October 2021.

Unexpectedly, the bullish form Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) was brought to a screeching halt when the shares plunged 12% to reach a low of $1.35 on 3 November 2021. To be honest, the volatility of Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) is rather rare and it prompted a Lifetime Member of SG Wealth Builder to seek an insight from me.

There are analysts who claimed that the recent correction of Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) is due to the revised on-arrival COVID PCR test requirements for travellers arriving in or transiting through Singapore (from 7 Oct 2021 onwards, travellers from CAT II, III & IV countries do not need to do on-arrival PCR tests). For perspective, Raffles Medical conducted over 600,000 COVID-9 tests and screened more than six million travellers in 2020. So the latest changes on arrival test requirements for travellers could have a big impact on Raffles Medical share price (SGX: BSL) in the short-term.

Whilst the revised test regime for travellers may impact Raffles Medical’s revenue, I think a greater impact could come from the transition from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) to Employer Supervised Self Swab (ESSS) as required by various government agencies.

Workers in Changi Airport, local airlines, construction, marine shipyard, process sectors and those workers living in dormitories are subjected …

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP It seems that OCBC share price (SGX: O39) have lost its way. On 3 November 2021, the local bank released a set of financial result that saw 3^rd quarter’s net profit rose by an impressive 19% year-on-year to reach $1.22 billion. Nine months’ net profit rose by a staggering 58% to $3.88 billion. With such a solid performance, most investors would have popped the champagne. Yet OCBC share price (SGX: O39) confounded investors by retreating 0.75% on that fateful day.

To be honest, the tepid performance of OCBC share price (SGX: O39) is truly bizarre. Like many investors, I had expected plenty of fireworks for OCBC share price (SGX: O39) following the release of the excellent 3^rd quarter business update. I do think that it is reasonable to expect OCBC share price (SGX: O39) when you see such good result. But then again, Man proposes, God disposes. OCBC share price (SGX: O39) went missing in action instead.

The trend of OCBC share price (SGX: O39) is eerily similar to that of Wilmar, another Straits Times Index heavyweight. In October 2020, Wilmar share price suffered an explosive meltdown following the hugely successful listing of Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings Co., Ltd (YKA). Then in February 2021, Wilmar share price lost form unexpectedly following the release of a set of great financial result.

Like OCBC, Wilmar management also went on the offensive to defend Wilmar share price and bought back a whopping 50.4 million Wilmar shares. As for OCBC, the management bought back 21.48 million of OCBC shares so far. CEO Helen Wong was forced into the titanic rescue mission of OCBC share price (SGX: O39) as the shares of the local bank had been the subject of brutal attacks by the financial big boys. For the month …

Lifetime Membership Special Offer! Will the latest financial result set fire on Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U)? The counter has been in buoyant mood in recent days following the release of a set of stellar financial result that saw 1^st half gross revenue increasing 24.4% year-on-year to $328 million while net property income surged 21.4% to hit $289 million. Amount distributable to unitholders increased 19.2% to $186 million.

To be frank, it has not been a bed of roses for Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U) in 2021. The counter crashed from $2.00 in January to a low of $1.78 in March. To be frank, I could not explain the root cause for the correction of Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U). So far, there were no equity financing nor were there any adverse news affecting Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U). Hence, the tepid performance of Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U) had been puzzling.

Year-to-date, Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U) increased by a mere 1.5% only. This is despite the S-REIT continuing to deliver good financial results for the past few quarters. Looking back, one of the plausible reasons for the lethargic trend of Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U) could be due to the lack of interest from institutional fund houses.

A check with SGX website showed that the only period in which institutional fund houses entered this counter was in May 2021 – the counter was in the top ten institutional net buy list with $34.6 million being net bought. That buying spree sent Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U) to a high of $2.15. Subsequently, the dearth of buying by the big boys led to Mapletree Logistics Trust share price (SGX: M44U) falling …