Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

S&P500 has slumped 13.7% in Dec, largest percentage fall since 1931! Has the bull market ended? (23 Dec 18)

el15

Dear all After hitting an intra-day high of 2,941 on 21 Sep 2018, S&P500 has tumbled 17.9% or 525 points to close 2,416 on 21 Dec 2018. In fact, S&P500 has just logged the worst monthly performance in Dec since 1931! Dow has also fallen 3,535 points from the intraday high of 25,980 on 3 Dec 2018 and 4,507 points from the intraday high of 26,952 on 3 Oct 2018. What is happening? Is Armageddon coming?   Most things have not changed since 21 Sep, except for… In Sep, when S&P500 hit 2,940, the usual concerns were also there, namely […]

Sunpower – price action & bullish divergence warrant a closer look (20 Dec 18)

el15

Dear readers, Some of you have sent me emails to express concerns whether I am still maintaining my blog, as I have not posted an article in the past couple of months. Thanks for the concern and emails. It warms my heart that there are readers who are actively following my blog. Something happened to my family which caused me unable to post articles on a timely basis. (My clients are still receiving some periodic short writeups on the market and specific companies during this period) Anyway, I am glad to be back to work this week! This week, Sunpower’s […]

Sunpower slips into bear market territory – Buying opportunity or falling knife? (24 Oct 18)

el15

This week, Sunpower attracts me due partly to the industry which it is in; the recent US$180m investments made by DCP and CDH into Sunpower whose market cap is only around US$206m, and the considerable 40% share price decline since hitting an intra-day high of $0.645 on 28 Jun 2018 to trade $0.385 today. Let’s take a look.   Description of Sunpower Based on Sunpower’s description, it is an environmental protection solutions specialist in proprietary energy saving and clean power technologies. It has two main business segments, viz. Manufacturing & Services (“M&S”) and Green Investments (“GI”). M&S segment comprise of […]

STI has dropped almost 17% since 2 May! Is a bear market coming? (14 Oct 18)

el15

Dear all, U.S. equity markets have logged their worst weekly performance in the past six months. For our local market, STI has dropped 16.7% from an intra-day high of 3,642 on 2 May 2018 to an intra-day low of 3,035 on 11 Oct 2018. It closed at 3,069 on 12 Oct 2018. Is a bear market coming? There are mixed views. Bears are saying that we have not reached the bottom yet. Some perma-bears are even saying this may be the start of the bear market. Bulls are saying that this represents a window of opportunity to accumulate stocks on […]

Two interesting stock charts – Best World and Tencent (12 Oct 18)

el15

Notwithstanding the sea of red in the equity markets for the past couple of days, these two stock charts caught my attention. They are Best World and Tencent.   Best World – retreats back to double bottom neckline Best World has dropped 9.2% from an intra-day high of $1.52 on 4 Oct 2018 to close $1.38 on 11 Oct 2018. Based on Chart 1 below, Best World is retreating back to its double bottom neckline of around $1.39. This seems to be a classic “break and re-test” resistance turned support pattern. There is a confluence of supports (50D, 100D and […]

Sing Medical trades near one year low despite a 70% jump in 1HFY18 net profit! (3 Oct 2018)

el15

This week, Sing Medical (“SMG”) caught my attention. SMG has dropped 39% from $0.725 on 18 Jul 2017 to trade $0.440 on 3 Oct 2018. My personal guess is part of the fall may be attributable to a) Lower, or no earnings growth for some of the healthcare players in FY18F. However, this is likely not the case for SMG, as analysts believe SMG is on track for a minimum 40% growth in FY18F net profit. It is noteworthy that SMG already posted a 70% jump in 1HFY18 net profit; b) Reduction in the general PE valuations ascribed to the […]

Best World – potential bullish double bottom formation in the making? (19 Sep 18)

el15

This week, Best World has caught my attention. Why is it interesting? a) Chart seems to be in the midst of a double bottom formation Best World has fallen 29% from an intraday high of $1.90 on 19 Mar 2018 to close $1.35 on 19 Sep 2018. It has been trading in a range $1.20 – 1.39 since 15 May 2018. Indicators are mixed with MACD and RSI exhibiting bullish divergences during this period. Except for 200D EMA which is levelling, all other EMAs are rising. 20D has already formed a golden cross formation with 50D EMA. Best World has […]

S&P500, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 hit records, time to switch to underperforming markets? (24 Aug 18)

el15

Dear all, S&P500, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 hit records last Friday with S&P500 closing at 2,875. However, our STI has dropped 11.8% after hitting a decade high of 3,642 on 2 May 2018. Hang Seng has also tumbled 17.4% after hitting a high of 33,484 on 29 Jan 2018. Is this the time to switch out of the U.S. markets and plough it back to STI and Hang Seng? This seems to be the question on most investors’ minds as I am also posed this question during a live interview on Money FM89.3 on last Thursday. Let’s take a closer […]

Yangzijiang – 2nd worst performing STI stock with -40% YTD (6 Aug 2018)

el15

Yangzijiang (“YZJ”) has been the 2nd worst performing STI stock with -40% year to date (“YTD”) return based on the closing price of $0.880 on 6 Aug 2018 (click HERE). In the past four days, YZJ has weakened approximately 9.3% after hitting the intraday high of $0.970 on 31 Jul 2018. Is this recent share price decline the harbinger of poor results to be released on 7 Aug, after market?   2QFY18 results unlikely to be poor Based on my personal view, 2QFY18F results are unlikely to be poor based on the following points: a) Number of vessels delivered Based […]

Winners, Losers, Opportunities – How does the latest Property Cooling Measures affect you? (Guest Post,12 Jul 18)

el15

The sudden Singapore property market cooling measures on 5th July 2018 had shocked the market as no one was expecting this measures. Many panicked causing a knee-jerk reaction which caused developers to launch 3 projects on the very night these measures were announced, find out more about these measures in this article and how it affects you. In any measure, there will be different impact on different groups of stakeholders. Inadvertently, there are winners, losers and opportunities created.   In this article, four main questions will be discussed 1.How does the cooling measures affect different groups of people? 2.What is […]