Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

S&P500 closed at record high! What should we do? Buy or sell? (9 Aug 2021)

el15

Dear all S&P500 has clocked its sixth consecutive month of gains in July 2021. This is the longest stretch since 2018. Furthermore, S&P500 has touched a record high to close at 4,437 on 6 Aug 2021. In the next 3 months, are markets poised for higher highs? Or should we be prudent and take some profit off the table first? Let’s take a look.   Ernest’s personal market observations a) Lack of catalysts to push the market higher Since Covid last year, markets, especially U.S. markets, have been able to push higher due partly to the combination of ultra-easy monetary policies; […]

STI – Will it head for new YTD high after S&P500 clocked its 7th consecutive day of rally? (6 Jul 2021)

el15

Dear all S&P500 and Nasdaq clinch fresh record highs last Friday with S&P500 clocking in seven consecutive days of gains in its longest winning streak since August 2020. Despite the roaring U.S. markets, Singapore Straits Times Index (“STI”) has slipped almost 100 points from its 2021 intraday high of 3,237 on 30 Apr 2021 to close 3,141 on 5 Jul 2021. Can STI exceed 3,237 for 2HFY2021? Most strategists believe so, as their year-end targets for STI are easily above 3,237. Let’s look at the possible reasons why analysts are positive on our Singapore market.   Reasons to be optimistic […]

China Aoyuan – a potential value play? (15 Jun 21)

el15

Dear all Against the backdrop of rising inflation, some market strategists have recommended “additional urgency” to rotate from technology plays to “old economy value stocks” to hedge against potential inflation pressures (as they believe such inflation pressures are not transitory). A stock that may tick all the right boxes may be China Aoyuan (“Aoyuan”) (3883.HK). It belongs to the old economy stocks (i.e. property sector which may be a hedge against inflation) and seems to be a value play, given that it trades at HKD7.01 on 15 Jun 21.   Who is Aoyuan? Quoting from a report by DBS Research […]

Koda – Clear beneficiary of the surge in home furnishing spending trend (1 Jun 21)

el15

Since 20 Aug 2020, Avarga has more than doubled from $0.146 to close $0.305 on 1 Jun 2021. Avarga’s strength is likely attributed to its 69.7% stake in Taiga (Taiga is Canada’s largest wholesale distributor of building materials, such as lumber, panels, doors, engineered wood, roofing and others). Taiga’s business has been flourishing due to the strength in home furnishings and the housing market in Canada and US. By extension, Koda may be another proxy to benefit from the surge in home furnishing spending trend. It is noteworthy that Koda is an Original Design Manufacturer / Original Equipment Manufacturer to […]

3 potential En-bloc hotspots that should be on property investors’ radar (28 May 2021)

el15

This write-up was reproduced in entirety with permission from Ray’s Estate Clinic, written by Founder, Raymond Chng. Please refer to the end of the article for more information on Raymond. In the previous 2017 En-bloc cycle, some resale properties in En-bloc hotspots saw price gains of up to 28%. (We wrote articles about these moves in a previous article, you can read about it HERE) Image 1: Enbloc Cycle Timeline, Source: JLL Given that En-bloc cycles tend to be 5 to 6 years apart, and the start of the last En-bloc cycle was in 2017, the next En-bloc cycle could […]

Markets are “bubblish”, or aren’t they? (5 Apr 2021)

el15

Dear all Markets have been on a tear for the past five months. Since my write-up published on 1 Nov 2020, citing opportunities in our Singapore market (click HERE for the write-up), STI has soared 786 points, or 32.4% from 2,424 on 30 Oct 2020 to close 3,210 on 5 Apr 2021 (intra-day high today was 3,212). At the time of writing this, S&P500 futures are trading at 4,040, translating to around 24% gain over the same period. In fact, STI is the 2nd best performing market for 1Q2021 amongst 18 global benchmarks. Are markets in the midst of a […]

Thai Bev may be ripe for a bounce; BeerCo IPO potential near term catalyst (29 Mar 21)

el15

Thai Bev has slumped 14% from an intraday high of $0.850 on 8 Feb to close $0.735 on 29 Mar 21. It is looking interesting again as it hovers around its strong confluence of supports from $0.715 – 0.725. Personally, it seems ripe for a technical bounce. Besides the technical outlook, Thai Bev has the highest potential upside among the STI component stocks with a potential capital upside of around 21%! What else is interesting about Thai Bev? Read on for more.   Interesting points on Thai Bev a) Highest potential capital upside for STI component stock With reference to […]

Tianneng Power trades at only 1/3 the value of its listed subsidiary Tianneng Battery! (8 Mar 2021)

el15

Dear all Tianneng Power (00819.HK) (“TP”) caught my attention recently. It has slumped 40.5% from an intraday high of HKD22.55 on 13 Jan 2021 to close HKD13.42 on 8 Mar 2021. At HKD13.42, it trades at only 1/3 the value of its listed subsidiary Tianneng Battery! Besides this sharp plunge and significant valuation gap, what else does TP have to catch my attention? Read on for more.   First up, a description of TP Quoting from its 1HFY20 results, TP was founded in 1986 and was listed Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited as the “First China […]

7 reasons why Private Resale Condos may be better than new launch for HDB upgraders (6 Mar 21)

el15

This write-up was reproduced with permission from Ray’s Estate Clinic, written by Founder, Raymond Chng. Please refer to the end of the article for more information on Raymond. Since 2018, we have been sharing with our clients and readers that resale properties are good options. Today, as of the date of writing, there are still a handful of readers asking us if resale properties can be profitable. The simple answer is – Yes! There are considerations that property buyers should note about New Launch properties, in particular for HDB upgraders. Most HDB upgraders who are selling off their BTOs would […]

Yangzijiang looks interesting; tests support $0.940 – 0.980 (8 Feb 21)

el15

Yangzijiang (“YZJ”) has weakened approximately 13% from $1.11 on 13 Jan 2021 to close $0.970 on 5 Feb 2021. It has significantly underperformed STI (STI only dropped around 3% over the same period) and is the top STI constituent stocks with the highest potential return (see HERE). Why is it interesting? Read on for more…   Interesting points on YZJ a) Orders are likely to improve in FY21F Based on DBS Research 3 Dec 2020 report, the surge in China (Export) Containerized Freight Index (highest since Mar 2015) and the tripling of the Baltic Dry Index may prompt ship owners […]