Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

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Comfort Delgro drops back to pandemic lows! What gives? (30 Sep 22)

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On 1 Sep, it was announced that Comfort Delgro (“CD”) will drop out of STI after being first included in the STI on 28 Jul 2010. Subsequently, there was turmoil in United Kingdom (“UK”) gilts and currency as UK government led by Prime Minister Liz Truss unveiled a (surprisingly) GBP45b plan to reduce taxes (click HERE for more information). Although CD may see some near-term price weakness, at Friday’s close of $1.32 (CD touched an intraday low $1.29 at the point of writing this), I personally believe most of the negatives may have already been priced in. Why am I […]

Numerous trading opportunities as Singapore corporates report results (9 Aug 2022)

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Dear all, Happy National Day! How has your portfolio been year to date? With reference to my writeup published on 3 Jul 2022 (click HERE), I mentioned that there are likely to be opportunities in the next few weeks. Post my writeup, S&P500 touched an intraday low of 3,722 on 14 Jul before closing up 418 points or 11.2% at 4,140 yesterday. In fact, S&P500 posted its best monthly gain in July, since Nov 2020. STI touched an intraday low of 3,088 on 15 Jul before trading up 183 points or 5.9% at 3,271 yesterday. Our Singapore banks started to […]

Alert! Comfort Delgro – Multi-month base building & challenges key resistance – Looks bullish (6 Aug 22)

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Dear Readers, As you are aware, I usually will do a stock screening using Bloomberg at the start of each month. In the screening, Comfort Delgro (“CD”) pops out on attractive valuations via my metrics. This is not the first time that CD pops out in my screening. However, coupled with some of the points below, it may arguably be a good time to take a closer look in CD. Due to time constraints, this write-up will be brief and I will just raise some pertinent points and risks. For a more complete picture, it is advisable to refer to […]

Markets – market opportunities may materialise in the next few weeks (3 Jul 2022)

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Dear all, I have been extremely busy with work. In my line of work (i.e., stock broking), we may have numerous trading ideas but we always face severe time constraints every day. My clients can attest to the numerous messages and information which I send out daily (Nevertheless, I do remind clients to exercise their due diligence on such information which I send as they are general in nature and may not be suitable to one’s specific risk profile etc.) For my readers, thanks for the patience and for viewing my blog which unfortunately, is not updated as frequently as […]

STI is up 10.1% YTD; may face profit taking in the near-term (16 Feb 2022)

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Dear all STI has been on a tear since the start of the year. With reference to my write-up published on 5 Jan 2022 (click HERE) citing that Asian indices are likely to outperform that of the U.S. market in 2022, STI has indeed notched strong year to date (“YTD”) gains of 10.1% to close 3,439 on 16 Feb 2022. This outperformance is especially stark if we compare it to S&P500’s -6.1% YTD returns. As I have shared with Lianhe Zaobao on 9 Feb 2022, I personally feel that our STI is overbought in the near term with several near-term […]

Sing Medical – Trades at a 13-month low price despite posting record 1HFY21 results (3 Feb 22)

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Dear all On 29 Dec 2020, I have published a write-up on Sing Medical (“SMG”) where I outlined that the risk reward on SMG seems favourable at $0.315, given a potential share transaction scenario (click HERE). Since 29 Dec, SMG rose approximately 32% to trade $0.415 – 0.420 on several occasions in Feb 2021. Subsequently, it dropped sharply in Apr 2021 when it announced that the potential share transaction has lapsed. Fast forward to 31 Jan 2022 and SMG closed at a 13-month low at $0.290. This is notwithstanding its sterling record 1HFY21 results announced in Aug last year where […]

GSS Energy – Electric mobility business takes shape (25 Jan 22)

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Dear all, With reference to my write-up published on 5 Jan 2022 (click HERE) citing that Asian indices are likely to outperform that of the U.S. market in 2022, our Asian indices, viz. Hang Seng and STI have outperformed the U.S. market significantly (See Table 1 below). U.S. S&P500 notched a 6.4% decline whereas Hang Seng and STI registered a 9.0% and 4.2% gain respectively since my write-up. Table 1: S&P500, Hang Seng and STI 2021 performance since 5 Jan 2022 Source: Ernest’s compilation Given the outperformance, are there still pockets of opportunities in our Singapore market? The short answer […]

Will Singapore stocks outperform U.S. stocks in 2022? (5 Jan 2022)

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Dear all With reference to my market outlook published on 7 Nov (see HERE) citing our Singapore market may face near term profit taking, STI dropped 201 points, or 6.6% from 3,242 on 5 Nov to close at 3,041 on 30 Nov. As we start 2022, various investment banks and research houses have put forth their views on how the various markets will perform. In this write-up, I will share how the markets have performed in 2021 and my market outlook in 2022.   How did the markets perform in 2021? Based on Table 1 below, it is evident that […]

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

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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; […]

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

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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 […]