Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

valuation

Halliburton trades at 9-year low price, amid 10-year low valuations (17 Jun 19)

el15

Dear all This week, Halliburton (“HAL”) caught my attention as it closed at US$21.38 on 14 Jun 2019, lowest since 1 Jun 2010 and 7 Aug 2009, amid 10-year low valuations. Given the basis below, my personal view is that HAL may be presenting a favourable risk reward setup for a long trade.   Potential basis to long a)  At US$21.38, this is the lowest close since 1 Jun 2010. At 12.5x current PE and 1.9x P/BV (see Figure 1 below), these valuations seem attractive as compared to its 10Y average PE and P/BV 29.3x and 3.2x respectively; Figure 1: […]

Best World – down 47% in 2 months! Buying opportunity or falling knife? (12 Apr 19)

el15

With reference to my 19 Sep 2018 write-up (click HERE), Best World has appreciated approximately 147% from $1.35 on 19 Sep 2018 to touch an intra-day high of $3.33 on 13 Feb 2019. At that time, Best World has dropped out of my watchlist after its incredible rally. However, with its recent 47% tumble from its all-time intra-day high $3.33 on 13 Feb 2019 to trade $1.76 on 12 Apr 2019, it seems interesting again. Is this a buying opportunity or falling knife?   Why is it interesting? a) Valuations are more attractive now Based on Bloomberg (see Table 1), Best World […]

Sing Medical – Chart seems to be strengthening (13 Feb 2019)

el15

This week, Sing Medical’s (“SMG”) caught my attention. At the time of writing this write-up, SMG is trading +0.005 to $0.430. Day range 0.425 – 0.430.   Some interesting observations on SMG a) Chart seems to be strengthening Based on Chart 1 below, SMG seems to have breached the near term downtrend line established since Mar 2018. Today is T+7 of the sharp upmove dated 31 Jan 2019 thus, I guess those contra players (who plan to contra and not hold the stock) have already exited. Indicators such as OBV, RSI and MACD are strengthening. ADX last trades 34.5 on […]

ISOTeam trades near 4 year low despite record order books and bright outlook (10 Jan 19)

el15

ISOTeam (“ISO”) caught my attention. Despite sitting on a record order book, ISO has tumbled approximately 44% from an intra-day high of $0.385 on 10 Apr 2018 to close near a four year low at around $0.215 on 10 Jan 2019. The share price decline was attributable in part to its 4QFY18 surprise loss announced in Aug 2018 (financial year ends in Jun). Nevertheless, my gut feel is that 4QFY18 should mark the trough in earnings and results should improve on a quarter on quarter basis in the next few quarters. As this company is a potential turnaround play, I […]

SIA Engineering trades at 9-year low price and 10-year low valuations (26 Dec 18)

el15

SIA Engineering (“SIE”) catches my attention this week because 1) Share price has fallen to the lows last seen in May 2009 – 9 +year low with negative news, more or less well known. It last trades at $2.20 on 26 Dec 2018. Based on Maybank’s report out this month, SIE management has flagged out challenges in their industry approximately two years ago –> on lower maintenance frequency required by newer aircraft and fleet growth at low cost carriers (“LCC”) requiring SIE to think of new solutions to reduce aircraft downtime at hangars; 2) At $2.20, RSI last trades at […]

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 […]

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 […]

Singtel hits multi-year low and all time oversold since 2000! (3 Jul 2018)

el15

Singtel closed -$0.03 to $3.02, the lowest close since Jun 2012. Based on Bloomberg, it is trading at approximately 5.9% estimated div yield. Ave analyst target is around $3.92. Hence total potential upside is around 35.7%. What has happened to Singtel which hit multi-year lows despite analysts’ buy calls? Is this a buying opportunity? Or is it a falling knife?   Singtel – takeaways from some analyst reports The recent weakness in Singtel may be attributed to its challenging industry, especially when the industry faces new entrants in both Singapore and Australia. Although Singtel may lack near term catalysts, based […]

EC World Reit – potential strong growth ahead (29 Jun 18)

el15

Dear all, Reits are clearly not in our investors’ favour as evidenced by the 10.2% fall in FTSE Reit index (FSTAS8670.IN), which closed 786 on 29 Jun 2018, after hitting a multi-year high of 875 in Jan 2018. Most analysts or strategists will recommend reits with distribution per unit (“DPU”) growth, so as to combat the rise in interest rates. EC World Reit (“EC”) may be one with DPU growth. I have the privilege of meeting Mr Goh Toh Sim, Executive Director & CEO of EC and Mr Li Jinbo, Head of Investment of EC (“Management”) for a 1-1 discussion […]