Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

Capital

Riverstone – Is the recent 32% decline justified? (12 Sep 2020)

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Riverstone recently caught my attention. It has tumbled approximately 32% from an intraday high of $4.90 on 7 Aug 2020 to close $3.33 on 11 Sep 2020. One client even thought that Riverstone has already undergone a bonus issue! The recent weakness is likely attributed to its co-founder selling 15.5m shares at $3.95 (Bloomberg cites a 90-day lockup on seller); the possibility of a vaccine resulting in demand for gloves and consequently their average selling price (“ASP”) falling off the cliff and some Malaysia investors selling shares to raise cash, as their moratorium on loan repayment ends (click HERE for […]

Starburst – building order books; bright outlook (24 Aug 2020)

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In May 2019, I met Starburst’s Managing and Executive Director Mr Yap Tin Foo. Since Mar 2020, Starburst has been on a roll in winning contracts and I believe it is an opportune time to meet Mr Yap again. Despite Mr Yap’s busy schedule, he agrees to meet me on 1-1 basis to share his company’s business operations and prospects. Below are some of my takeaways from my discussion with him and from its recent results briefing.   Company description Quoting from Starburst’s press release, it is an engineering specialist in a niche industry, and designs, fabricates, installs and maintains […]

Why Property Investors should look at the Private Resale Condo Segment (11 April 2020)

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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. With the record number of new launch properties on the market in 2019 and 2020, all eyes have been on the new launch segment of the property market. Some new property buyers believe that they should buy new properties because they would be buying at the lowest price in the development, and therefore are more likely to make profits when the property obtains TOP. These same property buyers are afraid of buying […]

Eagle Hospitality Trust falls to all time low price amid all time low RSI (28 Oct 19)

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Dear all, S&P500 hit a near intra-day record high at 3,027 on 25 Oct 2019 (one-point shy of its intra-day record high 3,028 on 26 Jul 2019). However, such optimism and risk on sentiment cannot be felt on this SGX listed stock Eagle Hospitality Trust (“EHT”). It fell 16% last Friday to close $0.545. This is an all-time low price since its IPO (IPO offer price US$0.780) on 24 May 2019. Let’s take a look why this EHT has under-performed and why it has caught my attention this week.   Reasons why EHT has underperformed till date The below list […]

Chasen – a bullish double bottom making in the making? (23 Oct 19)

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Dear all, This week, Chasen catches my attention as it seems to be forming a bullish double bottom on its chart. I have appended my personal chart analysis, together with some potential positive and negative points on the company. Read on for more below.   Chasen’s chart analysis Based on my personal interpretation of Chasen’s chart, it seems to have tested its double bottom neckline around $0.070-0.072 for the past few days. For the past two days, it managed to close higher consecutively with above average volume. In fact, Chasen closed today with 7.3m shares changing hands, 3.8x above its […]

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

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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: […]

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

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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 […]

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

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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 […]

2 companies to watch out as markets reach new highs (3 Nov 17)

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Based on yesterday’s close, Nasdaq clocked a 63rd record close for 2017 and overtook the previous 62 record closes for 1980! S&P500, Nasdaq and Dow registered their 25th record close for 2017 simultaneously, matching the record established in 1995. On our local front, STI approaches a more than two year high. 2017 has not ended yet. For those investors who have not invested much, are they too late to the party? Are there still stocks with scope for potential upside? Personally, I believe that there are two companies, namely Hatten Land (“Hatten”) and GSS Energy (“GSS”) with interesting charts and […]

Capital world has tumbled 46% since 29 Mar 17. What gives? Will it fall further? (1 Jun 17)

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Capital World (formerly known as Terratech Group Limited) has slumped a whopping 46% from its intraday high of $0.240 on 29 Mar 2017 to close $0.130 on 1 Jun 2017. What has happened to cause such a massive fall? Will it fall further?   Company description Capital World is an innovative property developer that works with landowners on a joint venture basis to create value added property developments. Such joint venture requires minimal capital outlay and maximises investment returns. It is currently developing Project Capital City, an integrated property project comprising a retail mall, hotel and serviced suites and serviced […]