Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

margin

Margin account – why I started using margin account last couple of months (12 Dec 23)

el15

Dear all With reference to my market write-ugp dated 23 Oct (click HERE), where I mentioned that I was buying on dips and was judiciously using leverage via my newly open margin account to accumulate stocks, S&P500 has rallied 8.6%. However, STI is still languishing at almost similar level vs my write-up. Post my write-up, some readers and clients have enquired on the margin account. Hence, I have done a short write-up on margin financing. What is margin financing? What are the things we should be aware of? Read on for more below.   A) What is margin financing? Margin […]

Markets hit by selling pressure. Is it time to BUY? (23 Oct 23)

el15

Dear all It has been some time since I last wrote an article on market outlook. I have been extremely busy for the past three months where I have been meeting companies and other associates. (Check out my LinkedIn HERE). I have also just arranged an exclusive meetup with Lendlease Reit Manager CEO, Kelvin Chow and Head of Investor Relations, Ling Bee Lin with my clients last Friday. (Click HERE). As of last Friday, Lendlease Reit’s market capitalisation is around S$1.16b. With reference to Chart 1 below, October continues to see the third monthly outflows of funds from China equity markets. […]

Comfort Delgro closed at $1.03, lowest last seen on 18 Mar 2004! (9 Jun 23)

el15

Dear all Comfort Delgro (“CD”) closed at $1.03 today. Based on Bloomberg, this was the lowest close last seen on 18 Mar 2004. The main reason cited for this recent drop was that Citi has reduced its target price for CD from $1.63 (26 Feb 2023) to $1.32 (2 Jun 2023). Nevertheless, they maintained their buy call. Is it all doom and gloom? Should we throw in the towel and just give up on CD? Personally, I find CD interesting at current levels. Before I delve into it, just for record purpose, I have a previous article on CD published […]

Comfort Delgro sinks to 14-year low! Will it go lower? (19 Jan 2023)

el15

Dear all On 11 Jan, Comfort (CD) closed at $1.21, the lowest close since 31 Oct 2008. The next day, to the horror of CD’s shareholders, it broke $1.21 with volume expansion and closed at $1.18. At the time of this write-up, CD closed today at $1.14, the lowest close last seen 29 Oct 2008. Will CD fall more? Or will this be a comfortable trade at current level? Let’s read on for more.   Possible reasons to be bullish A) Still a recovery play CD with its operations in Australia, China, Singapore, UK etc. should gradually benefit as economies […]

Markets – diverging signs from technicals and fundamentals. What should we do? (4 Apr 2022)

el15

Dear all March has been a roller coaster month. Hong Kong market, represented by Hang Seng index touched multi-year lows around 14-15 Mar and has rebounded approximately 21% from the intraday lows. S&P500 performed well too with a third consecutive weekly rise. With reference to my writeup (click HERE) published on 6 Mar 2022, I mentioned that a) Odds are likely of a downward push first I mentioned that based on chart, odds are higher for a downwards move for both S&P500 and STI, to retest the previous support around 4,115 – 4,222 and 3,138 – 3,200 (with 3,175 a […]

AEM enters bear market despite analysts’ positive calls. What gives? (20 Feb 22)

el15

Dear all AEM has fallen 21% from an intraday high of $5.37 on 14 Dec 2021 to close $4.25 on 18 Feb 2022. What has happened in the last two months to warrant such falls? Based on Bloomberg, average analyst target price is around $6.72, representing a potential capital upside of around 58%. Is this the bottom for AEM, or will it fall further? Personally, I think AEM is worth a closer look at $4.20 – 4.30 region. Let’s take a look at its investment merits and risks.   First things first, what does AEM do? According to its company […]

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

el15

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 […]

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

el15

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)

el15

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 […]

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 […]