Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

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Chart 1_600329 CH stock price for the past 3 odd years

Nasdaq has soared 14% in 1 month! Should we chase this rally? (30 Jan 23)

el15

Dear all It has been a busy January. As you are aware, I have kept my powder dry by taking it slow and easy in Dec and have taken some opportunistic positions amid the sell-off in Dec. Just to recap, with reference to my writeup published on 3 Dec (click HERE), where I mentioned that I am taking it slow and easy in Dec, S&P500 and STI fell by 5.9% and 1.2% respectively in Dec. In fact, S&P500 registered the worst Dec performance in four years. However, Hang Seng was still very resilient and jumped 6.4% in Dec on continual […]

Figure 1_Comfort Delgro analyst target price 19 Jan 23

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 […]

Chart 1_Tianjin 2Y price chart

Tianjin Pharma – A potential undervalued company, net cash; rides on favourable tailwinds (24 Dec 22)

el15

Dear all Last Friday, personal protection equipment (“PPE”) and glovemakers rallied as much as 3% – 36% in a single day (See Table 1 below). This outperformance may be attributed to concerns that the Covid situation in China may worsen with more infections, or may cause the appearance of new variants, which may spur demand for gloves and personal protection equipment. Table 1: SG glovemakers and PPE share price performance on Friday Source: Ernest’s manual compilations 23 Dec 22 Personally, besides PPE and glovemakers which may benefit, Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang Group (“T14”) may be another potential and perhaps […]

Figure 1_Comfort Delgro analyst target price 30 Sep 22

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

el15

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 […]

Table 1_Aztech ave analyst target 12 Apr 22

Aztech looks interesting – lowest forward PE among SG tech stocks with a 5.6% estimated dividend yield! (16 Apr 22)

el15

Dear all This week, Aztech has caught my attention amid rising volume with its 1QFY22F business update just around the corner. It has fallen approximately 39% from an intraday high of $1.56 on 27 Apr 2021 to close at $0.950 last Thursday. Let’s take a look on the interesting points and potential risks on Aztech.   Interesting points a) Analysts like Aztech with average target price $1.44 With reference to Figure 1 below, 4 analysts cover Aztech and all rate it a buy. Average analyst target price is around $1.44. If the analysts are right, Aztech offers a potential capital […]

Table 2_Top ten stocks sorted by total potential return 31 Mar 22

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 […]

Table 2_Top ten stocks sorted by total potential return 31 Jan 22

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 […]

Fig 1_SMG Group overview Aug 2021

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

el15

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 […]

Fig 1_Factory capacity, floor plan to produce electric motorcycle

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 […]

Table 2_Top ten stocks sorted by total potential return 31 Dec 21

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 […]