Caveat Emptor

http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=600&region=sgp&culture=en-US https://www.gurufocus.com/news/155687/peter-lynch--a-simple-way-to-benefit-from-utility-investments Better late than never! Hyflux has been a distressed asset play I have been holding since April 2017. A boring and unexciting business turned out to be headline worthy when Olivia lum initiated a trading suspension in the exchange,  suspension of the dividend, and the restructuring of the debt position of Hyflux with the courts . This is followed by the leaving of the COO which is long overdue considering the heavy operational blunders . Hyflux is working to reach an agreement to arrange a haircut discount on its liabilities and every Tom dick and harry is suddenly an expert on Hyflux, the same as bitcoin a few months ago. Even the housewives are talking about it as some of its perpetual are issued to the retail market. I take this as a symptom that this stock has reaches the point of maximum ...

http://m.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2146635/us-trade-war-when-micro-chips-are-down-chinese-cash-flows-israel 1) Diwosifying into areas not within its circle of competence. Poor capital allocation. China’s technology triumvirate comprising Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings have become some of the country’s most active investors, spending billions of dollars in a variety of industries, whether to support their own core operations or to diversify into exciting new areas. 2) Poor capital management.  Pursuing aggressive debt fuelled acquisition instead of stable organic growth. High likelihood of inflated goodwill in balance sheet that may not transit to value. “Companies like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have become like investment companies. They are sitting on top of piles of money and they are figuring out how to try and make the best use of it,” said Shaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research Group. “The rate of ...

DCA of STI ETF I have started my investment journey since June 2016 in the depths of the Singapore recession. Graduating at the onset of a recession is a calamitous time. Nonetheless, after I have built up sufficient savings to meet any immediate needs for the next 3-6 months, I started on DCA of STI ETF (ongoing) on a monthly basis and OCBC (discontinued since Apr 2017) since then. There had been many bloggers espousing on the merits of the STI ETF and equally vocal opponents criticising on its numerous limitations. On my personal front, I adopt a hybrid (passive  + active) approach towards my portfolio. My passive approach is to allocate fixed sum of my monthly income into DCA STI ETF.  My tactical approach whereby I actively screen and pick stocks. I will plant them in my watchlist and monitor them if they have dropped down to attractive valuation levels. I will set aside a war chest to capitalise on potential market dips / heavy correction / general optimism and pes...

Highlights I have gleaned from Raffles Medical AGM 1) Revenue stream 56%Hospital 40% healthcare 4% investment holdings,  There is a sharp increase in investment holdings revenue due to Raffles Holland V rental business / contribution (Similar to REIT business) . Raffles Medical is focused on acquiring space for land intensive hospital business and is converting space to acquire rental.   Prevailing trends and strategy 2) In 2017, due to the economic downturn, there is significant price cutting / negotiation in corporate services. Companies are lowering their quotes for insurance and clinic contracts. As Raffles medical is focused on bottom line profitability and not top line sales revenue, they are turning down contracts that have low profit margin to reduce unnecessary expenditures.  3) There is strong price competition from Malaysia and Thailand. This is worsened by high medical charges in Singapore. This led to industry wide decrease in fore...