The best performer was Audi Wong’s portfolio, which consists of a single stock, Inchem Holdings. The stock closed the week at 23.5 cents, unchanged from his purchase price.
Inchem is in the midst of being bought over by US-listed Sherwin-Williams Company for S$41 million, or 32 cents a share in cash. Inchem has said it would distribute part of the cash proceeds to shareholders.
Apart from Audi, DanielXX also kept his portfolio unchanged. Aileen sold her Li Heng shares in disappointment, Mephisto bought more Yanlord shares with high hopes.
Sebastian Chong sold Ezra and bought Furama and Straits Asia shares, and expected a sparkling run-up in the local market after the Dow shot up last Friday. "The fortnight ahead of us should be quite exciting. Current sentiment seems much better than at the start of the game two weeks ago," he said over the weekend.
| Stock | No. of shares | Price bought at $ | Latest market price | Value of shareholding ($) |
| Inchem | 425,500 | 0.235 | 0.235 | 100,000 |
Audi Wong
Audi Wong, 35, is a commercial pilot who has invested very successfully in stocks and properties, especially in recent years. He graduated from the University of New South Wales with a bachelor’s degree in aviation.
He says: "There's no change in my portfolio and I don't have any new comments. I'm a bit sloth-like when it comes to investing."
Apr 23 update: Please read Inchem's announcement to SGX regarding amendments to the proposed sale and purchase.
Audi's immediate viewpoint: "The lawsuit looks like a dagger hanging over their head but it will be immaterial to the sale of the assets to Sherwin. This sale will go through as the assets are too valuable to to miss and that's why Sherwin is willing to pay so much more than NTA or price/earnings for Inchem. The true value lies in the factories and the distribution network and the IP rights. This company must be seen from a business point of view. If you look at it from a normal investor's view then the buy price does not make sense."
*****
| Stock | Number of shares | Price bought at ($) | Price sold at $ | Latest market price $ | Value of shareholding ($) |
Li Heng | 50,000 | 0.71 | 0.66 | 0.67 | - |
| Ho Bee | 50,000 | 0.995 | - | 0.97 | 48,500 |
| Cash | 47,750 | ||||
| Total | 96,250 (-3.75%) |
Aileen Goh
Aileen Goh, 31, has been a trading representative at Phillip Securities for the past eight years since she graduated with an accounting and finance degree from Monash University. She has a mix of investing approaches: long-term fundamentals-based investing coupled with short-term trading, depending on the circumstances.
She says:
Li Heng – I’ve decided to sell Li Heng at $0.66 a few days after its good results were announced because despite the good results, the stock failed to move. Its technicals no longer look good as the stock is starting to trade below the support level of $0.675.
I suppose the reason is due to the weakening confidence on Chinese companies, no thanks to a slew of bad news coming from blue chip Chinese companies like COSCO and China Energy. Rising inflation in China is another cause of worry, as the rise in the prices of raw material may affect the profit margins of Li Heng in their next set of results.
Ho Bee - Will be holding on to Ho Bee. I still like it for its cheap valuations. CIMB-GK came out with a report on it on Friday (Apr 18) saying that Ho Bee is “trading at distressed levels”.
*****
| Stock | No. of shares | Price bought at $ | Latest market price | Value of shareholding $ |
| Pan-United | 31,500 | 0.635 | $0.625 | 19,688 |
| CH Offshore | 34,188 | 0.585 | $0.605 | 20,684 |
| Hongguo | 38,460 | 0.52 | $0.47 | 18,076 |
| Stamford Land | 30,000 | 0.665 | $0.71 | 21,300 |
| Silverlake | 50,000 | 0.40 | $0.33 | 16,500 |
| Total | 96,248 (-3.8%) |
DanielXX's avatar
DanielXX is a 30-something investor who is well-known in certain online investing forums as well as for his blog, where his writings on investing reflect depth of thought and analysis.
He says:
My portfolio is down 3.8% but it’s no big deal. I expect an exponential rise when liquidity picks up and fund managers stop dumping certain stocks.
Pan United: Limited market interest but it’s time to accumulate. Waiting for a catalyst. Conviction hold.
CH Offshore: Deepwater exploration theme might start to gain traction soon. Holding tight.
Hongguo: Nothing has happened to change my mind on the brand equity this stock has.
Stamford Land: Impossible to time this, hence it’s important not to switch out.
Silverlake: Some fund selling, apparently. Holding for the moment; next set of results to indicate future direction.
*****
| Stock | No. of shares | Price bought at ($) | Price sold at ($) | Latest market price($) | Full cost of underlying security in CFD ($) | Initial deposit (for CFD) ($) | Total shareholding value ($) |
| Jardine Cycle & Carriage | 10,000 | 17.30 (cum US$0.32 div) | 17.44cd | 173,000 | 17,300 | 18,700 | |
| Sino-Environment | 125,000 | 1.40 | 1.34 | 175,000 | 17,500 | 10,000 | |
| CFD Margin Top-up | 6,100 | ||||||
| Capita Retail China Trust | 8,000 | 1.27 | 1.28 | 10,240 | |||
| Swiber Holdings | 5,000 | 2.53 | 2.52 | 12,600 | |||
| Ezra Holdings | 5,000 | 2.24 | 2.23 | 2.20 | -- | ||
| Furama | 5,000 | 2.72 (cum 6 cts div) | 2.73cd | 13,650 | |||
| Straits Asia | 4,000 | 3.03 (cum US 0.75 ct div) | 3.02 | 12,080 | |||
| Cash | 10,520 | ||||||
| Total | 93,890 (-6.1%) |
Sebastian Chong
Sebastian Chong has invested actively in equities since the 1970s. He is managing director of Financial Info Analysis Pte Ltd, a company he founded after he retired as an accounting professor at the National University of Singapore. He now runs his popular investing website, www.shareowl.com
He says:
First, some explanation about the use of CFD. The investment in the initial deposit of 10% is increased by the increase in value of the underlying investment. In the case of Jardine, 174,400 -173,000 = 1,400. Market value is initial deposit of 17,300 + 1,400 = $18,700.
Likewise, the underlying shares in Sino-Env 125,000 have lost 6 cents each = $7,500. The deposit was 10% of $175,000 or $17,500. The loss of $7,500 was made good by a topping up of CFD margin and hence cash was reduced by this figure besides reducing cash by new purchases of Furama and Strait Asia and increasing cash by the sale of Ezra.
The above shows the high leverage of CFD at play as only 10% deposit is needed.
1. Jardine Cycle & Carriage did begin to recover alright after three weeks of consolidation. The next fortnight should see its true colours since all its motor trade, palm oil and other segments are still thriving in Indonesia.
2. Sino Environment is dirt cheap at $1.33 and we should see it fly in the coming fortnight.
3. The senior executives of Capita Retail China Trust have been buying again in the last fortnight and this could be the last chance for investors to buy this REIT on the cheap. The current price of $1.30 does not reflect the very bright prospects of earnings growth both organically and through acquisitions from Capitaland within the next couple of years.
4. Swiber Holdings looks as tremendous on technicals as on fundamentals. Explosive growth is inevitable for this exceptionally well managed niche player in a oil hungry world. Just imagine, a single digit PE stock with compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in earnings of at least 50%.
5. I sold Ezra although it is not bad because Swiber is good enough for me in the oil and gas services industry. I have diversified a bit more by buying Furama and Straits Asia.
6. Furama is a Singapore-centric hotel stock that is about to unlock value in a big way. The price of $2.72 has not even priced in its announced intention of paying a 75-cent dividend in June. After deducting this current round of dividend of 6 cents and the June dividend of 75 cents, the net price is only $1.91 as compared with its RNAV of at least $3.00 after the payment of June dividend of 75 cents. I actually owe it to a subscriber of Shareowl.com who highlighted Furama with painstaking explanation of its gross undervaluation on the website forum.
7. Straits Asia is a wonderful coal mining play that has already become a multi-bagger since its IPO and will continue to chalk up substantial gains in the next few years.
8. I have reduced cash holding to $12,670 from $31,190 two weeks ago as investing opportunities look very good now.
*****
| Stock | Number of shares | Price bought at ($) | Latest market price $ | Value of shareholding ($) |
Yanlord | 10000 | 2.59 | 2.29 | 22,900 |
Yanlord | 5000 | 2.45 | 2.29 | 11,450 |
| Brothers | 100000 | 0.225 | 0.215 | 21,450 |
| Cash | 39,350 | |||
| Total | 95,200 (-4.8%) |
Mephisto's avatar
Mephisto is a 30-something investor who says he is a simple man who enjoys his bak ku teh with Chinese tea every weekend morning. Having gone through the 1987-2007 booms and busts, he has a great deal of respect for Mr Market. Nevertheless, he enjoys pitting his wits against the market, which is by itself a learning experience, he says.
Mephisto says:
I added 5,000 shares of Yanlord to my portfolio after the stock price weakened. A pity that I didn’t have my crystal ball with me last week or I would have picked Super Coffeemix. The stock shot up about 60% in just a week as it has received a preliminary takeover approach.
I continue to maintain my bullish outlook on PRC property sector. Last week, the PRC government announced that 1Q2008 GDP grew 10.6%, its ninth consecutive quarter of >10% growth.
The renminbi rose to a high of 6.9947 against the US dollar. My banker was telling me that he is selling US$ forward at $1.32 Singapore dollar and 6.55 RMB. In a Merrill Lynch report dated 03 April 2008, foreign direct investment (FDI) is still resilient, rising 14% in 2007 (to US$82.7billion), and up 75% year-on-year in January-February 2008.
If China is becoming a less profitable place to invest in, direct investors haven’t realized it. Interestingly, more FDI is flowing into real estate and the service sector at the expense of the manufacturing sector.
Yanlord continues to be my top pick in this sector although a dealer friend told me that the RSI is overbought. Let’s look out for its 1Q 2008 results. I have just realized that NextInsight published an article on Yanlord previously, citing a Citigroup report.
The Jan 16 article is as follows:
“CITIGROUP reiterated its “buy” call on Yanlord following the launch of another batch of apartments at its Shanghai Yanlord Riverside City Phase 2 over the past two weekends.
The latest batch of the pre-sold apartments commanded an average selling price of about Rmb34,500 psm, up from about Rmb24,300 (+42%) for a similar type of apartment sold in July 2007.
The increase in the average selling price for Yanlord Riverside City “demonstrates the continued ability of Yanlord's developments to command price premiums on the back of the company's strong brand name in China and its high-quality products,” wrote Citigroup analyst Tony Tsang in a report on Jan 14.
"At the same time, the strong sales also highlights that demand for high-quality properties in Shanghai has remained and that some local newspaper reports on market weakness were inaccurate.”
Tony wrote that Yanlord stock ($2.68; market cap S$4.9 billiion) is oversold. “Now trading at a 40% discount to NAV, we believe that Yanlord has been oversold.”
His target price: S$4.91.
"The company's prime city-center landbank and the expected strong property sales for its upcoming new launch should present catalysts for a narrowing of the current NAV discount,” wrote Tony.”
Next update: Three weeks' time, Monday, May 12.
For what the 5 participants first said about their starting portfolio, read: STOCK CHALLENGE: 5 investors manage $100,000 'windfall'
