Penguin International

Penguin International is a good stock to own. Their business includes designing, building, owning and operate crew boats and fast supply invention vessels. One of their strength is that they have zero debt and yet holding on to good cash flow which grants them the edge to invest or expand at a better position.

They delivered a strong 3rd quarter results showing profits 337.8% more than last year's. Their cash flow stood strongly at S$28.242 million, a decrease of 4.2% as of last year's.

The management reports that their core businesses continue to be key drivers for earnings for the rest of the year and expects to sell more crew-boats, secure more new-build orders ad increase offshore charter revenue.

Stick to fundamentals

Stock markets in US dropped due to the further tapering of bond repurchases by Fed from $75 billion to $65 billion.

The initial sum of bond buyback was at $85 billion and was cut to $65 billion, a decrease in $20 billion. The total sum of the repurchase efforts are estimated to be about $4 trillion, according to CBC news.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/u-s-fed-to-taper-bond-buying-program-to-65b-a-month-1.2515564

Gold and silver prices saw themselves decline tremendously, even though inflation rates are rising. The safe heaven for hedging inflation did not prove to be useful in current economic trends. No one knows when or how the direction of the precious metal will go but it is like a waiting game to hold on to these sitting ducks.

Stocks like Singtel are still holding on to the strong resistance price of $3.5. M1 and Starhub seen their prices appreciated or maintained in good or bad circumstances.

Margins of safety

Sick to companies with low or no debts and good cash flows.

Growth

Banks or property counters with assets of highly scarce supply. However, it is a challenge to manage risks that comes with these stocks. Good or bad news will likely push the stocks up or down. Market prices are determined by investors like you and me and does not justify the true value of the stock. A good growth potential stock might be dropping in price but may rise higher in the long run.

Dividends play

REITS with good dividend yield and low net gearing ratio.

Top 5 blue chip stocks to buy in 2014

Comfort Delgro

It's expanding taxi fleet size in 2014 and furthermore, divested parts or fully its China, operations which was loss making.

SGX

Consists of 2 business components namely the securities and derivatives. By reducing lot size from 1000 to 100 shares, the volumes of securities traded may increase with more flexibility for investors to manage their funds. While share prices may be cheap now, people are still afraid of this strong blue chip counter with zero debts and payout of dividends via profits. Not understanding what is going on here but it is a safe company to be invested in with the current price of $7.

M1

Its recent results show a significant increase in cash flow which lead to the saying 'Cash is King', and opening more rooms for opportunity and growth for the company.

OCBC

Its recent acquisition of Bank of Ningbo and in a process of acquiring Wing Hang Bank for $5 billion suggests its major shift of focus to the China region where it sees huge potential growth for its business. Although its share price had seen itself dropping recently, it may see its profits rolling in after the acquisitions and synergy with the OCBC business. Not forgetting its highly lucrative Bank of Singapore parked under OCBC. The potential for this bank is huge, which also means higher risks involved.

Hong Kong Land

With its profits soaring while the share prices are dipping does not justify the value of the stock. Hong Kong was named by bloomberg as the best place to do business and while land is scarce in Hong Kong, the land and property prices will not be allowed to nosedive at the expense of the country. Although there is a possibility of it occurring, it is not of the interest of Hong Kong and the leaders to welcome such event.


Wish you all a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR IN 2014 AND MAY YOUR PORTFOLIO HUAT MORE THAN 2013.

Cheer:)

Bearish STI

Although the Straits Times index had gone down quite a bit, i am pretty bullish on the Singapore stock market.

Firstly, i think that Singapore is a tax heaven for investors in the United States and they might flock here to avoid heavy investing taxes in their country. US citizens are taxed for both capital gains and dividends.

Secondly, interest rates are kept low to maintain a slow and constant rate of inflation in the country. A healthy rate of inflation will boost spending in the country because cheap money can easily be available.  According to Jesse Colombo, majority of the loans in Singapore comprises of housing loans and is in a risk of a a property bubble burst in a situation of an interest rate increase. However, since the recent property cooling measures by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, property prices have said to stabilise.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jessecolombo/2014/01/13/why-singapores-economy-is-heading-for-an-iceland-style-meltdown/

Lastly, prices are low now in view of the upcoming results announcement for the various companies. Interest rates have been kept low to spur growth. Property companies have ventures out of singapore to Australia and other parts of the world as land prices soar. OCBC seek to acquire Wing Hang Bank at almost twice its book value. Low interest rates might be helping these companies to expand to greater China where more growth might be.

As the STI index hit one of the low now, buying could be evident in many counters. This is a good time to buy because no major crisis had led STI to drop. Singtel, DBS, OCBC, Hong kong Land are a few counters that comprises in the STI ETF.