Monday 31 July 2017

Quotable Quotes

Last day of July, decided to share some quotable quotes that I have came across over the years.

Some of these quotes are inspirational, some funny, some serious, some serve as a reminder and some are simply coined by myself.

1. When you are nobody everything you say is rubbish. When you are somebody everything you say is a quote.

2. It's not what you say. It's how you say it.

3. Having a bad day doing something you love is better than having a good day in an uninspiring workplace.

4. Second place is the first loser.

5. Nobody dies a virgin because life fucks us all.

6. Enjoy life. There is plenty of time to be dead.

7. Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak.

8. Money is not everything. There's Mastercard & Visa.

9. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.

10. Every man should marry. After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

11. The wise never marry. And when they marry they become otherwise.

12. Earlier in my life I have to choose between hypocritical humility and honest arrogance, I chose arrogance.

13. Only speak if you can better the silence.

14. We do not stop playing because we are old. We grow old because we stop playing.

15. Try and regret rather than regret for not trying.

Friday 28 July 2017

Recent Actions - June & July 17

Just to update my transactions for June and July 2017 as follows.

OCBC

Received some dividend last month for the scrips that I'm still holding on.

Always looking for a chance to enter OCBC again. But at current price points I would stay on the side line. 

NetLink Trust

Will be keeping my 4,000 shares from the IPO for the long haul if the >5% annual dividend can be maintained. This is a more than decent yield considering our 'risk-free' interest from CPF SA is 4%.

Furthermore I see potential capital gain for this counter as well. Am secretly hoping this can eventually be a free holding for me.. Shhh 😀

M1

Taking advantage of the recent drop in price and added 2,000 shares to my holdings. Bought pre-XD at $1.86. Current total holdings @ 12,000 shares.

From the release of their 2Q results on 18th July to now, the share price has dropped from $2.10 to $1.785.

To me this is simply irrational. Seems artificial to me even. Looking at the broader scheme of things, is M1's performance so lousy that it warrants a 15% drop in a span of 8 trading days?

Not to me. I can understand if M1 becomes loss-making. But considering it's a profitable company, this simply baffles me. 😖

Perhaps.. Just perhaps.. is someone pressing the price down for a potential take over?

Just a wild guess. In the mean time I will consider adding more if opportunity arises.

mm2 Asia

Bought 5,000 shares when the price dipped to $0.51 on news of the stalemate at buying over GV.

I'm more of a dividend investor than growth or value, however I see an opportunity for a short term capital gain at this price. Time will tell whether I'm right or wrong.

Plus it wouldn't hurt to try balloting for free concert tickets isn't it? 😁

Monday 24 July 2017

Little Milestone 2


Just wanna say a word of thank to you guys.
All readers and fellow bloggers who read and commented on my blog.


Just realised my blog has reached 10K readership!

I'm normally not a number person. But at least this little milestone shows that my blog is still being read by people who don't mind the lack of quality and sometimes boring posts of my musings.

And this is still going strong seven months after I blogged my first post.

Because of this I will keep going and keep posting my thoughts be it random, serious or not.

Cheers and thanks all.

Sunday 23 July 2017

Property Buying - Rule of 15

Eyeing that particular unit but not sure whether you are overpaying it?

This question must be one of the most common faced by property buyers.

I was doing some research as my wife and I are thinking of getting a second property when I came across an interesting piece of information - The Rule of 15.

The Rule of 15 is a guideline or rule of thumb that enables a buyer to judge whether that listed price will get you a bargain or make you end up being a carrot head.

Similarly it can help sellers price their property better too.

Basically the rule works this way:

1) Find the going monthly rent of a similar unit (e.g. 2 bedder) in the location you are interested in.

2) Multiply that rent by 12 to get the annual rent and multiply again by 15.

3) If the unit that you are eyeing costs much more than the figure you obtained in step 2, the listed price is probably way over.

This is a simple way to get a quick valuation. However there are many factors that can affect a property's price. So due diligence must still be done in your research.

Hope this piece of information helps.

Wednesday 19 July 2017

Why I Feel M1 is a Potential Winner

With the release of the results yesterday, the selldown in M1 is expected today.

The magnitude of drop also doesn't surprised me. Afterall it has happened not too long ago during the announcement of the 4th entrant.

This is a classic example of market (people) sentiment.

People seldom look beyond the surface. Yes M1's earnings dropped. But they are still profitable. It is a company still making money and churning out decent dividends.

Furthermore as announced in their AGM, they are branching out into other stuffs apart from their traditional income. Stuffs such as smart metering and IoT. It takes time to realise the fruits from these plantings.

But the most important thing is this:

M1 is a prime candidate for M&A.


Considering the high barrier of entry into the telco sector, if I were a conglomerate looking to enter, I would seriously consider buying over the current players with existing infrastructure and customer base instead of starting from the ground.

Among the 3 incumbents, M1 looks attractive.


And we already have a hint to that happening recently. The interest is there. Buyers are willing to buy just that the seller is not willing. For now.

However I believe this is not the end of story. On the contrary this is just the beginning.

We will soon see more news on the takeover of M1 from this point onwards.

Usually deals like this takes a long time before coming to fruition. Just look at GLP.

* Extremely bias view with vested interest.

Finally had some Luck - NetLink Trust

Hasn't had the best of luck in the recent IPOs that I applied. Pressed for Unusual and Sanli but ended up with zero for both and $4 poorer.

So it was pleasant that I managed to get some for the latest IPO - NetLink NBN Trust. I applied for 30,000 shares via ibanking on Sunday night and was allocated 6,000 shares today.

20% allocation. Hmm not too shabby.

Though I mentioned about the lack of luck above, I am not too surprised about getting some allocation for NetLink. Afterall the public float was huge as compared to other IPOs such as Kimly's.

Furthermore I have read about some lacklustre online opinions about this stock from fellow investors these few days.

So I was quietly confident this time.

I have actually wanted to write about this IPO few days ago. But I realised many bloggers had already done so and they did such a good job in their writeups which I felt I could not contribute more in a meaningful manner.

Anyway everyone has their own reasons for and against this stock.

I will just share my reasons for my interest in this stock.

Firstly I like the recurring income of this business. Stability.

Secondly like I have mentioned previously in another post, I like companies that are in sync with governmental policies. In this way they can leverage naturally on the government's push to further their growth.

NetLink is one such company.

With Singapore gearing up to be a smart nation, I can only see upside for NetLink's macro environment.

Also, with the projected continuous population growth depicted in the government's white paper, number of residential homes can only continue to increase. Another upside for NetLink.

Thirdly, if the projected dividend yield is accurate, a 5+% dividend is not too shabby at all. Good even.

Last but not least, even though the public float is relatively big the placement was still 2 times over subscribed. This shows there are significant interest in this stock, contrary to what some say.

For me barring any major upheavals, this stock is a keeper for at least the next two years.

Cheers and congrats to those who managed to get the allocation!

Thursday 13 July 2017

Why I Long After CapitaLand

Yes, pun intended. I am long on this counter.

Especially after watching today's Money Week, it has further reinforced my belief in CapitaLand. I am of the opinion that a big upside lies ahead for this company with a well balanced portfolio of 45% in China, 35% in Singapore and the rest in Europe and other parts of Asia.

This diversified portfolio is a good hedge against the sudden downturn of any of the markets which they operate in. Not to mention the big potential of China's and Vietnam's property markets.

If their China investments play out well, contributions to the top and bottom lines should come in the near to mid term which in turn translate to hopefully, capital and dividend yield gains.

Strong, visionary management team is often one of the factors that I look out for and the team at CapitaLand has my vote of confidence. Another one is ARA Asset Management which has since been delisted.

I am definitely long on this counter. Currently vested with 4,000 shares at $2.98. Looking to add more when opportunity arises. Wouldn't rule out averaging up too.