Singapore Stocks I am still buying

 

    

While there is a lot of focus on the US market as well as fairly strong opinions on the internet about how bad the Singapore stock market is, I am nevertheless accumulating two local stocks that derive some of their income from overseas: Comfort Delgro and Ascott Residence Trust. Some geographical diversification of their incomes makes the stocks more attractive than counters that solely derive their income from Singapore.

They are currently in my Medium-sized holdings part of my Portfolio, but I have no issues accumulating more till they are upgraded to "Large."

There may be some negativity due to COVID on the transport and accommodation sectors but that might mean that this is the best time to buy if you believe that these businesses will recover to their pre-pandemic levels.

The management quality of these two companies appears decent enough for me to believe that they will be able to position their business for the post-pandemic recovery. For example, ART's divestment and acquisition strategy suggests that they are repositioning the Trust with a certain vision of the future.

While inflation is certainly a problem, I expect that ART will be able to raise prices to cover its costs. Comfort Delgro operates in perhaps a more 'sensitive' area especially where public transport is concerned but there are mechanisms in place for price increases and this issue is nothing new.

Earnings Per Share

In terms of Earnings per share, ART has actually recovered to pre-pandemic levels:

2019:  9.04

2020: (7.69)

2021:  9.36

As for Comfort Delgro, their EPS certainly looks bad, but it is a case of "No Way Back" or is a recovery in sight? Furthermore, what is the EPS baked into the current price and is the market underestimating CDG? In which case, we can expect price surprises to the upside.

In contrast, Grab is still bleeding badly, as Business Times reported in August 2022:

 "Strong ride-hailing recovery narrowed the net loss for South-east Asian tech giant Grab to US$547 million for the second quarter ended June, compared to the year-ago loss of US$768 million."