30 Singapore Banking and Finance Stocks (狮城财神)

30 Singapore Banking and Finance Stocks DBS OCBC UOB SGX

The best way to make money is to let money make more money. In this article, you will learn 30 Singapore Banking & Finance Stocks which are efficient in making money with money for investors, focusing in 6 groups of stocks (with strategies for 3 major bank stocks: DBS, OCBC and UOB):

1) Bank Stocks
2) Finance Stocks
3) Insurance Stocks
4) Stock Broker Stocks
5) Pawnbroker Stocks
6) Investment and Other Stocks

There are only 30 Banking & Finance stocks in Singapore, relatively less than other sectors as Singapore has tighter regulation in finance sector for services such as lending money (limited licenses available):

AMTD IB OV (SGX: HKB), B&M Hldg (SGX: CJN), DBS Bank (SGX: D05), Edition (SGX: 5HG), G K Goh (SGX: G41), Global Investment (SGX: B73), Great Eastern (SGX: G07), Hong Leong Finance (SGX: S41), Hotung Investment (SGX: BLS), IFAST Corporation (SGX: AIY), IFS Capital (SGX: I49), Intraco (SGX: I06), Maxi-Cash Finance (SGX: 5UF), MoneyMax Finance (SGX: 5WJ), Net Pacific Finance (SGX: 5QY), OCBC Bank (SGX: O39), Pacific Century (SGX: P15), Prudential USD (SGX: K6S), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), SHS (SGX: 566), Sing Investments & Finance (SGX: S35), Singapore Reinsurance (SGX: S49), Singapura Finance (SGX: S23), TIH (SGX: T55), Uni-Asia Group (SGX: CHJ), UOB Bank (SGX: U11), UOB-KAY HIAN HOLDINGS (SGX: U10), UOI (SGX: U13), ValueMax (SGX: T6I), Vibrant Group (SGX: BIP).

From the table sorted for 30 Singapore banking & finance stocks, mostly are profitable (26 / 30 stocks were making money in businesses last year) but still undervalue (22 / 30 stocks have Price to Book ratio, PB < 1, some have higher quality asset such as cash, properties and equities, potential target for future acquisition).

There are 7 stocks having PB < 0.5 with 50% discount over asset but an investor must double check on quality of assets and whether the business could be sustainable to make money. If not, undervalue stock may continue to be undervalue for a long period of time, may not suitable for long term stock investing nor short term stock trading.

NoNameTickerPB = Price /NAVROE (%)
1SGXS688.0635.9
2AMTD IB OVHKB3.3713.7
3DBSD051.1212.3
4ValueMaxT6I0.7711.7
5Great EasternG071.1111.7
6TIHT550.4811.3
7UOBU110.9411.0
8MoneyMax Finance5WJ0.7410.8
9Maxi-Cash Finance5UF0.9810.7
10IFASTAIY3.3310.6
11OCBC BankO390.8810.3
12UOIU131.059.7
13Global InvestmentB730.716.2
14Hong Leong FinanceS410.585.4
15Sing Investments & FinanceS350.505.4
16IFS CapitalI490.425.2
17Hotung InvestmentBLS0.555.0
18Uni-Asia GroupCHJ0.244.7
19UOB Kay HianU100.644.6
20Prudential USDK6S2.594.0
21Vibrant GroupBIP0.343.8
22Singapore ReinsuranceS490.653.6
23Pacific CenturyP150.743.0
24Singapura FinanceS230.502.9
25G K GohG410.621.9
26IntracoI060.311.5
27B&M HldgCJN2.57-9.0
28Net Pacific Finance5QY0.68-9.7
29SHS5660.67-13.6
30Edition5HG0.85-33.7

Based on Dr Tee criteria, from the 30 Singapore Banking & Finance stocks above, only 8 are giant stocks, some are marginal giant stocks (despite business fundamentals are reasonably good). A few Banking & Finance giant stocks were discussed with more details in Dr Tee earlier articles (see www.ein55.com/blog), eg. DBS (SGX: D05) and Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68).

Focus of this article is discussion on 6 main groups of Banking & Finance stocks in Singapore, understanding the risks and opportunities:

1) Bank Stocks

After decades of merging and acquisition, there are only 3 major local banks in Singapore: DBS (SGX: D05), OCBC (SGX: O39), UOB (SGX: U11), all are STI component stocks. Naturally, these 3 blue chip stocks become the first choice for investment in bank stocks. DBS, OCBC and UOB contribute in total to 1/3 of STI Index weightage, therefore could easily move up or down the entire Singapore stock market whenever there is major move in bank sector.

Here is a list of 30 STI component stocks sorted by size of market cap (significant contribution by 3 major bank stocks):
DBS Bank (SGX: D05), Singtel (SGX: Z74), OCBC Bank (SGX: O39), UOB Bank (SGX: U11), Wilmar International (SGX: F34), Jardine Matheson Holdings JMH (SGX: J36), Jardine Strategic Holdings JSH (SGX: J37), Thai Beverage (SGX: Y92), CapitaLand (SGX: C31), Ascendas Reit (SGX: A17U), Singapore Airlines (SGX: C6L), ST Engineering (SGX: S63), Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4), Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), Hongkong Land (SGX: H78), Genting Singapore (SGX: G13), Mapletree Logistics Trust (SGX: M44U), Jardine Cycle & Carriage (SGX: C07), Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX: ME8U), City Development (SGX: C09), CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U), CapitaLand Commercial Trust (SGX: C61U), Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), Dairy Farm International (SGX: D01), UOL (SGX: U14), Venture Corporation (SGX: V03), YZJ Shipbldg SGD (SGX: BS6), Sembcorp Industries (SGX: U96), SATS (SGX: S58), ComfortDelGro (SGX: C52).

Most bank stocks are cyclic in nature, including Singapore and global bank stocks in US, Malaysia, Hong Kong, etc. Therefore, market cycle investing strategy is required with alignment to Optimism Strategies to Buy Low Sell High, as well as good understanding the global stock market and economic cycle.  Bank sector is the key pillar of economy (business needs money to operate), therefore investment in giant bank stocks in a country with growing economy would enjoy the capital gains of prosperity (狮城财神).

So, which of the 3 major Singapore bank stocks are better? Well, the choice is dependent on stock trading or investment strategy which is personality dependent. The historical stock price chart of DBS, OCBC and UOB with STI (could be considered with STI ETF) shows that these 4 counters are aligned in general directions in longer term.

3 Singapore Bank Stocks DBS OCBC UOB

In longer term, the differences of DBS, OCBC and UOB are mainly on pattern of stocks.  DBS is the largest Singapore bank, also the most cyclic among 3 bank stocks, usually correcting more than STI during global financial crisis (eg. Year 2008-2009, falling below $10/share) and outperforming STI, OCBC and UOB during the bullish phase of economy. DBS is more suitable for cycling investing (Buy Low Sell High) and possibly momentum trading (Buy High Sell Higher) when stock market is bullish.

OCBC is the second largest Singapore bank, more defensive with less volatility in prices. OCBC is more suitable for dividend stock investor who prefers to Buy Low and Hold for a long term. So, each global stock crisis (following optimism strategies) could be an opportunity to add more position.

UOB is the smallest bank in Singapore, performance is also in between DBS and OCBC. In general, an investor may choose between DBS and OCBC and their business sizes are larger than UOB. In fact, for short term to mid term trading (months), differences of 3 major bank stocks are limited, any of the 3 bank stocks may be considered but trading rules should be followed (eg. setting S.E.T. in trading plan with Stop Loss / Entry / Target Prices) for Swing Trading or Momentum Trading.

There is no need to invest in all the 3 major bank stocks for diversification as in general, they are all relatively safer than most of the banks in the world due to tight MAS regulations for Singapore banks. Investing in a particular bank stock could be better than investing in STI ETF because bank stocks could have higher dividend yield (5-6%, depending on entry share prices) and growth are stronger than STI (which are diversified over 30 stocks, which some are weaker than DBS, OCBC and UOB).

In general, being a bank has a strong economic moat, especially in Singapore as there are limited licenses issued by government. A smart investor could become a “banker” through investing in any of these 3 major Singapore banks.  Each of them has strong sponsor with decades of history in businesses, eg. DBS by Temasek, OCBC by Lee Family, UOB by Wee Cho Yaw.

So, it is possible to invest for lifetime (Buy Low & Hold for life) or even pass to next generation (eg. OCBC has nearly 100 years of history for several generations).  Disruptive technology (eg. online payment or virtual bank) would have less impact on traditional bank stocks as bank sector is tightly regulated by local government due to sensitive asset of money. Bank stocks usually are more suitable as positioning as defender in a stock portfolio, more gradual growth with consistent passive income.

Due to low global bank interest rates (nearly 0 for US), the interest income would be less with lower Net Interest Margin (NIM). However, banks could still be profitable with interest income, just the return would be lower.  Banks also have other businesses such as investment, credit card, insurance, wealth management, etc, which could provide non-interest income but usually would also be affected in a bearish economy.  Therefore, entry with low-optimism stock price far below the fair value (following Dr Tee Optimism Strategies) is key for success in bank stocks investing.

2) Finance Stocks

Finance companies could provide similar services as banks (eg. loan & deposit) but with much smaller scale. There are a few Finance Stocks in Singapore: Singapura Finance (SGX: S23), Sing Investments & Finance (SGX: S35) and Hong Leong Finance (SGX: S41). These 3 finance stocks have reasonably good business fundamental but these 3 Singapore Finance Stocks may not be in the same grade for investing as 3 major Singapore bank stocks.

Finance stocks have relatively weaker business fundamental than bank stocks. Stock investment is always relative comparison, looking for the best, not just good or acceptable. In addition, Singapura Finance, Sing Investments & Finance and Hong Leong Finance are less well known, therefore lower confidence by customers (to deposit money) and investors (to invest in finance stocks). 

Hong Leong Finance has a strong sponsor of Kwek Leng Beng (Hong Leong Group Singapore / City Development – SGX: C09). However, its cousin (Kwek Leng Chan of Hong Leng Group Malaysia) stock of Hong Leong Bank (Bursa: 5819) would be a much better choice between 2 stocks as 1 is finance stock, 1 is bank stock with strong business fundamental. Details of Quek / Kwek family of stocks are described by Dr Tee in earlier article (https://www.ein55.com/2020/05/15-hong-leong-group-and-kwek-family-stocks/).

In short, a stock investor may ignore weaker Finance Stocks, aiming for stronger Bank Stocks directly, considering both the stock and business performance, especially for lifetime investing. For shorter term trading, it is possible to consider Finance Stocks if there are positive signals in this group.

3) Insurance Stocks

There are a few Insurance Stocks in Singapore: Great Eastern (SGX: G07), Prudential (SGX: K6S), UOI (SGX: U13), Singapore Reinsurance (SGX: S49) and other stocks which provide partial services on insurance.  These 4 Singapore insurance stocks have good business fundamental but only 2 are considered giant stocks (based on Dr Tee criteria) worth longer term investing.

Usually insurance companies are also suitable partner for banks, eg. Great Eastern is under OCBC, UOI is with UOB, LPI (Bursa: 8621) is with Public Bank (Bursa: 1295), etc. This way, similar pool of clients in both banks and insurance groups may be approached with higher chance of success.  A stock investor may choose to invest directly in subsidiary (insurance stock) or indirectly through parent stock (bank which has partial business in insurance), if both are giant stocks, the choice is dependent on own personality and pattern of stock.

Confidence in business stability is important for an insurance client (to ensure compensation would be received if any misfortune based on agreement). Therefore, a reputable insurance brand with decades of business history (supported by strong sponsor) is crucial.

There are only 2 business sectors almost guaranteed to make money in long term: Insurance and Casino (eg. Genting Singapore, SGX: G13) as they apply probability in business to make money. It is possible for unexpected hurricanes to destroy houses, US insurance companies (including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire, NYSE: BRK) could suffer losses in 1 particular year. However, past statistics (eg. accident rates in driving, Covid-19 risks, etc) would help to naturally adjust the future premium.  If there is a need, resinsurance company could help to share the risks of primary insurance company. Similarly, a stock investor should apply probability investing in making decision of What Stocks to Buy, When to Buy / Sell.

However, insurance business requires customer interactions, eg. meet-up before a policy may be eventually signed. During Covid-19 with global lockdown, both banks (eg. wealth management) and insurance companies suffer due to less chances to meet-up with customers. Due to less income from Great Eastern (subsidiary), parent company OCBC reported 40% less income in Q1/2020.  However, insurance sector could recover with restart of economy which allows social interaction for businesses.

4) Stock Broker Stocks

There are a few Stock Brokerage related Stocks in Singapore: Singapore Exchange, SGX (SGX: S68), UOB Kay Hian (SGX: U10) and IFAST (SGX: AIY) are listed in SGX. CGS-CIMB is a joint venture with 2 overseas parent stocks from China and Malaysia: China Galaxy Securities, CGS (HKEx: 6881) and CIMB (Bursa: 1023). Maybank Kim Eng has a parent company in Malaysia, Maybank (Bursa: 1155).

These 6 Stock Brokerage related stocks and parent stocks have good business fundamental but only 3 of them are giant stocks (including Singapore Exchange, SGX, details were given in earlier Dr Tee article: https://www.ein55.com/2020/05/5-global-stock-exchanges-stocks/).

Due to relatively low stock volume in Singapore stock market (except during bullish market or stock crisis time), stock broker stocks with only stock trading business has limited profits when stock market is “quiet” with little price volatility (eg. STI has been ranging around 3000 +/- 300 points over the past 10 years). Only when stock market is very bullish (eg. crazy bull in Years 2000 and 2007) or during global stock crisis (eg. dumping of stocks in Years 2008-2009 and Mar 2020), then stock volume would be relatively higher.

At the same time, Singapore Exchange has more products (stocks and derivatives) for local and overseas customers with profitable monopoly business (unless stock brokers have to compete for similar business of stock trading, lowering commission to gain business but lower profit margin). Singapore has relatively smaller market with less number of traders and investors with more stable (“quiet” market), therefore stock brokerage could become part of a parent company business, may not be the main business to remain profitable. For example, UOB Kay Hian is with UOB group, could also be integrated with UOI (insurance) business with sharing of similar pool of potential clients.  So, an investor may invest directly in more profitable parent stock if subsidiary stock (eg. stock brokerage) is playing supporting role with less income.

IFAST is a relatively young stock with strong business fundamental. In fact, stock brokerage business is considered bonus for IFAST as its main business is on fund management which itself could grow naturally (high recurring incomes) yearly with compounding effect. Similarly, the integrated business of fund, stock, insurance, bond, etc, giving an edge to IFAST business.  IFAST has high potential with overseas business expansion and even bidding for virtual bank license in Singapore (but intense competition). The main weakness of IFAST is that it is a younger player, therefore relatively less well known among the investors, resulting in “undervalue” share prices, not aligned with its business performance.

5) Pawnbroker Stocks

Interestingly, there are only 3 stocks in Singapore having the name “Max” and all are Pawnbroker Stocks: ValueMax (SGX: T6I), Maxi-Cash Finance (SGX: 5UF), MoneyMax Finance (SGX: 5WJ).  Pawnbroker is a special “Finance” stock as it provides easy way of loan, especially to needy people who may not get the loan easily from banks.

A pawnbroker stock has pawnshops that offer secured loans to people, with valuables (eg. gold, silver, jewelry, coins, luxury handbags, etc) used as collateral. If an item is pawned for a loan, within a certain contractual period of time, the pawner may redeem it for the amount of the loan plus some agreed-upon amount for interest. If the loan is not paid (or extended, if applicable) within the time period, the pawned item will be offered for sale to other customers by the pawnbroker.

Since gold or related jewelry is a common valuable as collateral for loan, the “value” of pawnbroker stock would partly related to gold prices.  After reaching high optimism, gold market started to from about US$1900/oz in Year 2012 to US$1000+/oz in Year 2016, then recovering gradually to current price of US$1700+/oz in Year 2020.  The chart below shows the correlation of falling in gold price and stock prices of ValueMax, Maxi-Cash and MoneyMax which has weaker business fundamental during this period of time (clients or pawners may choose not to redeem the gold as prices have been falling in these 4 years from 2012 o 2016), holding to assets which are declining in values.

3 Singapore Pawnbroker Stocks ValueMax Maxi-Cash Money Max Gold

However, gold started to become bullish from Years 2016 to 2020, business fundamentals of all 3 pawnbrokers (ValueMax, Maxi-Cash and MoneyMax) have improved significantly. However, the rising of gold price with strong business fundamental do not help much on their share prices, simply changing from downtrend to sideways.  In fact, all 3 pawnbroker stocks also pay dividend like bank stocks, having high dividend yield now: 5% for ValueMax, 10% for Maxi-Cash and 65 for MoneyMax.  However, the catch is an investor would suffer high capital losses due to “undervalue” or downtrend prices (correcting over 50% since IPO, even continue to underperform after business fundamental is improving). Despite the business fundamental is good, pawnbrokers stocks are not suitable for dividend investing due to inconsistent share prices.

The divergence between business and pawnbroker stocks prices may partly due to uncertain gold prices (which crashed before in the past) and also there are better choices for investment in Singapore bank stocks which are more predictable and “safer”. Lack of confidence and little knowledge in pawnshop business may deter potential investors from supporting their share prices.

So, these 3 pawnbroker stocks may not be suitable for investing due to misalignment between business and stock performance. Even during the bullish period of gold, pawners may choose to redeem the collateral (if containing gold), then pawnbrokers would just gain the interests. The 3 pawnbrokers stocks have many branches with relatively high level of debt over asset (a form of leveraging), therefore this business model is not as safe as bank or even traditional finance stocks.

6) Investment and Other Stocks

The remaining Singapore Banking and Finance stocks are mostly related to investment holding, fund management or other diversified businesses.  These are some of the investment holding stocks: Hotung Investment (SGX: BLS), G K Goh (SGX: G41), Global Investment (SGX: B73), TIH (SGX: T55) and IFS Capital (SGX: I49).  However, most of these stocks have weaker business fundamental, especially if the investment portfolio of companies may not perform during global stock crisis.

Hotung is an undervalue stock (Price-to-Book ratio, PB = 0.55) with stable profitable business (venture capital). It may be considered mainly for medium term dividend investing (about 7% dividend yield) but growth is limited if holding for long term. The company has no debt but undervalue business behave as those undervalue property stocks, safe but slow.

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If you feel there are too few Banking & Finance Stocks in Singapore (only 8 are giant stocks), then you may consider over 1500 global giant stocks in the world, some are much stronger bank stocks than DBS, OCBC and UOB. Learn to form a Dream Team stock portfolio with 10-20 global giant stocks from over 3 sectors and 3 countries, aligning the strategies with own personalities.

Drop by Dr Tee free 4hr investment course to learn how to position in global giant stocks with 10 unique stock investing strategies, knowing What to Buy, When to Buy/Sell.

Learn further from Dr Tee valuable 7hr Online Course, both English (How to Discover Giant Stocks) and Chinese (价值投资法: 探测强巨股) options, specially for learners who prefer to master stock investment strategies of over 100 global giant stocks at the comfort of home.

You are invited to join Dr Tee private investment forum (educational platform, no commercial is allowed) to learn more investment knowledge, interacting with over 9000 members.

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Myth of Negative Oil Price (扑朔迷离)

negative oil price

US oil (WTI) May 2020 futures contract price crashed yesterday (20 Apr 2020 is the last day before May 2020 US oil future contract expires) to negative $37. Global investors may be confused, why it is possible for oil price to drop to negative, does it mean oil investment fund will go bankrupt? Global consumers may be excited, does it mean petrol from gas station is free from now? Here are the details to uncover this myth.

An oil futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a certain number of barrels set amount of oil at a predetermined price, on a predetermined date.  There are 2 main oil futures contracts: WTI (mainly US oil prices) and Brent (overseas oil prices, outside US). Oil investors would choose futures contracts over spot contracts which requires delivery / storage of physical crude oil in barrels which is not practical. 

An alternative is investing through oil ETFs (eg. USO, UCO, DBO, BON, etc) without actually owning a futures contract by investor (maximum risk is limited to investment on ETF), aiming to follow the oil price movement for capital gains. However, these oil ETFs are not suitable for holding long term (eg. more than 3 years) as there is high rollover cost for futures contracts, a strategy by oil ETF fund manager to keep the oil investment without need to physically store the oil. When futures contracts prices for later months are higher than nearby month, it is called “Contango”, would incur additional cost, when adding up over long term, could be significant to reduce the potential capital gains in actual oil price appreciation. Reversed process is called “Backwardation” which oil ETF would have positive rollover yield due to lower futures contract prices for later months.

In general, when oil price is volatile in short term (eg. up and down 20%-50%), these rollover cost or return may not be obvious. However, in May 2020 futures contract, there is a serious contango with low demand for oil price (due to global lockdown for Coronavirus, especially in US which affects WTI oil price) with over-supply of oil (global oil producers’ action to limit the production is not fast nor strong enough). Due to nearly full storage of oil in US, a buyer would have problem with high storage cost if buying in May. With tremendous sell by oil ETF for May 2020 futures contracts (rollover to buy later months futures contracts), oil price drops below $0 to negative $37, technically sellers are paying to buyers to collect the oil which is abnormal, never happened before.

This abnormality of negative oil price is a historical event, a combination both black swans of Coronavirus (low oil demand) and crude oil price war (high oil supply), breaking down near the worst time of US with severe Coronavirus condition in Apr 2020.  The nearby or front month futures contract now is Jun 2020, WTI oil price is back to a more normal of $21/barrel (usually within $5 difference with Brent oil price which is around $25). So, global consumers may be disappointed as gas station won’t give free petrol unless this negative price is over a longer period of time.

The same negative oil price may or may not happen before expiry date of June 2020 futures contract as oil investors have 1 more month to observe the changes in oil price demand and supply, especially the Coronavirus condition which affects the US economy when it be restarted. The production cut of global oil produces from May 2020 although limited, may help to a certain extent.

negative oil price

The global Coronavirus condition is improving with 5 days consistent downtrend in number of new daily cases. US has also shown a gradual downtrend in new daily Coronavirus cases over last 1 week which is an weak positive signal, if better results are seen by end of Apr 2020, more states in US would restart the economy. Most Americans drive, so when lockdown is stopped, US oil price (WTI) would recover naturally with more energy consumption. Trump may also consider to buy more unwanted US oil at low or negative prices to top up the national oil reserves. Europe countries have significantly lower number of new daily Coronavirus cases, lockdown may gradually be loosened, combined with more manufacturing activities in China, global demand for oil price would gradually pickup by summer. Singapore has a surge in number of Coronavirus cases over the past 1 week but mainly this is within foreign labour dormitories, risk of community infection is in fact lower with stricter partial lockdown.

Global consumers likely could continue to enjoy cheaper petrol prices but not free oil as the negative oil price is a rare product of 2 black swans of Coronavirus crisis and oil price war crisis. If oil prices are below $20/barrel over a longer period of time (eg. a few years), weaker oil producers countries would start to go bankrupt (see past example of Venezuela, even oil price was above $50 a few years ago), following by US shale oil producers (production cost is around $50/barrel), then Russia (production cost is around $20/barrel), finally only Saudi (despite production cost is $5/barrel, there is high national expenses, need much higher oil price to sustain the normal lifestyles).

So, what are the options for global oil investors? Oil ETF such as USO has reasonable correlation to WTI, eg. when oil price surged from $20 to $28 a few weeks ago, USO also went up by similar magnitude of 40% in short term. With yesterday negative oil price, USO is only partially affected as most contracts are already rollover to later months, USO is corrected by around 10%.  USO has some flexibility to rollover future contracts to 2 months later, instead of to nearby month (more volatile, negative oil price may have chance to happen again by 20 May 2020 before June 2020 futures contracts expire) but this would affect the tracking of WTI short term oil price (in exchange for smoother price movement). USO is not suitable for holding long time due to Contango effect, so for oil investors who see significant appreciation (eg. 20-50%) in future oil price in short to mid term (less than 1 year), may consider to take progressive profits as rollover cost is inherent to oil ETFs (similar to holding cost), hard to find other better way to invest in oil prices.

Oil investors may also consider indirect way of investing through energy ETF (eg. XLE, SPDR energy sector ETF) which invests in oil & gas stocks with reasonable correlation to oil prices but won’t be easily affected by such abnormality of negative oil price (XLE was only down by 3% yesterday with negative oil price).

A better oil investment option could be to focus in global oil & gas giant stocks (44 of them based on Dr Tee giant criteria), many are midstream oil 7 gas stocks, eg. storage or delivery of oil which is a more defensive business segment. Storage of oil is a consistent profitable business, some companies are strong in business despite oil & gas crisis over the past 5 years. Oil delivery business could be temporary affected due to lower demand of oil. These midstream oil & gas stocks could even pay consistent dividend, suitable for holding during low optimism of stock prices, waiting for recovery of oil price for potential capital gains indirectly.

Of course, one may do futures trading directly without oil ETF or oil & gas stocks. However, futures trading is speculative in nature for shorter term, may not be suitable for retail traders. Even Singapore oil trading company, Hin Leong, could go bankrupt after losing US$800M in oil futures trading. As a result, 3 major banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB) in Singapore would need to set aside provisions for this non-performing loan (NPL) but risks to these banks are lower than 5 years ago when more weak oil & gas companies were in trouble (eg. Swiber, Marco Polo Marine, etc).

Sharing above is for educational purpose. Readers have to make own decision after independent thinking, especially on risk tolerance level, always having the option not to consider any investment in crisis sectors with business seriously affected.

There are other sectors which business are relatively strong, eg. technology (especially internet related), consumer staples, healthcare, property, etc, many global giant stocks (over 1500) could be considered. Due to the uncertainty in Coronavirus condition (despite downtrends in last 5 days for world condition), stock investors may need to plan for capital allocation (investment in batches) with a portfolio of giant stocks supported by strong fundamental business, so that one could invest with a peace of mind, no need to worry of abnormality such as negative oil price.

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Drop by Dr Tee free 4hr investment course to learn how to position in global giant stocks of growing sectors with 3 value investing strategies (undervalue, growth, dividend stocks), knowing What to Buy, When to Buy/Sell.

Learn further from Dr Tee valuable 7hr Online Course, both English (How to Discover Giant Stocks) and Chinese (价值投资法: 探测强巨股) options, specially for learners who prefer to master stock investment strategies of over 100 global giant stocks at the comfort of home.

You are invited to join Dr Tee private investment forum (educational platform, no commercial is allowed) to learn more investment knowledge, interacting with over 9000 members.

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World Cup of Global Stock Crisis (危机重组)

world cup of global stock crisis

In a football game, we need a balanced team with 11 strong players (defenders, midfielders, strikers, goalkeeper), coach, opponent team, referee and audience. Each of them is playing a key role for a successful world cup, highest level of stock investing. Similar for stock investing, the highest level of investing is positioning during global stock crisis, let’s learn how to apply 3 main strategies of dream team.

Defender stocks usually are positioned for passive income (dividend) regardless rain or shine, suitable for all investing at all time but higher yield during crisis. Midfielder stocks usually aim for growth with capital gains and some bonus dividend. Striker stocks may have higher risks but potential return in shorter time is higher when one could take calculated risks.

Goalkeeper is the cash or capital available for stock investing, careful allocation is important. If a team is too defensive, all 11 players would shield around the goal pole (100% cash), then risk is zero but the potential return is also zero (this strategy is possible during high optimism market, take profits by selling stocks and stay risk free, eg over the last 2 years of high optimism market > 75%). In a low optimism market, goalkeeper could be more aggressive, even a goalkeeper may play the role as defender (0% cash, all invested) when opponent (stock market) is very weak (eg. 0% Optimism with global financial crisis).

Coach is in fact each of the investors who is like a fund manager, making the strategic moves for all 11 players, adjusting their roles (more aggressive, more defensive, balanced, 100% cash, etc) based on the condition of stock market (opponent team) which could be different at various timeframes (short term, mid term, long term).

Referee is the investing results, sometimes may declare win or lose, depending on the time of the game (eg. full game or extended investing game in day, week, month, year or never ending game of a lifetime). Some players who violate the rules of stock game (eg. insider trading or fake financial report) would get caught, may be given a yellow / red card or banned permanently from the investing game.

Audience are all the readers of investing article here, who may feel excited, worried, sad or no emotion when reading about stock market. After the exciting investing game is over, audience would be back to normal life, working for others to gain active income. If an audience (reader or learner) is motivated, also taking action (Buy, Hold, Sell, Wait, Shorting) in investing, then the effort of learning will be paid off. If an audience is still an audience (reading hundreds of posts or video daily) without action aligned with own personality, life still goes on, continue the same way. So, to have a positive change in life, one may need to start a positive action.

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So much about the football team, main goal is to motivate beginners to start investing, especially using time (compounding effect) with global stock crisis (buy low for global giant stocks) to change your current life.

There are 3 main strategies during global stock crisis (which falls about 30% over the last 1 month):

1) Dividend Giant Stocks (Defender)

This strategy is more suitable for contrarian investor (investing during bearish stock market, eg in current market). Main objective is to collect high dividend yield >5-10% (acceptable even if dividend is cut by 50%, eg for REITs, still much better than holding to cash with only 1% bank interest rate) through investing in strong fundamental businesses, supported by strong holding power of 1-3 years to face the uncertain crisis.

This method requires multiple entries (for every crisis, eg 10-20% lower prices each time, see my past articles for examples) to average down the price and diversify into 10-20 global giant stocks with at least 3 sectors from 3 countries. For 20 giant stocks (with min 5% dividend yield), assuming 1 giant stock may even go bankrupt (eg. DBS or OCBC, unlikely but assume it happens), this is max 5% permanent loss, which could be compensated easily by holding 1 year with 5% dividend yield.

For value investing, the “cost” of missing the opportunity boat may be higher than buying in falling price because of greedy to buy at the lowest price, eventually untrained investor may either need to pay higher price or totally miss again, buying at just fair price when marketing is recovering.

2) Growth Giant Stocks (Midfielder)

This strategy is more suitable for trend-following investor (possible for counter-trend investor but need to have min 2-3% dividend yield as mid-fielder). The high growth stocks are hard to get low optimism, this requires more patience, when opportunity comes, one may take action, despite the correction in global stock crisis may not be a lot (eg. 20-30%), unlike over 50% price correction in cyclic stocks, but these growth stocks are planned for buy low and hold long term for potential multi bagger (3X – 10X capital gains). Growth stocks investors have option not to sell during the next global financial crisis because the stocks are too good, will be the final 1% stocks to sell unless it is the end of the world (if so, stock market is no longer important to human, therefore no risk at all then).

3) Cyclic Giant stocks (Striker)

This strategy may be considered for shorter term trading or crisis investing (eg oil & gas stocks or crude oil itself, airlines stocks, F&B stocks, etc) with severe price correction during crisis, or for cyclical sectors such as bank, property and technology stocks which follows economic cycles (will fall badly during global economic crisis). Cyclic stocks do not need dividend, therefore risks are higher, more suitable for trend-following, wait for reversal in prices. For counter-trend investing, it is only possible if it is <10% of portfolio or 1 of multiple entries (easy new entry may wait for extra 20% dip before entering again). Crisis investing stocks would suffer real damage in business but should be at sector level, not only on individual stock.

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A smart investor who hopes to enter the bearish stock market right away with less risks through dividend stock, may also combine different Ein55 dividend stock investing strategies developed by Dr Tee, eg:

1) Growth Dividend Stocks

– collect dividend during low optimism, then enjoy capital gains when crisis is over.

2) Cyclic Dividend Stocks

– crisis giant stocks with great price correction and high dividend yield

3) Defensive Dividend stocks

– Dividend stocks with defensive business and stable stock prices

4) Undervalue Dividend Stocks

– dividend stocks with strong assets in property and cash but share price is less than 50% of value with regular dividend payment

5) Lifetime / Long Term Dividend Stocks

– Some may compromise dividend for higher and more stable growth, especially when planning for longer term investing or even lifetime investing (buy low and hold for life).

There are over 1500 global giant stocks, including 100 global dividend giant stocks based on Dr Tee criteria. An investor (coach) just needs to choose 10-20 of them to form a football team (own stock portfolio) to join the current world cup of stock crisis. Winner would gain the highest title of stock investing with potential high return. However, it requires practices and training to achieve this level, eg. playing in a state investing game first (minor stock correction) or country investing game (major stock correction).

Don’t continue to be an audience to cheer for your favourite team or do nothing throughout the game of investing. Instead, join the game as a coach now to form your own stock investing dream team, crisis is usually the best timing to recruit the best stock players who may be discounted by more than 50% in market prices.

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Drop by Dr Tee free 4hr investment course to learn how to position in global giant stocks with 10 unique stock investing strategies, knowing What to Buy, When to Buy/Sell.

Learn further from Dr Tee valuable 7hr Online Course, both English (How to Discover Giant Stocks) and Chinese (价值投资法: 探测强巨股) options, specially for learners who prefer to master stock investment strategies of over 100 global giant stocks at the comfort of home.

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Global Bank Stocks Investing Strategies

Bank Stocks - DBS, OCBC & UOB
3 major local bank stocks in Singapore: DBS Bank (SGX: D05), OCBC Bank (SGX: O39), UOB Bank (SGX: U11) have already achieved historical high peak prices, supported by the bullish global economy. With the rising bank interest rate, Net Interest Margin (NIM) would be larger, banks would have higher profits from this traditional business, not to mention other divisions such as credit card, insurance, wealth management would also make more profits.
 
3 major banks in Singapore contribute to about 30% of STI stock index. Trend of STI does not reflect all the sectors in Singapore, it is important for trader and investor to study the respective sector index, instead of using STI alone to compare with individual Level 1 stock.
 
Bank stocks can be multi-role players in an investment dream team, can be a defender (passive income generation) or can be a striker (short term trading for quick capital gains). Currently Ein55 coaching students (Jan-May 2018 batch) are working on a special project on global bank stocks, shortlisting 28 excellent bank stocks from over 500 good bank stocks globally. Under the guidance of Mentors Isabel & Chye Tin, The students will use the next few months to study the financial reports in details with bank stocks unique performance indicators, choosing the best bank stocks for various categories of investing from these 28 excellent bank stocks:
– Growth stock (mainly capital gains),
– Defensive stock (low risk, life time investing),
– Defender stock (investing for income with dividend)
– Midfielder stock (capital gains + dividend)
– Striker stock (cyclic / momentum trading for short term capital gains)
 
In Ein55 coaching this week, we have reviewed several short term global & local momentum stocks with potential, just nice riding this recovery wave. The Level 1 individual stocks are aligned with Level 3 global stock market performance: corrected by about 10%, hitting low optimism for short term, then recovering well above intermediate support. A nice entry signal for short term trader after breaking the intermediate price resistance.
 
The last few weeks of 10% correction of global stock market is an alarm, after the recovery, when it is forming twin peaks (double top) or head & shoulder next time at high optimism, the risk is even higher. Remember we are walking on layer of thin ice now, safer to position as a short term trader but having investor mindset (eg. considering only giant stocks). In short, be a short term investor = Buy stock as an investor + buy/sell as a short term trader.
 

For general public, you may start learning how to invest in global bank stocks and other blue chip stocks through free 4 hours investment courses by Dr Tee, sign up today.

Dr Tee Investment Course (Stock, Property, Commodity, Forex, Bond)