Not All Markets Are the Same

Mixed feeling analysing my portfolio today. I know that my entry points have not been excellent in the past for Singapore stocks. Of course over the past several years, my timing has improved. My failure to have proper exit strategy in the past has haunted me and I still hold on to my biggest losses, namely Hyflux (30% loss) and ChinaGaoxian (still 67% loss after they re-enlisted into the exchange). Those two are the main culprits. Otherwise excluding them average loss is 8%. I'm not that worried as almost 65% is allocated to REITS giving me 7% returns on average. REITs on average are not performing well. Gonna get my rights issue+access @ $1 for Ascott REIT soon, so might bring my losses down slightly.

Anyway the reason for this post is to share an interesting point here. How come SGX is lagging while the rest of the world is moving towards new highs? I really dont understand. Thank GOD, I have spread or "diversified" my portfolio to stay invested in US, Japan, HK/China as well.

(*I didnt take into account dividends)

As you can see almost 60% is parked in Singapore. Most of them are in the red but only slightly, this year end rally will help me to exit some positions with profit + dividends. As for NYSE/NASDAQ, holding mainly consumer/defensive stocks like KO and MDLZ with decent returns of 20%. 

Best performing market for me is still the chinese stocks, timing was good, entry was just after the bottoming out after 3 years of sluggish growth in China. However i wish i had put more into chinese stocks. Mainly holding BYD Intl and China Insurance. 

A good lesson here is to stay diversified then only you can lower your risk.  

ExxonMobil gets another boost

Important news just yesterday, Berkshire Hathaway revealed last night that it has been holding roughly 40M shares of ExxonMobil since 30th Sept. To me, it just re-affirms my position held for the past year. 
XOM last trading price at $93.23 

I have written about Exxonmobil (XOM) in the past, and my previous profit taking target was $94. However three things have made me re-evaluate my strategy for XOM in the short term. 

1. It is the year end rally, there is absolutely NO WAY i am selling before end of Dec because it is a well known fact that non-defensive stocks tend to fair well in the last quarter.
2. Positive comments from Yellen, the future FED chairman who is going to take over from Bernanke, reassures many weary investors out there.
3. Warren Buffett is the ultimate value investor. He see's ExxonMobil to be undervalued.

Therefore referring to my previous article "How much is ExxonMobil worth?" , I said the following: " true potential for XOM is $125 but only if the market sentiments remain bullish all year long".  Now, I can confidently say that it is, XOM will break the $94 resistance either tonight or by next week and head much higher by mid of 1st quarter 2014.

My profit target price has been adjusted to a conservative $108. How did i come up to this value? Its based on my own risk appetite and individual profit taking target fitting into the timeframe or which i wish to stay invested.

Below is a historical chart of their performance, highlighting places where you could have bought this fantastic company. If you are like me, not having the privilege of being born in the 50s or 60s. Its OKAY. look at the chart and pick up stocks that are undervalued. Technically, when they are hitting the historical support line (red line) and about to bounce back.

 Something interesting you will notice, there has been ups and downs but staying invested in a value stock over the long term actually does pay off, BIG time.

Things To Come

This is not related to the famous science fiction book "The Shape of Things to Come" by H.G. Wells but rather my take on the stock market. Regular readers of my blog would know about my stance on the market today. Take advantage of the market exhuberance but beware of what is coming ahead in 2014. I have said in the past, history tends to repeat itself, even if the Feds keep printing money and delay the inevitable, the outcome will still be the same. Personally i have a bearish outlook for stocks in 2014, i let the chart below do most of the talking. 

   
Eventhough we have not reached market tops, we are quite close. I think DowJones Industrial average is a better indicator of global market cycles than S&P500, Nasdaq or other indices. Of course our very own STI can tell a different story but there is a high correlation between the two.

On first look, you might say the DJIA is moving perfectly between two parallel lines but the bottom in Sep'2002 does not touch uptrending line. Another fact is that the bottom in Feb 2009 was actually lower than Sep 2002, which lets some people believe that we have been in a bear market since 2000. I however, do not think technical analysis takes into account all the things that have changed. We have not taken into account how the index NOW has more components than it did 20 years ago, the revolution of the internet and increase in accessability to trade the market. All these things add to the volatility equation. 

What has happened since 1992? We have seen internet bubble and housing bubble. What has allowed for these bubbles to form? Ever since 2000, the central bank's policy has only delayed an eventual bottoming of the stock market. But i am not going to complain about that because it has made many, including myself, to get a decent return from investments. 
Recent activities in the stock market and other asset classes is sending a clear signal that bubbles are forming everywhere mainly due to loose printing of money and low interest rates. Many people are quick to forget how often central bank policies have backfired throughout history, as they try to artificially quell inflation. Central bank policies have only three achievements throughout history: 
1. Making a few successful traders, filthy rich over a short period of time >>> suddenly they become guru's and start conducting seminars and writing books.
2. Ensure Banks make more money, and also making the wealthy eventually wealthier
3. Eventually failing and sending the world into turmoil

What is happening recently? You must have seen Twitter jumping almost 73% on its IPO debut appearance. Everybody is probably thinking, hey i want a slice of that pie also. But did you stop and think about the business of twitter? How are they able to generate income through advertisements alone? I guess there will always be followers who will buy into the hype but i do not think its a sustainable business model, same goes for Facebook. Another internet bubble in the making perhaps.

In Asia, we see bigger bubbles forming across all asset classes. Look at the Indian stock market which has reached record highs over the past week despite all the problems and massive devaluation of its currency. Its definitely speculator's market, with no fundamentals. Look at the chart below for SENSEX, where is the supporting line for their post 2004 rally?

   
Housing markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Australia are all in a bubble.
Australian housing market has been on an uptrend since the 1950s and is one of the world biggest housing bubble. Now Aussies are being allowed to use their "superannuation funds" as collateral to buy residential properties, reflating their bubble again.  Look at the charts below:

So just beware of things to come. It is not going to get easier. Central banks around the world are clouded by their hubris, endlessly printing money and stretching without contraints. Bear in mind, our financial system as it stands today has a very short history compared to the thousands of years of written history. No body is sure how the future will play out. But i do know for sure, increasing asset price volatility is here to stay. 

The best defense would be to: 
1. Diversify your assets (Stocks, Commodities, Property etc.)
2. Don't take on "bad" debt. (read Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, in case you are not sure what is good debt and bad debt.)
3. Avoid hyped up IPOs (which gets undue media attention)
4. Hold some cash reserve (SGD is still one of the best in the world)


Since last week you will hear and read in every type of media that the economy is going to get better ahead. Yes it will, I am counting on it. Just be prepared to take profit and close positions.

I leave you with a statement in an article by BoeckhInvestmentLetter which i like very much:

"The fragile state of the economy and financial system will continue to require inflation of money and credit, heavy government intrusion into the private sector, and frequent resorting to subsidies and support programs. This will continue to distort relative prices of labor, goods, services, and assets. It will sustain the economy in an artificial state and will compound instability and make it impossible to understand what is real and what is not."

Be a Dividend Investor

A dividend investors goal should be to generate a increasing stream of sustainanle dividend income, through careful selection of dividend growth stocks. Their investment plan must not be dependant on daily market fluctuations. I am not being overconfident but a dividend investor must be able to say confidently that "daily fluctuations have no bearing on my investment plan" because i have bought this stock at a great discount and will keep building on it for the next 10 or 20 years (through 2-3 market cycles). 

Dividend investors out there, do not worry because most of your stocks will keep sending you dividends quarterly or annually (as long as the company is well managed, increasing in profitability year after year. What is most important is to focus on quality dividend stocks and purchase them at attractive valuations. In Singapore's short history, there are very few stocks that i can think of which have actually raised their distributions for at least ten consequtive years and may continue to do so for the next ten years. 
Companies like Singtel pay out dividends regularly, and it has increased over the past 11 years. They actually are a bit unpredictible because in 2003 and 2009, there was no increase. While on some years, you would get Special dividends, which is awesome. 
Take away the special dividends and other distributions and just look at Interim/Final dividends over the last 11 years and take the average:

2002 >>> 2013
5.5c >>>> 16.8c (dividends increased average 10.8% annually)
Which is not bad right?

As dividend investors, we should try and avoid unpredictability. I firmly believe that a strong management team which focuses on consistently sharing a portion of the profits with investors in the form of dividends will continue doing so, as long as the business is able to support it. Dividend Ranking website is pretty good to do the research on dividend history:
http://www.dividendsranking.com/index.php

I pulled this one for KeppelCorp from the above website:

There are of course another part of the dividend equation. In Singapore you can invest in REITs or Business trusts which promise you regular dividends (90% payout for REITs). But REITs  are not the same as company stocks. They did not promise an increase in dividends over time, just that 90% of the profits will be payed out, which means if they profit less in the particular year, you get less. Obviously. So there is the risk of unpredictability.

You know i wish investing in dividend stocks could be so easy that you can just buy it  and close your eyes. But you cant do that. Investors need to periodically monitor the financial health of their stocks. It should not be very complicated once you have done initial background research on the business and shareholding structure. Fundamentals of the company do not change overnight. Singtel will most likely be in the telecom business the next 10 or 20 years. Keep an eye out for news related to the particular stock such as mergers and acquisitions, that could prove very profitable or spell disaster in the making.

The bottom line is this: Market fluctuations should not scare intelligent dividend investors, instead it should be used as opportunities to build on your portfolio or trim off some profit. Steep drop in prices for dividend paying stocks provide excellent entry points for long term wealth accumulation. Personal note, Watch out for these in the next crash: Singtel, Singpost KeppelCorp, Jardine related stocks or if interested overseas, Coca cola; Colgate; Procter & Gamble; Exxonmobil; Kimberly Clark; Unilever; Merck & Co; Sanofi Aventis; Eli Lilly; Johnson & Johnson. If you noticed, Healthcare stocks have pretty good dividend payout rates but they are slow growth stocks.  

Genting Singapore 2013

I have a small amount invested in Genting. Currently wondering if it will be good to hold onto or sell and run. Looking at the graph below, I can only conclude one important thing. It has been very fiercely speculated in the past especially since the opening or Resort World Sentosa. One thing is for sure, they have been overbought in the past, they still remain overbought. Technical analysis proves nothing significant as there are no good supporting lines. Performing a Fibo retracement over the longest period available will show that the chart has bounced from the 50% retracement level. It would seem that $1.25 is a strong support price. However, the bottom has not been established for this great bull run. My exit price shall be $1.65 for two main reasons. Dont want to be too greedy and I believe it is in a short term down trend in search for a bottom. 

 

One more bullet for Hyflux

It seems like ages ago when i initially bought Hyflux. It was a rookie mistake; I was trying to catch a falling knife, cut myself and still not recovered fully. Having bought equal amounts at three intervals back in 2011, I have been sitting on my hands  throughout 2012. Still hoping that it will turnaround one day. 

After firing 3 shots, I am running out of bullets to spare for this counter. I only have 1 last shot left. This is a perfect example of how to break up your investments into 4 equal portions. Buy equal amounts at every 25% drop in value. However I could not do this blindly without technical analysis and/or without believing that the company have potential for future growth. Tech analysis will show me how to spend  my last bullet, see below:

From the chart, you can see a beautiful supporting uptrend line since 2001 to now. The question is whether the price now ($1.17) is going to respect this trendline. Since it has bounced twice from hitting this trendline, I can conclude for myself that there is higher chance of bouncing from this trendline once again. My risk of exposure is greatly reduced. My last bullet will lower my buy price to $1.50 region. It has taken me 2.5 years to come to this point. One of my worst performing shares in my portfolio (always been in the red).
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that current price levels seems to be well supported.

ON the positive side: Dividends collected from this counter comes to 4.38% over the last 2 years.(2.1% annually) 
Also things are looking good as they have finished the largest desalination plant in Singapore this year. Perhaps they will get more projects in the Middle East and China. There is one thing i know for sure, water is vital for life, we will face more shortages in water supply in the future. Therefor any company that is in this sector has potential for growth as long as they are well managed and reputable. To me, Hyflux fits the bill.