This month marks the turnaround in my portfolio. After the realized loss last month with the sale of First Ship Lease Trust, the remaining counters in my portfolio continued their small rally. With the boost from Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing the psychological barrier of 13,000 since 2008, investors confidence returned to equities and placed the Euro crisis on the sidelines.
This month, Rotary, Soup Restaurant, Wingtai, ST Engineering, FJ Benjamin and UOB Kayhian released their results for the quarter ending December 2011. Amongst these counters, Rotary, Soup Restaurant, Wingtai and UOB Kayhian reported a decline in profits compared to the same quarter year-on-year, due to lower contracts, higher operating costs because of foreign worker levies, property cooling measures that dampened sales and lower trading volume respectively. On the bright note, most of them still pay dividends for the year. Rotary has announced a dividend of $0.0200 per share, Soup Restaurant announced a dividend of $0.00175 and UOB Kayhian announced a dividend of $0.0600 per share, all lower than previous payouts year-on-year, and mostly awaiting confirmation of payout during upcoming annual general meeting.
On the flip side, FJ Benjamin and ST Engineering announced higher profits for the quarter year-on-year. ST Engineering also announced a dividend of $0.1250 per share, an increase compared to last year's declared dividends. In addition, the share price of ST Engineering has also rose back to levels when I first bought it approximately 1 year ago on the back of encouraging earnings report.
Overall, my portfolio has improved tremendously, with total unrealized profits increased by an approximate 72% compared to the previous month. This is one of the best performing months seen in the past few months. However, it seems like consolidation is coming as the rally seems to be losing steam with Dow Jones Industrial Index failing to stay above 13,000 and Straits Time Index failing to stay above 3,000. Hence, I hope the performance in the upcoming month will be flat rather than a drop in unrealized profits.
My Current Portfolio:
Lessons learnt: When good opportunity arises for solid counters, just buy. Waiting will cause the opportunity to pass by and lost. If I really cannot convince myself to buy, then I should turn to dividend counters for long term payouts instead of focusing on capital appreciation.