This month marks the start of the new year, with new beginnings. With the mood of optimism in the air due to aversion of the fiscal cliff in US, the recovery of the US and China's economy boosted the Singapore markets to near 5 year high. STI rose to close above 3,250 levels in the month of January, making it one of the best January in history.
All these also helped to boost the performance of my portfolio, where my unrealized profits ended up approximately 74% higher than December 2012. The main contributors are UOB Kayhian, Singpost and Noble, whose values were up by 5.5%, 5.2% and 5.6% respectively for the month. On the flip side, the main dragger is SMRT, whose earnings report showed further downward pressure from higher expenses like labour costs and maintenance costs, despite the slight increase in revenue. In addition, the negative views held by several brokerages and analysts did not help to make things any better, as they forecasted that dividends payout will be further cut in the coming quarters, and at the same time, all prefer Comfortdelgro over SMRT.
Singpost has also released its quarterly earnings report. No surprises, as cost pressures from labour and expenses still remain, with weakening reports of domestic mail. However, the recent acquisitions in the logistic and storage arena showed to be positive moves, as these sectors help to boost the earnings and offset the decline in domestic mail. Dividends remain consistent at $0.0125 per share, which helped to further boost my cash flow for the quarter. Currently the share price seems a little too high, and I believe a correction is inevitable. I hope that I would be able to analyse it technically and with the cash I have, continue to buy more during the correction to further boost my dividend income.
One addition to the portfolio was made this month, as I took the opportunity to buy into Mapletree Commercial Trust after its good earnings report. This is the only Mapletree stock that I have not bought before since IPO, whose assets include its crown jewel, Vivocity. Initially I was thinking that I should buy it after its XD, but after observing the price movement of most REITS nowadays, most REITS continue to move further up even after XD. Hence instead of waiting further, I just made the decision to buy it, which turn out to be a right move after all because within a week, its share price has already advanced by 9.4%! Being one of the more undervalued REIT, I believe it has more room to go, especially with its planned aquisitions which may further boost its dividend yield.
All in all, this month has been great so far. Next up, I will be looking forward to Far East HTrust's first financial report in early February. I believe it will be decent, and it should at least be in line with forecast. If it is better, I hope that will bring about a rise in share price, so that I can sell part of this large holdings to average down the buying price, and make it more sustainable holding it for the long term.
My Current Portfolio:
Lessons learnt: Do not wait for corrections of any kind before you buy a stock which you believe there is value in it. This is because more often than not, the stock would have gone up by another 5% or more, before a mere 2-3% correction sets in. If you buy initially, the correction will not have much of a negative impact on your portfolio. Nonetheless, if you are worried of a huge correction, buy a smaller number of shares first. At least you have owned it. If a huge correction comes, you can buy more to further average down the price. Conversely if it rose further, you won't regret not buying previously and missed out this opportunity altogether.
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