Tea with Matthew Seah: MSN Money.

SGX have revamped their interface to include some fanciful features for investors. However, I am still not very used to that. MSN Money have also refurbished their website recently to give investors better summaries of companies.

All the key numbers of a company and easy to read charts are provided for investors like me, providing a quick snapshot of a company which is useful before I decide whether to delve deeper into their numbers.

Here are some beautiful screenshots for Mastercard (please click on screenshots to enlarge):

As for companies listed on SGX, MSN Money has also compiled more numbers than SGX although the latter does not have direct access to these (I think). So I guess SGX still has a lot more room for improvement. For now, this will be my preferred choice when screening for potential companies to invest in.

As an example, you can check out Keppel Corp here.

P.S. Matthew Seah does not write about why any company is a good investment choice at any price. Readers should carry out due diligence and verification of information provided themselves. Some other guest blogs by Matthew Seah: 1. Dollar cost averaging and expected returns. 2. POSB Invest Saver Account.
3. Interview with Matthew Seah: Value Investing.

SembCorp Industries: A nibble.

Today, a reader asked if I was interested in SembCorp Industries since I bought into SembCorp Marine recently. Answer? Yes, I am interested and I have been looking at it for a few days.

SembCorp Industries' share price has not suffered as dramatic a decline compared to SembCorp Marine's. I think it would be correct to say that it is less volatile. If we think about it a bit more, this is quite natural since they are a conglomerate and have an interest in other businesses such as utilities which probably helps to cushion their earnings.

Here are some numbers:

Click to enlarge.

So, in line with my effort to increase the proportion of companies in my portfolio which are net cash and which pay consistent dividends, I decided to take a nibble at $5.04 a share as the stock price hit a low of $5.03 today.

With 1H 2014 EPS at 20.1c, expectation for a full year EPS of 40c is reasonable. This gives a PE ratio of 12.6x which seems reasonable. Well, it is definitely more attractive than in July this year when it was trading at a PE ratio of about 13.75x when the stock was about $5.50 a share.

Assuming a dividend per share of 15c, it would give us a dividend yield of 2.98% which doesn't seem as attractive as SembCorp Marine's but I reminded myself that this is based on a lower assumed payout ratio of 37.5% and not 50%.

Could we see the stock price going lower in the near future? We could possibly see $4.99 a share but because momentum oscillators such as the MACD and the CMF did not form lower lows as the stock price formed a lower low, I feel that selling pressure in the near term has somewhat abated.

About SembCorp Industries:
Sembcorp Industries is a leading energy, water and marine group operating across six continents worldwide. With facilities of over 7,200 megawatts of gross power capacity and over eight million cubic metres of water per day in operation and under development, Sembcorp is a trusted provider of essential energy and water solutions to both industrial and municipal customers. It is also a world leader in marine and offshore engineering, as well as an established brand name in urban development. The Group has total assets of over S$14 billion and employs approximately 10,000 employees. 

See Press Release: here.

Related post:
SembCorp Marine: A nibble.