Feeble defense of Hongcheng

What an interesting forum!Someone launching attack on FA people on huatopedia. Basically, millionairemind is trying to question an assumption held by some- that there is a PE where the stock will not go any lower. The thread is about busting common investing myths - excellent discussion going on there :)He argued that,"If a stock you are looking at has a PE ratio of 6 and growing at a reasonable 10-15% a year, with low debts, would you buy it???...

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Firsts

This weekend had been a fun one for me :)For the first time in my life, I ate durians! I even sent a mass email to my best buddies, asking them if they wanted to see me eat durians for the first time. My maiden voyage, so to speak. Well, don't ask me why I didn't eat durians before. I seriously don't mind the smell (it's quite nice-smelling) but I just didn't eat it before today.Perhaps I've been passing by some durian stalls on my way to work....

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Osim 2Q and SMRT 1Q

Seems like earnings seasons are coming, this means that I have a lot more to do analysing and musing over their results. I'm looking for signs of a general global slowdown due to the subprime fallout (if any). So I'll be looking briefly at results of companies which are of interest to me.1. Osim announced their 2Q08 results.My take:Still losing money but compared to 1Q08, they improved noticeably, with the EPS going from -2.4 cts in 1Q to -1.1 cts in 2Q. To be fair their operating profit margins improved quarter to quarter, from 2.2% in 1Q to...

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New news

Hmm, I realised it's been such a long while since I commented on the market or the announcement which I read daily from sgx website. I haven't commented on such things since I stopped blogging daily. Hoho, to think that I once used to blog daily...where got time now? :)Today, several news caught my eyes as I was roaming through the announcement website.1. Singtel announces the first-in-the-world landmark deal with major US studios, Disney ABC International...

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Liar's Poker and Confessions of a Wall street analyst

A few weeks ago, I was browsing books in the library as usual when two books caught my eyes – Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis and Confessions of a Wall street analyst by Dan Reingold. I thought it was good fortune that had me borrow both books at the same time, because reading these books one after another brought me to a level of insight that reading them individually would not bring.Liar’s Poker is the more famous of the two. It talks about the...

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Dark Knight Review

I must say that Heath Ledger’s passing left a void in the art of villainy that will not be filled for a long time. His masterful portrayal of Joker, the arch-nemesis of Batman, surpasses the good work done by Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s Batman, I dare say. While Jack Nicholson’s Joker is more campy (which is untypical of Tim Burton’s movie), Heath Ledger’s Joker is the pure, psychotic and maniacal force that can stand by its own in the movie.I...

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China milk's annual report

Had a pleasant surprise when I opened my mail box today - China milk's annual report was out :) It felt surprising 'hard' and when I tore open the envelope, I realised that it's hardcover with metal bindings - something like those lecture notes we had back in school days, except that this is super colourful.Like a child who had accidentally wondered into the toy department of a shopping mall, I was bridled with excitement as I flipped through the...

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HSBC - good value?

Just came back from a tiring but fulfilling 2 day event - helping a good friend to organise his wedding. I was aware that indymac had fallen and had been rescued. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also in big trouble over the subprime issues. Today, when I finally stared at my watchlist (my companies didn't fall much), I was surprised to see HK falling over 3-4%. Now that is drastic!Was thinking of whether to add in more HSBC at the current price of...

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Into the pits of Mt.Doom, I threw Yongnam

I sold off Yongnam shares yesterday, taking advantage of the 152 pt rise in DJ the night before to dump out all my holdings. I'm still holding Yongnam warrants still though. Those are really low cost and can be converted to yongnam should the situation becomes more favourable in the future. I'll take my time on those.Irrational storyI woke up in the morning, feeling that I seriously need to trim the weeds of my investment garden. I've always been...

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Personal finance

On the advice of HH, I had started on this detailed tracking of my expenses and cash inflow at the start of this year. At first, the process seems very 'xiong', because everytime I spent a cent (including buying drinks/food and snacks), I'll record it on my handphone. Towards the end of the day, I'll record it on my excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet have all the details broken down into food items, transportation, entertainment, bills, clothings...

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Tuition nation

Recently (okay, not so recent), there is an article on straits times regarding the tuition nation. It's here, for those who wants to read it.The article talks about Singapore having such a high tuition penetration rate, that for every 100 students, there are 97 students have tuition. Ignoring all the sampling biasness and sampling method, it's a whopping 97% tuition penetration rate. This phenomena is exacerbated by the fact that many of these students have multiple tuition, so in fact, we're looking at a penetration rate of more than 100% (if...

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Living life in an uncertain world

There seem to be a healthy discussion about the recent book review which I did, ‘The Black Swan’ by Nassim Nicolas Taleb. I crossed swords with Kennynah on Huatopedia regarding the applicability of normal distribution on everyday occurrences. The comments I received for the review is also very encouraging for me. All in all, a great experience!I promised durio I’ll share the practicality of the things I’ve learnt from the book. I’ll try to put most of the practical advice towards investing and finance, but I stressed that the advice is equally...

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The Black Swan – Nassim Nicolas Taleb

I have fond memories of this author – one of my favourites among the books I’ve read. I was hooked by his style of skeptical empiricism when I was introduced to his first book – ‘Fooled by Randomness’ – by serendipity. The author will be glad that it is through a series of black swan event that lead me to his first book, and consequently, to his second book.Long time ago, my gf went to US for a conference on a paper she submitted. Man, in these...

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