It’s a Wrap: The Top 3 and Bottom 3 Blue-Chip Stocks for July
The Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI), which consists of 30 blue-chip companies, seems to have performed well in the month of July. For the month, the STI increased 3.2% to end at 3,329.5 points on 31 July 2017. Out of the 30 components, 25 were in the green while the rest were in the red.
The table below shows the top three winners of the index (arranged in descending order):
Source: ChartNexus and Google Finance
Provider of modern logistics facilities, Global Logistic Properties Ltd, made public on 14 July 2017 that Nesta Investment Holdings Limited is looking to privatise the company via a scheme of arrangement at a price of S$3.38 per share. This is following a strategic review that took place earlier. The firm added that details of the scheme meeting to be convened will be released in due course.
Port operator, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, released its earnings for the second quarter on 19 July 2017. Performance was dismal as revenue declined 1.5% year-on-year to HK$2.89 billion while net profit tumbled 21.5% to HK$269.1 million. Consequently, distributions were cut by 32%.
The table below shows the top three losers of the index (arranged in ascending order):
Source: ChartNexus and Google Finance
For the first quarter, SIA Engineering Company Limited saw its net profit plunge 81.8% year-on-year to S$36.2 million, mainly due to one-off gains seen in the corresponding quarter a year ago. The firm said that the operating environment in the industry it is operating in is challenging but it will “continue to pursue expansion opportunities for sustainable long-term growth”.
Singapore Press Holdings Limited said on 14 July that its third quarter earnings had dropped 45.2% to S$28.9 million due to impairment charges of S$37.8 million, which mainly related to the magazine business.
The SPDR STI ETF (SGX: ES3), an exchange-traded fund which can be taken as a proxy for the Straits Times Index, was valued at 13 times trailing earnings and had a dividend yield of 3%, as of 31 July 2017.
