Tuesday 24 June 2014

2014 Dividend Accumulator XIII

Very, very slow on the dividend side of things.

:(

01 Jan $197.14
10 Jan $1.55
05 Feb $7.47
01 Mar $75.00
04 Mar $7.11
01 Apr $23.01
02 Apr $34.97
21 Apr $182.00
30 Apr $105.84
02 May $65.31
18 May $150.00
21 May $500.00
26 May $13.62
24 Jun $38.65

Total Dividends for 2014: $1,388.05
Average per Month: $115.67

Friday 20 June 2014

More On Craftprint International

Did you know when you’re stuck in a stock due to a bad trade decision, you spend more time actually analyzing the fundamentals of the stock? That is one of the key trader pitfalls in Investing 101.

Sadly, that’s happened to me so many times, simply because I don’t have the discipline to research properly all the time. Even when its apparent that the stocks I properly research prior to invest in generally turn out to be my biggest winners.

So the point of all this is to outline why I’m still holding on to pump-and-dump victim, Craftprint International.

After scouring through the internet and reading it’s Annual Report 2013 as well as half year report 2014, I have found reason to keep holding on. Call it confirmation bias or whatever, it’s just such a natural human emotion that it is almost impossible to escape from.

Firstly, I went back to the reason for the phenomenal rise in price of this stock over a mere two month window.
Take a look at the chart beside. That’s how sharp the spike is. The reason for this was the announcement made on 8 May, stating that the company had entered into a subscription agreement with two investors. Read through that announcement. Basically, it looked as though Craftprint International was going to be subject to a Reverse Takeover of sorts, since if the convertible bonds and options were fully converted by these two investors, they would become the majority stakeholders of the company.

A brief calculation puts the enlarged share float to 168 + 280 + 210 + 20 = 678,000,000 shares. This means that whatever the current price of the stock, it will be worth 168/678 in the event of full dilution. Using the current price of approximately $0.080, a full dilution means the price of the stock would only be worth $0.020!!!

The good news is that the conversion and strike price of the bonds and options respectively, have been set at $0.050, so surely the new investors will not allow the price to fall BELOW their investment price right? Hence there is a likely floor price of $0.050, otherwise it will not make sense for the new investors to converted the Call Options. The non-transferrable convertible bonds have been subscribed already (sunken cost by the new investors) at the cost of $0.050/share.

The second reason I’ve found to hold on to this stock is the fact that its books aren't all that bad. While it is a loss-making company (it’s been reporting losses for 5 years now) AND declining annual turnover, the value of it’s property, plant and equipment has been steadily rising (industrial space is shrinking in Singapore).

Based on it’s 2013 annual figures, the company’s Total equity and liabilities stood at about $33mil. This gave it a per share value of $0.190! So there may be more ‘meat’ in this company than what many people think.

It’s share are currently very illiquid (only 15.85% of the float is in the public’s hands as of the last annual report) so it might be a good opportunity to catch any selldown at ridiculous prices (close to $0.050?).

Hope I’m correct on this.

But once again, it’s always true that only when you’re stuck in a stock due to a bad trade decision, do you spend more time actually analyzing the fundamentals of the stock.

HUAT AH!

Saturday 14 June 2014

Craftprint International

When I set out this blog, I really wanted to make sure that I not only documented my winners, but also my losers as well.

And this is a classic case of me being way too greedy for my own good. When the fingers get too itchy and the yearn to earn a quick buck backfires in the worst way. When a moment's lack of concentration and lack of research results in a prolonged period of hurt.

Enter Craftprint International.

This is quite an illiquid counter that basically rocketed from 2c to 20c in the last couple of months. At it's height, a few major shareholders dumped a boatload of shares and it's come down as fast as it went up (maybe even faster!). Where I came in was to catch a falling knife without doing any research. At 10c, I thought it was cheap to buy and therefore got in at a whim, only for the price to plunged even further.

Currently it is hovering around 8c.

If I had done my research properly (like I do with alot of my investments), I would have been able to identify that this is another pump-and-dump scheme. The syndicates basically 'create' some news like an RTO or potential buy-out etc, and drive the price up on big volume so that the retailers get hyped. Retailers who try to short the counter, knowing that there are no fundamentals, get 'killed' by the sheer volume. And syndicates have the time and money to withstand shortists. Once their target price is reached, they dump their shares like no tomorrow. And usually a couple of major shareholders are involved. The biggest case of such a scheme was the ABL saga last October.

So in Craftprint International's case, it was drummed up from rumours of a potential RTO. Then two major shareholders (including the owner) dumped their shares at the high. Now everyone's just catching the bits and pieces.

I really need to learn to be more careful about these counters.

Guess I will have to take this as another expensive lesson.

Plus I'm suspecting Giken Sakata to be of similar ilk.

Be careful out there.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

No Restatement Required By SEC For Prospect Capital (PSEC)

Paydirt!

As reported last night on Seeking Alpha, the SEC has announced that there was no restatement of PSEC's financial statements anymore. This should mean that the stock should bounce back to its original price before the drop ($10.74) or more!

Whoot!

After a few weeks of speculation where I thought there were issues with this whole lawsuit, things have turned out pretty good eventually. Sure glad I picked some up when this stock was down.

Last night PSEC was up 5% to $10.35.

Should head higher soon.

HUAT AH!

Sunday 8 June 2014

Is The USD Dying A Slow Death?

Been reading alot of articles predicting this to happen. The USA is making so many enemies that every other country can't wait to ditch the USD as the world's reserve currency. The latest development is this from Zerohedge.

Basically for many years now, the US government has been borrowing so much money that it has had no choice but to keep printing money (since March 2009) to keep the global cogs running. As things currently stand, it can't go broke as long as it keeps printing money (USD) right? Well, at some stage, the creditors (almost every other country) is going to figure that out. They are going to figure out (if they haven't already) that as more and more USD pours into the financial system, the US government will simultaneously do all in its power to prevent other major powers from valuing its currency too highly against the USD, since that leads to inflation in the US. It will just try its best to make every exchange rate as status quo (as now) as possible. And while some may choose to fight by releasing QE of their own, others are seeking alternatives, like dealing in other currencies.

And that is why, the US stock markets are rallying to new highs every day!

One day, I think, the USD will be but part of a few 'major' currencies accepted worldwide as the reserve standard.

So how?

Well, I believe we retailers need to start shifting our funds into other asset classes. Even holding our funds in SGD is risky because as we know, the MAS currently pegs against a basket of currencies, of which the USD makes up a substantial part of.

IMHO, the best options are: gold, silver, property, RMB, AUD, EUR

Some analysts are actually predicting that gold will hit $5,000 against the USD!

Wow.

Stay safe.

Saturday 7 June 2014

Prospect Capital (PSEC) Drama Update

Following all that drama that PSEC has been facing since that piece of news broke, it is now facing 3 class-action lawsuits. I can't comment too much, but here's a good take on what's been going on.

Another writer from The Motley Fool still thinks its a good opportunity to get in.

A few other analysts have also covered the stock and most have given it BUY ratings.

All in all, along with the comments from alot of investors on Seeking Alpha, there is consensus that PSEC is still a good buying opportunity.

Hopefully can huat from this.

May 2014 Stock Portfolio Breakdown

This comes a wee bit late.

Here's the current portfolio breakdown, to reflect my fear in the rising stock market today. Prices of stocks are going sky-high, volume is decreasing rapidly, and valuations are expensive. Hence I have chosen to hold cash. I have actually let go of quite a few of my regular income producing stocks because I feel that they are starting to look expensive.

42% Growth Stocks
18% Passive Income Stocks
22% Value Investing Stocks
18% Net Cash

As far as having the aggressively overweight portion, it is still present. This stock will hopefully make me rich in time to come.

For country breakdown:

15% US Stocks
85% Singapore Stocks

See last month's stats.