My selection of growth stocks ballooned after I decided to venture into US market in the past 2 years. Together with the need to maintain a 50:50 ratio of growth vs dividend stocks in the portfolio, it is inevitable that I need to pare down my growth stock in Singapore.
What did I sell?
I have reduced my stake in Raffles Medical and Food Empire this month, booking a loss of 15% and 17% respectively. Both still occupy a relatively large position in my portfolio at 8% and 5.6% respectively.
I have also trimmed my Valuetronics which was bought for dividend to a position size of 7.5% by selling a small stake for a gain 17%.
What did I buy in Singapore?
The cash has been re-allocated to other counters like ISEC at $0.28, which has announced a good set of results and declared final/special dividend of $0.0176. Excluding $0.0098 special dividend, the trailing dividend is $0.0156 which gives a yield of 5.6% at my average price of $0.279. However, future dividend might not match as the company does not have a formal dividend policy and the dividend declared per year has varied over the past 4 years.
I have also accumulated more Hong Leong Finance at $2.72. This counter was a recent buy at $2.67 last month. It announced a good set of results and declared 10 cents dividend. It’s slightly less than the 11 cents that I was hoping for when I first bought it. Nonetheless, I do think that with a track record of giving out dividend yearly, it is quite likely to sustain a dividend of 11 to 15 cents for the next five years, I will be getting at least an average yield of 4.8% for my average price of $2.71.
I have initiated a position in Far East Hospitality REIT at $0.655. My original intention was to find out how Frasers Hospitality REIT been doing recently but somehow could not remember its name. Ended searching for FEH and read its latest report. I kind of like its portfolio of hotels and its recent development. Yes, the 40% gearing is staring at me but I guess the debt has been put to good use in its recent acquisition of Oasia Hotel Downtown. After some minimal diligence, I decided to go for it and take up a small position.
The final purchase was accumulating more HRnetGroup. It has delivered a good year of results with growth in both revenue and net profit. It has also increased its dividend to $0.028. With a strong balance sheet, possibility good growth in 2019 and 50% dividend payout policy, the current price of $0.795 is a steal for me. Having said that, I would probably limit myself to the current position size of about 4% as it was just listed for about 2 years only.
What did I buy in US?
On the US front, I have used the sales proceed from Arista Networks last month to add another share of Bookings.com, bringing my average price to US$1887. I view the weaker guidance for next quarter as a temporary issue and things should look brighter in time to come.
With hotel purchased, I went on to purchase a ski resort Vail Resorts at US$218. I have a short stint at the resort in 2017 when I was still experimenting the US market. Bought then at US$233 and sold at US$203 after I decided to migrate to FSM One. It has since then hit a high of US$300 before plummeting to below US$200 when it announced a dismal 2019 Q1 results. It made a strong recovery last Friday after announcing a strong Q2 results. I have wanted to buy the counter earlier last week but for one reason or another I missed it. If not, I would be at least 8% up by now. In any case, I think the management has done a good job with the resort and should be able to continue to grow its business in the coming years.
It’s time for food and I took a small bite at Texas Roadhouse which cost me US$60. It has grown its revenue, net profit, free cash flow and dividend for the past 8 years and looks set to continue to do so. Not too sure why the price has retreated recently after its Q4 results but that has allowed me to establish a small position.
Towards Financial Independence 