During his National Day Rally Speech on 29 August 2021, PM Lee highlighted the priority of Singapore’s economic recovery. With 8 in 10 Singaporeans fully vaccinated, Singapore is in a good position to tap into the global economic recovery and retain our position as an international business hub.
Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) will also begin on 08 September 2021, welcoming fully vaccinated travellers from specific countries (beginning with Brunei and Germany) without the need for extended quarantine. Travellers from these countries would just need to self-isolate for a single day while awaiting their negative COVID-19 test results. Singapore is also already open, via the Air Travel Pass, to Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China and Taiwan – which also requires self-isolation until they receive their negative COVID-19 test result.
As plans to re-open the economy solidifies, more industries and businesses will stand to benefit. In this week’s edition of 4 Stocks This Week, we look at four stocks that are potential winners from this year’s National Day Rally speech.
Read Also: National Day Rally 2021: 5 Key Announcements That Will Affect Singapore Workers Financially
#1 SIA (SGX: C6L)
The opening of VTLs is a strong signal that leisure travel may finally restart. Currently, the countries on the VTL list are Germany and Brunei, while Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China and Taiwan are on the Air Travel Pass list. As highlighted in PM Lee’s speech, allowing international travel once again is important for Singapore’s economy – enabling us to remain an attractive location as a business hub. Adding more countries to the various travel lanes would also likely be the intention of the Government.
Singapore’s national carrier, SIA (SGX: C6L), stands to benefit from the gradual resumption of travel. Upon the news of VTLs, SIA now has an additional five weekly services between Germany (Frankfurt and Munich) and Singapore and one weekly service between Brunei and Singapore.
After starting the year at $4.26, SIA is currently trading at $5.04, up about 18% for the year.
Read Also: 4 Lessons Investors Can Learn From Investing In SIA In 2020 & 2021
#2 SATS (SGX: S58)
One of Asia’s leading food solutions and gateway services in the aviation industry, SATS is another potential beneficiary of Singapore’s borders re-opening. Based on its 1Q FY2021 results, about 87% of its revenue was generated locally.
The Government has been supporting the resumption of air travel with the recent reopening of terminals 1, 3 as well as the announcement of VTLs. As Singapore’s and Asia’s air-travel sector gradually reopens, SATS will likely see an uptick in its business.
The company’s share price closed at $4.05 this week, about 2.3% higher in the year-to-date 2021.
#3 Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM)
A name that PM Lee (and the rest of us) have gotten very familiar with in the past two years or so, Zoom proliferated in a global shift to work-from-home. Zoom offers HD video conferencing which include webinars and rooms capabilities. Ever since the start of the pandemic, Zoom has become indispensable as both individuals and businesses try to remain interconnected.
Zoom’s video conferencing capabilities were also tapped on during the National Day Rally as it helped to power the virtual audiences who could not join the live event due to safe distancing measures. During the speech, PM Lee also mentioned that Zoom will open its first Southeast Asia R&D centre right here in Singapore. This move underscores Singapore’s attractiveness as a technology hub in the region and helps to provide more job opportunities for locals.
Since the start of 2020 (i.e. before COVID-19 sprang), Zoom’s share price has risen nearly 343% to US$298.29, giving it a total market capitalisation of over US$88 billion.
#4 Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)
A leading pharmaceutical company, its Comirnaty vaccine (produced in partnership with BioNTech) was the world’s first WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccine. With an efficacy rate of 91%, Comirnaty is one of the only two vaccines currently approved under Singapore’s Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR) and has also been recently approved by the U.S Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
This vaccine has been essential in preventing individuals from contracting COVID-19 and reducing the fatality of the virus. It has also played a major role in vaccinating close to 80% of Singapore’s population, thus helping Singapore’s efforts to open her economy safely too.
Currently, booster vaccine shots are already starting to roll out for seniors and immunocompromised persons. The vaccine from Pfizer will continue to remain an essential component in combating and keeping the pandemic at bay on a global scale.
This week, Pfizer’s share price closed at US$46.84 on NYSE, with a market capitalisation of US$262.61 billion. Since January 2020, Pfizer’s share price has risen more than 27%.
Read also: COVID-19 Vaccinations: Which Vaccines Are Allowed And How Much Do They Cost
4 Stocks This Week is not a recommendation from us to buy or sell any of these stocks. For investors who are keen to find out more, you should continue researching about them before making your investment decisions.
Advertiser Message
Dive Into The Latest Market Updates And Research Reports
With over 25,000 subscribers, SGX Invest Telegram channel has expanded since 2020 to bring you more than just market insights, updates on sector and stock performances, plus all the happenings in Singapore's securities market, tailored for individual investors like you.
