4 Stocks This Week (High Volume) [14 Feb 2020] – Medtecs; ThaiBev; KORE; Far East H-Trust

While shoppers in Singapore were rushing to scoop up daily essentials like rice, instant noodles and toilet paper in supermarkets, the ongoing COVID-19 situation have also led to Singapore investors paying closer attention to the markets – buying and selling stocks to better align their portfolios to their investment objectives amid the changing economic climate.

This can be seen from the surge in trading volumes across various sectors in January compared to 3-month average trading volume. These include Healthcare (+120.6%), Materials & Resources (+69.7%) and Financial Services (+58.1%).

Fund flows from institutional investors also increased, with a net buy in January of $302.4 million compared to $291.7 million in December.

For this instalment of 4 Stocks This Week, we will look at 4 counters that had the highest increase in trading activity in January compared to their 3-month average: Medtecs International (178.1%), Thai Beverage (55%), Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT (53.7%) and Far East Hospitality Trust (52.5%).

Read Also: Business Continuity: 3 Things Your Company Can Do During The Coronavirus Outbreak

Medtecs International (SGX: 546)

The Catalist-listed Medtecs International is an original product manufacturer (OPM) for a wide range of healthcare consumables, such as surgical masks, linen, hospital apparel and bandages. The company is also a distributor of medical equipment, including thermometers, blood pressure monitors, wheelchairs and hospital beds.

Headquartered in the Philippines, the company also has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cambodia and Mainland China.

Medtecs International closed this week at $0.113, giving it a market capitalisation of $62.08 million.

Read Also: 4 Stocks This Week (Wuhan Virus Fears) [31 January 2020] – CapitaLand; Sasseur REIT; SIA; SPDR Gold Shares

Thai Beverage (SGX: Y92)

Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) is one of the largest food and beverage companies in Southeast Asia. In addition to distributing beers, other alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages including milk products, the Thailand-headquartered company also operates restaurants, bakeries and owns 252 KFC stores in Thailand, which it acquired in December 2017.

ThaiBev was among the best-performing stocks on the Straits Times Index in 2019, delivering a total return of about 35.5%.

On 13 February, the company announced their acquisition of 35% of the Myanmar-registered International Beverage Trading Company, which is in the business of trading alcoholic beverages in Myanmar, which makes it an indirect associate company of ThaiBev.

The company also released their 1Q2020 financial results this week, in which the company reported a net profit of 9.213 billion Bhat, an increase of 23.2%.

Thai Beverage closed this week at $0.785, giving it a market capitalisation of about $19.72 billion.

Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT (SGX: CMOU)

Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT (KORE), which was previously known as Keppel-KBS US REIT, has a portfolio of 13 freehold office buildings and business campuses across technology-driven growth markets in the United States, including Seattle, Austin, Houston, Denver and Atlanta.

The REIT boasts a diversified tenant pool of more than 460 tenants, with the top 10 tenants contributing only 19.4% of cash rental income.

The largest single unitholder in KORE is Temasek Holdings, which owns about 9.79%, followed by Keppel Capital Investments, which owns about 6.12%.

KORE closed this week at $0.795.

Read Also: Complete Guide To Start Your REITs Investing Journey In Singapore

Far East Hospitality Trust (SGX: Q5T)

Far East Hospitality Trust (Far East H-Trust) is a Singapore-focused hotel and serviced residence hospitality trust, which owns a portfolio of 13 properties (9 hotels and 4 serviced residences) that have a combined value of about $2.65 billion.

These properties held by Far East H-Trust include The Elizabeth Hotel, Village Hotel Bugis, Village Hotel Changi, Oasia Hotel Downtown, Orchard Rendezvous Hotel and The Quincy Hotel.

On 14 February, the REIT released its full year results for 2019. It reported that it generated gross revenue of $28.9 million for 4Q2020, with income available for distribution of $199.8 million, which gives a distribution per stapled security for the quarter of 0.95 cents.

Far East H-Trust closed this week at $0.66.

Read Also: 2019 Novel Coronavirus: 6 Steps To Implement Work-From-Home Programmes For Your Company

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.

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