If you were DBS Bank hunting for valuable takeover target, this would be your laundry list:

1) RHB (1066)

2) Alliance (2488)

3) HL Bank (5819)

4) Public Bank (1295)

5) Maybank (1155)

6) CIMB (1023)

7) Affin (5185)

8) AMBank (1015)

If you are an ordinary poker player looking to get more bang for your buck, this will be your laundry list:

1) Maybank (1155)

2) RHB (1066)

3) HL Bank (5819)

4) Alliance (2488)

5) Affin (5185)

6) Public Bank (1295)

7) AMBank (1015)

8) CIMB (1023)

2024 YTD share performance:

Alliance Bank 44.81%

Affin 42.79%

CIMB 41.1%

AMBank 28.78%

Maybank 17.26%

RHB Bank 17.25%

HL Bank 8.79%

Public Bank 3.27%

Market rumors DBS is acquiring Alliance Bank, and if the DBS/Alliance Bank deal obtains BNM's approval to proceed with negotiations, it could set a new benchmark for valuing the banking sector. For passionate investors in Public Bank, this development will serve as a wake-up call for its premium valuation, as forced mergers engineered by BNM may come sooner rather than later.

Buying stock is the same as buying durian. First and foremost, the pricing must be right and the valuation must be good. Many inexperienced stock analysts value stocks purely based on quantitative metrics like ROA or ROE but failed to thoroughly understand the fact behind the figure as financial ratios were originally invented to diagnose financial health and nothing more. Using financial ratios to look for winning stock is like using a measuring tape to determine the quality of the durian. Remember, the most experienced durian picker will use his nose to smell to find the most juicy Musang King.

Warren Buffett famously said that "only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." So sophisticated billionaire investors such as Quek Leng Chan (郭令灿 ), Chua Ma Yu (蔡傌友), and Peter Lim (林荣福) will look beyond financial information and most likely will strip a company naked like a LEGO game in order to stress test the functionality of the business model.

If cookie-cutter financial ratios were truly magical tools, we wouldn't have seen the financial debacles of companies like Transmile, Perwaja, Aokam, Repco, Idris, Ekran, Silver Bird and Serba Dinamik which caught many inexperienced stock analysts with their pants down. So, it’s wise to view their half-boiled research reports with unrealistic buy-sell recommendations with skepticism. 

In fact, it was talk of the town that even airport cleaners in Subang Airport suspected something amiss with Transmile because the company’s cargo aircraft were grounded more often than not. Yet, garbage in garbage out, relying on those fabricated financial ratios, all stock analysts innocently called it a strong buy, even misled billionaire Robert Kuok into buying the failed company.

Top three rules for the share market:

1) Always ride your winners and cut your losses.

2) Never lose your capital.

3) Invest in what you know.

Listen to what the top fund manager talks about the share market, and out of the top three rules mentioned, financial ratios such as ROA or ROE clearly do not make the top list because investment is not as simple as mathematically 1+1=2, as sometimes it could be zero or else a kindergarten boy can become a fund manager overnight.

According to SC, no person (including 官有缘，陈剑老师，冷眼，夜月投资) can give unlicensed advice without a license from SC (weblink), so you are reading this article at your own discretion, as this article is merely an expression of opinion and nothing more. Just like our grandmom likes to remind us, never take a sweet from a stranger, so it is applicable to whatever you have taken home from i3 forum. If KLCI failed to hold 1580 (as the market will totally meltdown with the return of Trump) and Public Bank failed to hold RM4.40 (the party is over) it is better you do something rather than standing like a deer in headlights.

Disclaimer: the content of this webpage is not an investment advice and does not constitute any offer or solicitation to offer or recommendation of any investment product.