When valuing banks, I consider only its tangible book value, and how the price compares to it. In the case of CIMB, the tangible book value, at RM4.9, remains the same before and after the write-off.

So, CIMB currently priced at RM5.16, is selling at a slight premium (based on book value methodology). However, historically, it appears like a bargain to me.

If we add the goodwill impairment of RM1.22 bil to net income, the TTM earnings rises to RM0.49, and @12.7 PER, that translates to a TP of RM6.22. Not a bad situation, I think.

@MM78 - While the TTM earnings of BAB is encouraging, the company remains saddled with a huge debt, with an interest coverage of only 2.4.

If we used the TTM earnings and TNB's usual PE of 12, the TP is RM 8.33. So, the share could potentially drop quite a bit. The culprit here is the high debt load -- which has gone up by c.250% between 2016 and 2020. Anyone knows what was it for? If investments, any idea when it would show as increased revenue or earnings? Tks.

I started buying into the stock when it was trading at RM1.x. It is certainly one of the better stocks in my portfolio. I particularly like its rather generous dividend policy. But I sold out (if not mistaken) in 2017, when the price got ahead of its valuation, but took a position again just after the COVID crash. Let's see.

@Newbie0205 - If you are only now thinking of buying into banking stocks, I would suggest you look at RHB and ABMB. Both, in my opinion, are selling at a discount compared to their respective book values. Public Bank is relatively expensive. But, if you are determined to buy Public, I don't think the current price is unreasonable -- at least based on analyst reports released recently.

@supersinginvestor - For banks, I believe, asset-based valuation methods are the best. Now, if we compare the tangible book value of RHB and Maybank, it is RM 5.95 for the former, and RM6.6 for the latter. In that sense, I believe RHB is undervalued compared to Maybank. But then, given Maybank's dominant position in the Malaysian banking landscape, I suppose investors feel Maybank (average PER 12.5) is a safer bet than RHB (average PER 10.5).

Good Q for ARREIT. An EPS of 1.71 cents is quite reassuring. Hope the BOD goes back to redistributing income every quarter, as was the practice before the pandemic.

@Sardin - I really hope you are right. With its rolling 4-quarter EPS at RM0.306, my current TP for the stock is RM2.44 @ PER of 8.

@Sardin - The drop in revenue and profit is quite drastic. We have to go all the way back to 2011 to see a similar performance from Liihen, when its stock was trading around RM1.00. I have been holding Liihen for a while now; sold a large portion of it when it neared RM4.00. But, it has been an awful year for Liihen, looks like.

Thanks, Bang Miskin. Saw this: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/stock-futures-open-to-close-market-news.html

There is a massive 10 - 15% jump in the glove counters today. Any idea what triggered the jump?

@Sardin - Thanks for the information. Looking at the steep decline in revenue, I was apprehensive about the future of the stock.

@freedomfund - if you were a value investor, you'd have bought whenever the price dipped to near or below RM2.00. That's what I did. I first bought ICAP in 2010, when it was trading at around RM2.10. I also bought a couple of months ago when it was slightly over RM2.20. But my overall cost per share is near RM1.90, I think. Not great. But not bad, either.

Plus, many stocks in Bursa are undervalued today. And, given our predilection, we are gravitated towards such stocks and repelled by stocks that are selling at a premium.

Also, let's not forget that the KLCI index itself has not gone anywhere in the last 10 years!

Earlier today, TTB had a lot to say about share buy back. He said share buybacks aren't necessarily good; and to drive home his point, elaborated at length the share buyback strategy of Top Glove (which destroyed value) and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (which managed to narrow the price to nav gap only after buying back shares for over a decade).

I didn't find his arguments convincing, though. Partly because I think Top Glove case is more a study on when not to use the strategy. I wish he had considered another closed-end fund like Gabelli Dividend & Income Trust, which seeks to buy back its own shares whenever the nav-price gap exceeds a certain threshold.

Maybe that should be in the agenda next year -- i.e. a resolution to empower the fund managers to buyback shares whenever the discount exceeds, say, 20%.

That said, I am happy to receive the 20 cents per share dividend. If there were such a thing as free lunch, this is probably it. :-)

In 2020, when the market crashed, the very first stock I invested in was ICAP, mostly because: 1) ICAP has been sitting on cash for years (I am a long-time shareholder), and I thought TTB would've been sufficiently prepared to grab the wonderful companies at deep discount; and 2) I was busy running my own company, making it COVID and MCO proof and stuff, so just didn't have the time to do the needed research. Nonetheless, I did invest in a few -- which, over the course of the last one and a half years, seem to have done better (in terms of stock price appreciation) than ICAP. Strange.

Given the rather stellar Q3, I still wonder why the price dropped so precipitously a few days back, by over 15% in a couple of days!

I have been holding this stock since forever. It pays dividend without fail during good times and bad. Financially, it is debt-free, and its ROIC is > 20%. So, the 10% drop today is quite strange. Could be the ESOS. I don't see any negative news in cyberspace.

Bursa revenue is up, profit is above consensus, but TP is slashed. Funny.

Do we have a similar comparison for a corporate trading account? There are lots of info on individual trading accounts, the cost comparison, pros and cons, etc., but literally none (afaik) on corporate accounts.

I am uncomfortable about the one-off prosperity tax. As it is, there are lots of Malaysian companies that have Beneish M-Score that is too high, suggesting manipulation.

@Bang Miskin - I never invest more than 10% in a single stock. Typically, they are around 5%. As to Genting, I felt it has reached its pre-pandemic price. While it is certainly possible for Genting -- just like Air Asia (which I sold out after it crossed RM1.20) -- to turn around and become super profitable again, I am unnerved by their debt levels. As to Harta, I ask this question: would I buy more if its prices falls, say, 20%? Most likely I would, provided its fundamentals remain intact.

@bang miskin - Today I liquidated all my Genting and bought into Harta. I was hoping to sell Genting at a slightly higher price, but I feel safer sitting on Harta than on Genting today.

This stock is overpriced. While CTOS does control the lion share of the credit rating industry in Malaysia, and enjoys a moat of sorts, is it worth a PER of 66 -- even on a forward basis? We are told it'll potentially grow 46% annually. I find this to be rather fantastic. Consider Bursa. It is a monopoly, with a wide moat. Its PER, however, is only 16. If CTOS is priced like Bursa, it will be trading at around one fourth its current price.

The online version costs RM540 per year. Not cheap, but useful, especially if you have over RM100k invested. I have subscribed to it twice in the last four years. Its alternative is equities tracker, which is around RM2,400 per year!

@Nepo - It's RM 3.93 now, just as you had suggested above. So, ICAP is now selling at 41.5% discount.

I first bought Icap shares in 2010, and kept on adding more every time the price dropped to around RM2 or less. Yesterday, I bought the shares for the first time at around RM2.30. Icap is now selling at 40% discount! I figured even if Icap were to return to its traditional discount rate of 20%, the price would rise to RM3.10.

As to TTB, I find his persistent anti-American vitriol and pro-China obsequiousness tiresome.

Why is the price sliding down continuously? Is it the turnover, or something else entirely? The analyst reports are glowing, with TP north of RM40!

AFAIK, it is TDM's people who have been consistently blaming DAP, and LGE in particular, for not being able to deliver the goodies to the Malay community.