Sunday, February 27, 2011

Vincent Tan to donate half of this wealth

Vincent Tan pledges to donate half of this wealth.

Wow! that's great! May god bless him.

Bill gates and his wife Melinda and Warren Buffett initiated "The Giving Pledge". For Vincent to join them is indeed an honor for Malaysia.

According to Bernama, Vincent has RM2.43 billion, and is ranked the 12th richest man in the nation. Read the full article here.

The catalyst that triggers Vincent to such an adorable act is hard to fathom. An article about it will surely be interesting.

Vincent, by an act of great generosity, has propelled himself to the top in the list of philanthropists in the country.

I hope other tycoons will join *The Giving Pledge" and make the world a better place.

To Bill Gates, Melinda, Warren Buffett and Vincent Tan, I salute you.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Outlook for 12 animals

By Sherry Koh | Jan 13, 2011
Feng Shui 2011: Outlook for 12 animals
Feng Shui master Prof Joe Choo shares the overall outlook for the 12 animals in the Chinese calendar. How will your year be? Find out below!

Rat
Good news for singles − you will have opportunity to meet your life partner this year. Although there are gossips, you have to take it lightly because you know what you are doing. Money luck is strong during the seventh Chinese month and those born in 1948 are the luckiest among all.
Ox
Don’t have to worry over the situation. You have guardian angels with you throughout the year to lift you up and help you solve problems. Those born in 1985, your money luck is exceptionally good; but those born in 1961, you have to watch your health. Don’t overlook it and let it become a serious issue during the first and second Chinese months.
Tiger
This is a lovely year for tigers; a better year than last year. Guardian angels stand by you throughout the year. Money luck is good during the first Chinese month, but after this period, it will be slow. Therefore, you must have a budget plan, especially while you are travelling. Among the tigers, the luckiest is the 1950’s tiger.
Rabbit
You will be given a special task or project to lead. Complete it without expectation of returns, other than words of appreciation. Those born in 1975 and 1963, your career is good and you will do well financially. It is a good year to learn new knowledge or skills and there are opportunities to push you to do it.
Dragon
It is a peaceful year, with no major ups and downs. Dragons of 1976 must take care of health and don’t over-stretch yourself. Your money luck is good during the seventh Chinese month.
Snake
You are very lucky. Guardian angels always show up when you need help. Those born in 1977 will do well in both career and finance. Friends of opposite sex will bring you opportunities. Money luck is good during the third Chinese month.
Horse
The year starts with good news, but you must pace yourself to ensure that your energy lasts throughout the year. Whenever you have problems, remember to go back to your family, as they will give you love and support this year. Those born in 1990 will have travelling luck, but do be careful. You will have extra financial gains in the fourth Chinese month.
Goat
There are guardian angels around to help you, so take up a special job or project and show your ability. Your career line is going upward, not in terms of money, but it will make you happy. Life will be smoother after the fifth Chinese month, so just hold on to what you want to do.
Monkey
Your career is going on an up-curve but not for your finances. Despite this, you will end your year with some celebration. You can avoid financial issues, if you have a plan to follow while you are travelling. Those born in 1968 are going to pick up new knowledge, but do it at your own pace. Your money luck is good in the seventh Chinese month.
Rooster
One after another good news will come to you. You may get a promotion and a good increment. You have guardian angels helping you in the beginning of the year, and in the second half of the year, you will have good financial income.
Dog
Good news for the singles! You have extra financial gain during the fourth Chinese month. Those born in 1958 and 1946, you must take care of your health, especially during the fifth Chinese month.
Pig
It may sound difficult to work and study at the same time, but go ahead and do it. There are plenty of guardian angels to lift you up. This will help to elevate your career to a higher level. For those born in 1947, you must take care while you are travelling in the first Chinese month. Everything will move smoothly after the fourth Chinese month.

Triggers of heart attacks

Air pollution triggers more heart attacks than using cocaine and poses as high a risk of sparking a heart attack as alcohol, coffee and physical exertion, scientists said on Thursday. Read more.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Panic Over Chinese Stocks Just a Matter of Accounting

Panic Over Chinese Stocks Just a Matter of Accounting
Wednesday - November 03, 2010 4:35pm
By Crocker Coulson

FOR CHINA DAILY
The summer of 2010 was a miserable time for investors who favored Chinese stocks listed in the United States markets. Despite generally reporting excellent earnings, smaller Chinese equities were crushed by a wave of scandals, short-selling and suspicion. Major financial journals and investing websites wrote about widespread fraud in Chinese accounting practices.

Previously unknown “analysts” published exposé-style reports insinuating all kinds of wrongdoings, including chairmen who stole money from their shareholders, inflated their revenues and skimmed profits from supplier contracts.

As a result, retail and institutional investors fled these stocks in a panic, driving down valuations to low levels. There is a famous saying that Wall Street knows only two emotions: greed and fear. In this simmering summer of 2010, fears about China burned up investors’ holdings, leaving many high-growth companies in ashes.

What led to this sudden explosion of panic about Chinese companies? It wasn’t the economy. China’s economic growth has trounced every developed country and moved to No 2 GDP position in the world. Instead, a few high-profile accounting scandals and massive restatements by prominent US-listed Chinese companies sparked fear that there was a systemic accounting problem in China.

Bearish market commentators such as James Chanos went so far as to say that China’s entire economy is a fraud, and that the books are cooked at almost every Chinese company his firm has researched, making it a “short seller’s dream”.

In an article entitled Beware This Chinese Export, the financial newspaper Barron’s said US investors should shun investing in any small Chinese companies, showing a systemic bias against companies from the fastest-growing economy on the globe.

These articles were even picked up and repeated in the Chinese media. Suddenly every Chinese company was guilty until proven innocent.

This environment of fear created a playground for short sellers and their cronies, amateur analysts and media, who could concoct almost any allegations based on snippets of information and heavy helpings of speculation.

Even flimsy “short” reports could drive down stocks values by 30 percent to 70 percent overnight, making huge profits for the hedge funds that sponsored these articles.

As a result many fine Chinese companies were sucked into a vortex of attacks from all sides, forced to defend themselves against rampant rumors and whisper campaigns.

What has driven this storm of anti-China sentiment in the US equity markets? Some Chinese companies have had very serious problems, including one whose chairman was sentenced to death for corruption, another which restated its earnings by 50 percent, and third which saw its auditor, audit chairman, CEO and CFO all resign in one day.

Every time there is a major stock meltdown, it drags down the value of all the other Chinese companies. Too many of these explosions, and investors start to think that Chinese accounting is synonymous with fiction.

Many Chinese Companies also filed reports to the local administration for industry and commerce offices that vastly understated their revenues and profits, giving short sellers the chance to claim that they fabricated the figures in their US financial filings.

The accounting oversight board in the US, the PCAOB, has been turning up the heat on smaller audit firms that have “outsourced” their responsibilities to local consultants. And the SEC has launched a number of investigations of Chinese issuers.

If Chinese equities have been a “short sellers dream,” the situation has been a nightmare for Chinese management and for US retail investors, many of whom have lost large parts of their savings due to the unscrupulous market manipulation of these funds and the unbridled China-bashing financial media outlets like Barron’s.

Dozens of shareholder lawsuits have been launched by ambulance-chasing law firms. Many mainland companies that are growing at 25 percent or 100 percent a year are now trading at under seven times this year’s earnings, a huge discount to comparable American companies or mainland companies traded in Hong Kong.

This has even led to talk of a “return to the mainland” in which mainland companies would delist from the US and Hong Kong and try their chances for an A-share IPO on the mainland.

In recent weeks it appears the tide has begun to turn and smaller Chinese stocks have been on a tear, bouncing back from extremely depressed levels. Why?

First, China is just too big to ignore and investors who like growth companies are finding slim pickings in the anemic recovery in North America, Japan and Europe.

Second, private equity funds are now on the prowl to buy out these undervalued companies. Baring Private Equity and Goldman Sachs recently teamed up to snap up the public shares of Nasdaq-listed Harbin Electric at a 20 percent premium to its trading price in a $750 million deal.

Several other such deals are reputedly in discussion stages, showing that big money recognizes the value of Chinese small caps.

Third, Chinese IPOs in the US have been the best-performing stocks in the US markets in the past few months.

But for this rally in China small caps to be sustained, Chinese management will need to raise their game to attract international capital and play on a global stage. Larger, reputable auditors have now become a requirement for many fund managers, who don’t want to be blindsided by the next China stock scandal.

Investors want to see a board of directors that is truly independent and providing constructive oversight to management. Insider transactions and family members in the executive ranks are going to be highly scrutinized.

From this summer of misery, good things will come. The best Chinese companies will raise their standards
of accounting and corporate governance and come out stronger.

Auditors and board members will take their oversight function more seriously.

The weak companies will wither and the strong will flourish. And those who had the nerve to invest
when panic was running wild in the streets will draw a rich harvest from China’s ongoing economic miracle.

Crocker Coulson is the president of CCG Investor Relations, a leading adviser to Chinese mainland companies listed in the US and Hong Kong.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Score Cards Explained

What are Score Cards?
Score Cards are an experiment! The idea is to provide all of the most relevant financial data for a growth stock in a quick overview and to compute an automatic Score based on this data. Our theory is that stocks with a high score (8 or higher) will outperform, and those with a low score (0 or lower) will underperform.

IMPORTANT: The Score is automatically generated, no human input is involved. The Score Cards incl. Score are designed to be a starting point for your own research, not to replace it. There are many decisive factors for the valuation of a growth stock that can not and are not reflected in the Score Cards. There can be company-specific reasons why a stock with a very high score is traing at a very low price.

Investing in microcaps, sub-$5 stocks, OTC/BB or Pink Sheets stocks, generally small capitalized stocks without significant institutional backing and especially also U.S.-listed China small caps always comes with a high degree of risk! You should NEVER invest in a stock based on the Score Cards alone, and if you get interested in a stock with a high Score you must dig deeper into the story yourself, look out for other sources, read the company's SEC filings and look at metrics as liquidity and ownership.

The Score is automatically generated and should not be seen as a recommendation to buy or sell a security. The ratings (Buy, Hold, Sell) that are posted next to the Score are also automatically generated and should be interpreted according to the metrics that are used for calculating the Score only! Based on those metrics alone the system says the stock is rated "Buy" or "Sell", but there are many other metrics that are not based on financial data which always have to be considered before making an investment decision.

How is the Score Generated? Click for details here.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

BioStar Pharma Tech

China is too big to ignore. Its growth has been fantastic, so is its inflation which it has been trying to curb.

In Jan, 2011, its imports have gone up by 50% while its exports have gone up by 38% compared to the corresponding period a year ago. It has now overtaken Japan as the 2nd largest economy in the world as reported in the media.

If you are interested to invest in small-cap Chinese stocks that are listed in the NYSE or Nasdaq, be wary that China is infamously popular for fraudulent accounting. In this respect, you have therefore to be particularly careful. To mitigate this risk, do not invest in any company that has high debt, poor cash flow and low earnings. Another factor worthwhile remembering is that growth is of utmost importance. Without growth, a company is best avoided.

One company that I like is BioStar Pharmaceutical (BSPM). The stock is lasted traded at $2.47.

An excerpt: The Company's most popular product is its Xin Ao Xing Oleanolic Acid Capsule, an over-the-counter ("OTC") medicine for chronic hepatitis B, a disease affecting approximately 10% of the Chinese population. In addition to its hepatitis product, Biostar currently manufactures two broad-based OTC products, two prescription-based pharmaceuticals, one medical device and five health supplements. Read more here.

Ronghua is the CEO of BSPM. He is a member of President Hu Jintao's economic advisory group and a representative of medicine. This is a competitive advantage for the company.

For the first 11 months of 2010, the company has shown tremendous growth. Its rural distribution network has surpassed 9500 locations. Going by the numbers, BSPM is a fast-growth stock, probably among the fastest in China. If there is no hanky-panky in the accounts, this one is worth going after. At $2.47, the PE (ttm) is 6.53, and its forward PE for Dec 31, 2011 is estimated to be 3.17. The company has no debt.

In the stock market, risk is always there. If you want the tiger calves, you have to go into the tiger's den.

Nothing Venture, Nothing Gain.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Terengganu geared for growth

Under the East Coast Economic Region program, the establishment of Kuala Terengganu City Centre will help turn Kuala Terengganu (KT) into a vibrant Heritage Waterfront City and an international tourism gateway to the East Coast. Accordingly to the MB of KT, there are 38 projects approved for implementation under the 9th Malaysia plan. To read more about these developments, click here.
Two companies that stand to benefit from any development in KT are EPIC & TDM which are my favorites for investment in 2011.
At the present price of 2.40 and 3.16 respectively, they are value for money.