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11 undervalued stocks in Singapore (March 2024)

SG

Written by:

Yen Yee

There are 635 stocks listed on the Singapore exchange. I’ve limited the dataset to the Straits Times Index (STI) constituent stocks, then use the SGX Stock Screener to filter for those with a Price-to-Book (PB) ratio of less than 1 which means that they are trading below their net asset value.

Would we be able to find undervalued blue chip stocks in the Singapore market today? Well as of 4 March 2024, here are the 11 undervalued stocks in Singapore we’ve identified, here they are:

11 undervalued stocks in Singapore (March 2024)

NameTickerMarket Cap (B)Price / BookDividend YieldP/E RatioIndustry
Hongkong Land Holdings LimitedH787,1490.226.80%Real Estate Management & Development
Jardine Matheson Holdings LimitedJ3611,6940.45.40%23.53Industrial Conglomerates
UOL Group LimitedU143,6030.443.50%6.84Real Estate Management & Development
City Developments LimitedC093,8470.562.10%16.29Real Estate Management & Development
Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial TrustN2IU5,1600.746.70%19.57Retail REITs
Wilmar International LimitedF3415,4700.775.10%10.14Food Products
Seatrium LimitedS514,8230.79nilMachinery
Frasers Logistics & Commercial TrustBUOU2,8700.886.80%Industrial REITs
Jardine Cycle & Carriage LimitedC077,3530.916.30%6.05Industrial Conglomerates
CapitaLand Investment Limited9CI10,2410.964.40%76.03Real Estate Management & Development
Mapletree Logistics TrustM44U5,4200.973.40%13.7Industrial REITs

1. Hongkong Land (H78): P/B 0.22

Hongkong Land is a property investment, development and management group and is considered one of the property blue chip stocks in Singapore.

As its name suggests, most of its portfolio is concentrated in Hong Kong (57%). In Singapore, Hongkong Land owns part of the Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) properties. Their portfolio of investment properties are primarily office and retail properties, and recently made our list of Singapore Blue Chip stocks with Moats.

However, Hongkong Land continues to struggle due to its exposure to Hong Kong and China properties. Hong Kong’s investment properties are still struggling to recover while the China property market debt crisis has yet to be resolved.

That said, Hongkong Land has continued to pay out dividends even through the tough times. At the point of update, its dividend yield is about 6.8%.

Hongkong Land’s P/B is currently at 0.22, making it the most undervalued stock on this list. This is also lower than its historical average of 0.3 and its industry P/B of 0.4.

2. Jardine Matheson Holdings (J36): P/B 0.4

Jardine Matheson (JDM) is a conglomerate with a diverse range of businesses under its umbrella, with a hand in sectors ranging from property to retail and even heavy machinery and construction. 

Given JDM’s complex business and size, Alvin had ranked it as “JOMO” in his Singapore Blue Chip Stocks ranking video.

It holds 75% of Jardine C&C, 52% of Hongkong Land and many more.

JDM has continued paying out dividends through the dark pandemic years and at the point of update, its dividend yield is about 5.4%.

Jardine Matheson is trading at a P/B of 0.4 at the point of update which is below its historical P/B of 0.8 and its industry average of 0.9 which suggests that it might be undervalued.

Please keep in mind that JMD’s business is cyclical, such stocks are not that suitable for holding long term. Instead, you might want to rely on its momentum and consult related technical indicators if you wish to ride JDM’s price action.

3. UOL (U14): P/B 0.44

UOL is a real estate management company with an extensive portfolio of development and investment properties.

Business hasn’t been smooth for UOL. It had reported a -16% in revenue, -24% in profits and -20% in EPS for FY2023. Its property development arm was the key segment that was holding its revenue down, which could be due to the lower number of projects in the preceding years. 

The management notes that the macroeconomic environment could continue to provide headwinds to the company’s business. They expect a slow down in their Residential and Office segments while the Retail and Hospitality segments are likely to prosper in the coming year.

At the point of update, UOL’s dividend yield is about 3.5%. Its current P/B of 0.44 is lower than its historical P/B of 0.7.

4. City Developments (C09): P/B 0.56

City Developments Limited (CDL) is a real estate operating company with a diverse property portfolio of residential, commercial and hotel properties (M social and Millennium hotel brands) located worldwide.

They are involved in property development, asset management and hotel operations. CDL also owns ~ 50% of iREIT Global which has a portfolio of commercial and retail properties across Europe.

CDL reported a record revenue of $4.9B in FY2023 but net profit for FY2023 had declined significantly from FY22’s $1.3B to a mere $317.3m. High financing costs in 2023 was the main culprit for the poor profits.

CDL has several launches in its pipeline with about 1800 units scheduled for launch in 2024. However, the company’s capital management remains worrisome with net gearing at 103% and average borrowing cost at 4.3%. It would be prudent to keep an eye on how CDL manages their debt in 2024.

As of the current update, City Dev is currently trading at a P/B of 0.56. Compared to its historical P/B of 0.8 and their industry sector’s P/B of 0.8, City Dev seems to be undervalued. 

5. Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust (N2IU): P/B 0.74

Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust (MPACT) is the renamed entity after Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) acquired and merged with Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust on 3 Aug 2022.

Following the merger, MPACT now has 18 properties across five key gateway markets of Asia – five in Singapore, one in Hong Kong, two in China, nine in Japan and one in South Korea. We covered the merger here.

While MPACT is currently undervalued (based on its Price/book), it has delivered outstanding results over the last 10 years. Alvin shares hisdeep dive into SREIT performance here.

Although its Singapore portfolio did well, MPACT’s performance is being held back by its China portfolio and this trend will likely continue for the near future. You’ll need to be comfortable knowing that the China property market may not perform as well, especially in the short term.

The REIT has taken measures to defend against headwinds. It has increased its fixed rate debt from 78.3% in 2022 to the current 85%. However, its Aggregate Leverage Ratio remains at 40.8% and adjusted Interest Coverage Ratio has lowered to 3x (from 3.8x last year).

On the dividend yield front, MPACT is currently yielding 6.7% (at the point of writing):

As of the current update, MPACT is currently trading at a P/B of 0.74. Compared to its historical P/B of 1.3, MPACT seems to be underpriced currently.

6. Wilmar International Limited (F34): P/B 0.77

Wilmar International is a consumer goods and commodity conglomerate involved in the entire supply chain. Some of its business processes include the cultivation of palm oil and sugarcane, distribution of consumer food products as well as processing and distribution of animal feeds and industrial agri-products like biodiesel. 

2023 was a difficult year for the company with revenue and profits down by -8.5% and -36.5% respectively.

This was attributed to lower earnings across all segments, with Food Products being the biggest loser. These lowered earnings were despite higher sales volume, mostly due to the softening of commodity prices.

That said, Wilmar has been paying dividends since 2013. At the point of writing, its dividend yield is about 5.1%.

At the current update, Wilmar International is currently trading at a P/B of 0.77, which is lower than its historical P/B of 1.

7. Seatrium (S51): P/B 0.79

After Sembcorp Marine merged with Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), it announced a rename to “Seatrium” on 27 April 2023, to better reflect its business and aspiration to be a premier global player. 

While Keppel Corporation investors rejoiced at the spin off of the floundering O&M arm, Sembcorp Marine investors had little to celebrate. After all, both Sembcorp Marine and Keppel O&M were struggling due to the downturn in the offshore and marine sector.

Seatrium is currently trading at a P/B of 0.79, which is lower than its historical P/B of 1, making it slightly undervalued.

However, the outlook for Seatrium remains weak with analysts not anticipating any profits from the company in 2024. The company had reported a loss in 3Q23 and widened their loss in FY23 to $1.9B. The poor performance coupled with a weak macroeconomy, challenges in its offshore wind business segment seem to be holding the company back.

While the loss seems huge, the numbers are looking rather interesting:

Revenue is up 274% from FY22 while the net loss is down to $28M from FY22’s $141M. Net Current Assets are also up while Net Gearing Ratio is down.

That said, Seatrium is still finding its feet after the merger in 2022, hence we should expect more turbulence in the coming year.

8. Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (BUOU): P/B 0.88

Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (FLCT) is a REIT that gives you exposure to a portfolio of 105 industrial and commercial properties valued at ~S$6.5 billion across five major developed markets.

As of FLCT’s latest business update, they have maintained a healthy aggregate leverage at 30.2% and 77.2% of their borrowings were made at fixed rates. 

FLCT had reported a FY23 DPU of 7.04 cents, which is down 7.6% from FY22. It is currently trading at a P/B of 0.88. Compared to its historical P/B of 1.2 and their industry sector’s P/B of 0.8, FLCT appears to be slightly undervalued. 

Although 2024 began with hopes that interest rates will recover, as of the latest Fed meeting, it seems headwinds might continue to haunt REITs for a little while longer. If you’re a REIT investor, here’s what you must know about the state of S-REITs now.

9. Jardine Cycle & Carriage (C07): P/B 0.91

Jardine Cycle & Carriage is a highly diversified business despite being known as an automobile company. You can learn more about their business in our Jardine C&C stock analysis here.

The company reported a 3% growth in revenue and 64% growth in net profit for FY23, as compared to the year before. While its Indonesian business group, Astra grew by 21%, its Vietnam business THACO saw a significant drop of 57%. The management has noted that THACO may continue to lag in performance in the coming year.

Costs was also up significantly in FY23, eating into their profits.

The management has also warned of a challenging year ahead due to lowered commodity prices.

At the point of update, Jardine C&C’s dividend yield is about 6.3% and it is trading at a P/B of 0.91. Compared to its historical P/B of 0.9, it looks overvalued. However, you might want to note that their industry sector’s P/B is about 0.7.

10. CapitaLand Investment Limited (9CI): P/B 0.96

CapitaLand Investment (CLI) is a REIT with a longstanding history. It underwent a major restructure and the new CLI which includes the fund management and lodging business segments was listed as 9CI in 2021. 

As with most REITs, CLI didn’t have a stellar 2023 due to macroeconomic headwinds. Cash profits are down 6% in FY2023 while total profits are down 79% due to non-cash fair value losses, mostly due to the revaluation of properties in China and USA.

However, CLI’s capital and debt management remains healthy. The management is also on track to shifting the business towards recurring fee income through the fund management arm. 

As of the current update, Capitaland Investment is currently trading at a P/B of 0.96. While that makes CLI look undervalued, if we were to compare against its industry sector’s P/B of 0.8, CLI remains overvalued against its peers.

That said, CLI is a REIT that rarely trades below or close to a P/B of 1, so this might be a good time to take a deeper look into this REIT as well.

11. Mapletree Logistics Trust (M44U): P/B 0.99

Mapletree Logistics Trust offers exposure to logistics real estate across Asia. At the point of writing, its portfolio is valued at S$13.3B with an occupancy of 95.9% at a weighted average lease expiry of about 2.9 years.

In its latest earnings, MLT reported a growth in Gross Revenue of 2.1%. However, with over 30% of its portfolio in China and Hong Kong, investors may not be confident that the REIT can contain any losses from the poor real estate market sentiment in those areas.

As of the current update, Mapletree Logistics Trust is currently trading at a P/B of 0.99. Compared to its historical P/B of 1.2 and their industry sector’s P/B of 0.8, MLT seems to be slightly undervalued.

MLT rarely trades below a P/B of 1, so this might be a good time to take a deeper look into this REIT if you’d like to load up on some REITs in 2024.

Despite its current valuation, MLT was one of only three S-REITs that increased their dividend payout in 2023. The REIT also made our list of top 10 Blue Chip Stocks with consistent payout!

Conclusion

I’ve listed 11 undervalued stocks in Singapore for March 2024, based on their Price-to-Book ratio and I hope this article gave you some investing ideas to research into. 

Also, please keep in mind that although PB may be a good primary filter of undervalued stocks, you should do your own deeper research into the fundamentals and performance of any stock that you wish to invest in.

If you’re not sure how to start, refer to our value investing guide, or join Alvin at his upcoming webinar where you’ll learn how you can pick undervalued stocks using Dr Wealth’s i3 investing strategy.

Categories SG

5 thoughts on “11 undervalued stocks in Singapore (March 2024)”

    • Hey there, the P/B value may be different depending on how it is calculated. I’m using the SGX stock screener to quickly screen for these stocks as a 1st pass. They calculate the P/B using the Current Price divided by the latest interim period Book Value per share.

      Reply
  1. Hi, Thanks for the sharing! MPAT seems trading at an interesting price level! NAV 1.759, Gearing is 40.9% a little bit high in my opinion! Yearly dividend is about 9 cents, yield is 5.5% based on current price of 1.63.

    Reply
  2. “As of the current update, Capitaland Investment is currently trading at a P/B of 0.96. Compared to its industry sector’s P/B of 0.8, CLI seems to be slightly undervalued.

    CLI is another REIT that rarely trades below or close to a P/B of 1, so this might be a good time to take a deeper look into this REIT as well.”

    CLI is not a REIT per se, more like a management company. Also, if the P/B is 0.96 and the industry sector’s P/B is 0.8, wouldn’t CLI be overvalued compared to the industry average?

    Reply

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