Markets are volatile and earnings are likely to sink. Nobody knows when the economy will return to normal. How can we approach investing during COVID-19?
“Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.”
Jeremy Siegel, Stocks for the Long Run
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown markets into a frenzy. The month of March was likely the most volatile period in stock market history. Traders were zig-zagging in and out of the markets, causing daily swings of up to 10% in the S&P 500.
COVID-19 is indeed a black swan event. No one really knows what will happen and how the market will pan out in the short-term. With so much uncertainty, what should long-term investors do now?
Focus on things that you can predict
There are many things we can’t predict in the stock market. But investing is not about accurately predicting everything that will affect stock prices. Instead, it’s about focusing on stuff that you can predict. It’s about investing in companies that are likely to succeed in the long-term.
Terry Smith is the founder of Fundsmith, the manager of the UK’s largest fund, Fundsmith Equity Fund. Here’s what Smith wrote in a recent letter to his investors:
“What will emerge from the current apocalyptic state? How many of us will become sick or worse? When will we be allowed out again? Will we travel as much as we have in the past? Will the extreme measures taken by governments to maintain the economy lead to inflation? I haven’t a clue. Rather like some of the companies we most admire, I try to spend very little time considering matters which I can neither predict nor control and focus instead on those which I can affect.”
Don’t forget that the stock market is the best place to invest for the long term
In times such as this, it is easy to forget that the stock market is actually the best place to invest your money for long-term returns.
According to data from NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran, US stocks have outperformed bonds and cash by a wide margin over the long run. From 1928 to 2019, US stocks produced an annual return of 9.7%, while bonds (10-year treasuries) had a 4.9% return per year.
In a recent video, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner shared:
“From day one, when we started the Motley Fool 27 years ago, we said three things. Number one, the stock market is the best place to be for your long-term money. Number two, the stock market tends to rise 9 to 10% a year. That includes every bad week, quarter, month, year, bear market… and number three, make sure that you are invested in a way that you can sleep well at night.”
Don’t try to time the bottom
One of the most-asked questions among investors today is “Have we reached the bottom?”
I think that nobody really knows the answer to that. But it should not stop us from investing.
If you insist on only buying at the trough, you might miss a few good opportunities. In fact, I’ve heard of stories of investors who planned to enter the market at the bottom but missed out when their preferred-bottom never came. As stocks rose and got more expensive, they couldn’t bring themselves to buy and missed out on years of gains.
Billionaire investor Howard Marks mentioned in his latest memo:
“The old saying goes, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Likewise, waiting for the bottom can keep investors from making good purchases. The investor’s goal should be to make a large number of good buys, not just a few perfect ones.”
But remember to pick the right stocks
If you intend to invest in individual companies rather than an index-tracking fund, then it is important to remember that not all companies are created equal.
The well-followed S&P 500 index in the US has risen steadily over the long-term but a lot of its return can be attributed to only a handful of outperforming companies.
In fact, my blogging partner Ser Jing reported an interesting statistic in an earlier article. He wrote:
“ A 2014 study by JP Morgan showed that 40% of all stocks that were part of the Russell 3000 index in the US since 1980 produced negative returns across their entire lifetime.”
That’s an astounding statistic and goes to show that simply investing in any random stock will not guarantee you positive returns, even if you hold for the long run.
Picking the right companies is as important as choosing the right asset class to invest in. It is perhaps even more important for times such as today, where poorly-managed companies with weak balance sheets are fighting for their survival. As Warren Buffett once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”
Stay calm and keep investing…
It is an understatement that markets are volatile. We are also likely going to see sharp drops in earnings from many companies in the next few quarters. Already Starbucks has guided for a 46% fall in earnings for the first quarter of 2020 and I expect to see many more companies reporting similar if not worse figures than this.
However, over the long-term, I expect earnings for well-run companies to return and for life to eventually return to normal.
Instead of focusing on the next few quarter results, I am keeping my eye on long-term results and which companies can survive the current economic standstill.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
Company earnings in the US are expected to fall drastically. Shouldn’t the S&P 500’s price go much lower then? Not if earnings normalise in the future.
Some investors may be wondering why stocks have not fallen more. The S&P 500 in the US has rebounded sharply in recent days and is now down by just 15% year-to-date.
Yet US companies are expected to see their earnings decline much more than 15% in the next few quarters. This will make their price-to-earnings ratios seem disproportionately higher than they were last year.
So why is there this gap between stock prices and earnings?
Discounted cash flow
The answer is that stock prices are not a reflection of a single year of earnings. Instead, it is the accumulation of the future free cash flow or earnings that a company will produce over its entire lifetime discounted back to today.
This economic concept is known as the discounted cash flow model. Investor Ben Carlson wrote a brilliant article on this recently.
For example, let’s assume Company ABC is expected to earn $10 per share per year for the next 10 years. After discounting future cash flows back to the present day, at an 8% discount rate, the company’s shares are worth $67.10.
But let’s assume that because of the COVID-19 crisis, ABC’s earnings in the first year is wiped out. But it still can generate $10 a year in the remaining nine years after that. Using the discounted cash flow model, ABC’s shares are still worth $57.84
Despite a 100% decline in earnings in the coming year, ABC’s share price is worth just 14% less.
Other bad case scenarios
There are worse scenarios that can play out, but as long as a company’s long term future cash flow or earnings remains somewhat stable, its share price should not fall as much as its near-term earnings.
For instance, let’s assume that instead of earning $10 per share in the coming year, Company ABC now makes a loss of $10 per share. But in year 2 onwards, business returns to normal and it can generate its usual $10 per share for the next nine years. In this case, Company ABC’s shares are now worth $48.58, or 28% less than before.
Let’s make the situation worse. Let’s assume Company ABC has a $10 per share loss in year 1 and has zero cash flow in year 2. Let’s also assume that business only returns to normal in year 3. Its shares, in this case, are still worth $40.01, a 40% decline.
History shows that stocks fall less than earnings
This is the reason why stocks tend to fall far less than short-term earnings declines. We can look at the Great Financial Crisis as a reference.
According to data from Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller, the S&P 500’s earnings per share fell 77.5% from $81.51 in 2007 to $18.31 in 2008.
But the price fell much less. The S&P 500 closed at 1520.71 in July 2007 and reached a low of 757.13 in March of 2009. That translated to a 50% decline in stock prices.
Simply put, a 77.5% decline in earnings translated to ‘only’ a 50% decline in stock price.
Not only did the S&P 500’s price fall much less than earnings, but the subsequent years have also shown that stocks may have fallen too low. Investors who bought in at the troughs of 2009 enjoyed better-than-normal returns over the next 10-plus years.
Assuming stock prices fall in tandem with one-year forward earnings is short-sighted and does not take into account all the future cash flows of a company.
Last words on the price-to-earnings ratio
I guess the takeaway for this post is that you should not be scared off stocks by the high price-to-earnings ratio of companies that will likely appear in the coming months (a high price-to-earnings ratio because of a large decline in earnings but less drastic fall in share price).
The fall in earnings, if only temporary, should logically only cause a small decline in the value of the company, especially if it can continue to make profits consistently over the extended future.
It is natural that the PE ratio will be high if a company’s earnings disappear in the coming year. But the disappearance of the earnings could be temporary. When COVID-19 blows over, some companies – not all – will see business resume.
For now, the PE ratio is a useless metric as earnings are battered down temporarily, making the figure appear disproportionately high. We should instead focus on normalised earnings and whether a company can continue to generate free cash flow in the future.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
The best articles we’ve read in recent times on a wide range of topics, including investing, business, and the world in general.
We’ve constantly been sharing a list of our recent reads in our weekly emails for The Good Investors.
Do subscribe for our weekly updates through the orange box in the blog (it’s on the side if you’re using a computer, and all the way at the bottom if you’re using mobile) – it’s free!
But since our readership-audience for The Good Investors is wider than our subscriber base, we think sharing the reading list regularly on the blog itself can benefit even more people. The articles we share touch on a wide range of topics, including investing, business, and the world in general.
Here are the articles for the week ending 12 April 2020:
1.Message from Ser Jing’s friend
Last week, Ser Jing’s friend shared a list of wholesome activities we can all do to add more meaning to our lives during this difficult Circuit Breaker period. It bears repeating:
– Picking up a book that you have been wanting to read – Taking this period of time to rest and re-calibrate yourself – Spending quality time and doing stuffs for your loved ones – Taking up online courses. Think Coursera and etc – Starting up your own side line business – Developing a new skill or hobby – Practicing meditation, yoga and journalism to master your inner thoughts and emotions (Ser Jing meditates regularly) – Spending some time alone in nature – Getting in touch with your friends – Spend time reflecting
“Although they knew about the flu and did what they could to prevent it from coming, it arrived anyway,” says Katherine Ringsmuth. “The disease struck so quickly, most people didn’t have a chance to respond.” A fall in salmon stocks may have ultimately helped the Egegak village. “It was a terrible year for salmon as they had been producing so much canned salmon for the war effort in Europe, it caused the fish numbers to decline.
“It might have meant no one had any reason to visit the area. It was just chance.”
Survival, it seems, can sometimes come down to blind luck.
Covid-19 has separated workers into two clearly defined buckets: Those who can work from home and those who can’t.
You can break it out further into those who work for companies that can do business online and those that can’t.
In human terms, there are now flight attendants and waiters whose careers vanished overnight, and lawyers/bankers/consultants/programers who continue earning their nice salaries and benefits while in their pajamas.
That’s generalizing. There are exceptions on both sides. But it’s directionally accurate. And it’s a big deal because a key income inequality characteristic over the last three decades has been the disparity between those who work with their hands and those who work with their heads. That trend just sped up exponentially.
Ser Jing here: Fundsmith is one of the best fund management companies I know of. Its founder, CEO, and CIO (chief investment officer), Terry Smith, is one of the best fund managers I know of. In late February 2020, Fundsmith held its annual shareholders’ meeting for the investors in its funds. Smith gave a presentation and answered questions from his investors together with his team. The entire meeting was recorded on video and it is 1 hour and 30 minutes of pure investing goodness. One of my favourite parts of the video is when Smith talked about investing during recessions and the current COVID-19 crisis (watch from 34:20 onwards).
Said another way — if stocks don’t have the risk of a Great Depression-like crash on the table, does that mean expected returns should be lower going forward?
Looking at valuations over the long-term, you could make the case that the market has been pricing this in for some time now. Robert Shiller has pieced together U.S. market data going back to 1871 to calculate his cyclically-adjusted price-to-earnings ratio.
This valuation measure is far from perfect but it is telling to see how the averages have changed over time:
There is an obvious upward move in the average over time. There are a number of explanations for this increase — interest rates and inflation have fallen over time, accounting rules have changed on corporate earnings, the underlying structure of the market has changed (think more tech companies), the U.S. economy and markets are more mature, etc.
But another reason for this is the Fed now plays a larger role in the economy and management of the financial system, and thus, financial assets. If the stock market is “safer” over time, in that the Fed will do its best to smooth economic cycles, it would make sense that valuations should rise over time.
At least I didn’t commit what Mr. Murtha considers the most serious error, which is to sell into a steep decline. “That’s where people really get hurt,” he said. “Once you’re out, the emotional leverage works against you. Either the market drops further, which confirms your fear. Or it goes up, and you don’t want to buy after you just sold. Then it gets further and further away from you. People don’t realize how hard it is to get back in.”
The old saying goes, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Likewise, waiting for the bottom can keep investors from making good purchases. The investor’s goal should be to make a large number of good buys, not just a few perfect ones. Think about your normal behavior. Before every purchase, do you insist on being sure the thing in question will never be available lower? That is, that you’re buying at the bottom? I doubt it. You probably buy because you think you’re getting a good asset at an attractive price. Isn’t that enough? And I trust you sell because you think the selling price is adequate or more, not because you’re convinced the price can never go higher. To insist on buying only at bottoms and selling only at tops would be paralyzing…
…The bottom line for me is that I’m not at all troubled saying (a) markets may well be considerably lower sometime in the coming months and (b) we’re buying today when we find good value. I don’t find these statements inconsistent.
Disclaimer:The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
Blindly following famous investors is incredibly dangerous. “I’m buying because Warren Buffett is buying” is not a valid investment thesis.
Financial markets all over the world have been in a state of turmoil in recent weeks because of the COVID-19 crisis. In uncertain times like these, you may look up to famous investors to emulate their actions. That’s understandable. After all, following authoritative figures can provide a sense of security.
But I’m here to tell you that following famous investors blindlyis incredibly dangerous.
Blind faith
A few weeks ago, I recorded a video chat with Reshveen Rajendran. During our conversation, Resh shared the story of his friend’s investment in Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), an oil & gas company. Resh’s friend had invested in Occidental’s shares at around US$40 each, only to see the share price fall sharply. At the time of recording, Occidental’s share price was around US$16 (it is around US$14 now). Resh’s friend did not know what to do with his/her Occidental investment.
After we finished recording, I had a further discussion with Resh. I thought there could be a really good educational element in the story of his friend’s investment in Occidental.
I found out that the friend’s investment thesis for Occidental was to simply follow Warren Buffett. But here’s the thing: Buffett’s investment in Occidental is radically different from what we as individual investors can participate in.
Buffett’s bet
In August 2019, Buffett invested in Occidental through his investment conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B). What Buffett bought was US$10 billion worth of preferred shares in Occidental. He wanted to provide Occidental with capital to finance its planned US$38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, a peer in the oil & gas industry.
Occidental’s preferred shares that Buffett invested in are not publicly-traded. So individual investors like you and I can’t invest in them. The preferred shares come with an 8% annual dividend that Occidental is obliged to pay until they are redeemed; the dividend means that Occidental has to pay Berkshire US$800 million every year (8% of Berkshire’s US$10 billion investment) in perpetuity or until redemption of the preferred shares happen. Occidental has the option to redeem the preferred shares at US$10.5 billion any time after August 2029. In other words, Berkshire is guaranteed to make a return of at least 8% per year from its Occidental preferred shares as long as the oil & gas company does not go bust.
Investing in Occidental’s preferred shares the way that Buffett did is very different from buying Occidental shares in the stock market. The normal Occidental shares we can purchase (technically known as common shares or ordinary shares) don’t come with any dividend-guarantees. Occidental is also not obliged to redeem our shares at a small premium to what we paid. If we buy Occidental shares, how well our investment will do over a multi-year period will depend solely on the business performance of the company. Buffett’s investment in the preferred shares comes with protection that we can’t get with the ordinary shares.
No cover
To the point about protection, consider the following. In March 2020, Occidental slashed the quarterly dividend on its ordinary shares by 86% – from US$0.79 per share to just US$0.11 per share – to save around US$2.2 billion in cash. That was the company’s first dividend reduction in 30 years. Occidental needed to take extreme measures to protect its financial health in the face of a sharp decline in oil prices. Meanwhile, there’s nothing Occidental can do about the 8% dividend on Buffett’s US$10 billion preferred shares investment – Occidental has to continue paying the preferred dividends. To add salt to the wound, Occidental’s US$0.11 per share in quarterly dividend works out to just US$392 million per year, which is less than half of the US$800 million that Buffett’s preferred shares are getting in dividends annually.
Yes, Buffett did buy some ordinary Occidental shares after his August 2019 investment in the oil & gas company’s preferred shares. But the total invested sum in the ordinary shares is tiny (around US$780 million at the end of 2019, or an average share price of US$41.21) compared to his investment in the preferred shares.
We can end up in disaster if we follow Buffett blindly into an investment without understanding his idea’s key traits. Buffett’s reputation and Berkshire’s actual financial clout gives him access to deals that we will never have.
Following authority into disaster
Resh’s story about his friend’s investment in Occidental shares reminded me of something that Morgan Housel once shared. Housel is currently a partner with the venture capital firm Collaborative Fund. Prior to this, he was a writer for The Motley Fool for many years. Here’s what Housel wrote in a 2014 article for the Fool:
“I made my worst investment seven years ago.
The housing market was crumbling, and a smart value investor I idolized began purchasing shares in a small, battered specialty lender. I didn’t know anything about the company, but I followed him anyway, buying shares myself. It became my largest holding — which was unfortunate when the company went bankrupt less than a year later.
Only later did I learn the full story. As part of his investment, the guru I followed also controlled a large portion of the company’s debt and and preferred stock, purchased at special terms that effectively gave him control over its assets when it went out of business. The company’s stock also made up one-fifth the weighting in his portfolio as it did in mine. I lost everything. He made a decent investment.”
Housel also committed the mistake of blindly following a famous investor without fully understanding the real rationale behind the investor’s investments.
In conclusion
It’s understandable if you want to follow the ideas of famous investors. That’s especially so during uncertain times, like the situation we’re in today. But before you do, please note that a blind adherence can be dangerous. Famous investors can invest in financial instruments in the same company that we can’t get access to. Or, their investment motives may be completely different to ours even for the same shares.
It’s always important to know why we’re investing in something. “I’m buying because Buffett or [insert name of famous investor] is buying” is not a valid investment thesis.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
It may not make sense to depend on broad economic conditions to tell you when to invest in stocks. Really good stocks find a bottom way before the economy.
This is a short article about important data you have to note if you’re reading broad economic conditions as a gauge for when to buy stocks. It was inspired by a recent question from a friend:
“While I understand that it’s impossible to time the market precisely, doesn’t it make sense to sell stocks and keep cash when you are fairly certain of a sustained economic decline (e.g. Covid)?”
During the 08/09 Great Financial Crisis, the S&P 500 in the US bottomed in early-March 2009. But interestingly, many stocks actually bottomed months before that, in November 2008. In The Good Investors, I have shared my investment theses for a number of US-listed companies in my family’s investment portfolio. Some of these companies were listed back in November 2008, and they include Netflix, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Intuitive Surgical, MercadoLibre, Booking Holdings, and Mastercard.
The chart immediately below shows the share price changes from January 2008 to December 2009 for the individual stocks mentioned and the S&P 500. Notice the two red bubbles showing the time when most of the individual stocks bottomed (the one on the left) versus when the S&P 500 bottomed (the one on the right).
The individual stocks I talked about – Netflix, Berkshire, Amazon, Intuitive Surgical, MercadoLibre, Booking, and Mastercard – are companies that I think have really strong business fundamentals. They wouldn’t be in my family’s portfolio, otherwise!
Now, let’s look at another chart, this time showing the US’s economic numbers from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2010. The economic numbers are the country’s unemployment rate and GDP (gross domestic product). Notice the red bubble: It corresponds to November 2008, the time when most of the aforementioned stocks with strong business fundamentals bottomed. Turns out, the US’s GDP and unemployment rate continued to deteriorate for months after the individual stocks bottomed.
The observations I just shared have never been widely discussed, based on my anecdotal experience. But they highlight something crucial: It turns out that individual stocks – especially the companies with strong fundamentals (this is subjective, I know!) – can find a bottom significantly faster than economic conditions and the broader market do.
The highlighted thing is crucial for all of us to note, in today’s investing environment. Over the next few months – and maybe even over the next year – It’s very, very likely that the economic data that are going to be released by countries around the world will look horrendous. But individual stocks could potentially reach a bottom way before the deterioration of economic conditions stops. If you miss that, it could hurt your portfolio’s long run return since you would miss a significant chunk of the rebound if you came in late.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
We are hosting a one-day investment webinar. Come join us!
It’s only a few days into the second quarter of 2020, but what a year it has already been. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the lives of billions of people in practically all countries around the world, including Singapore, our home. The human suffering, especially when it comes to our frontline heroes – those in healthcare, food & beverage, delivery, law enforcement, and countless other essential services – is immense. But so is the courage and grace and grit that has been shown. Corporations are also stepping up, overhauling their manufacturing lines and/or working on overdrive to produce all-important masks, sanitisers, ventilators, face shields, cures, vaccines, and more.
At The Good Investors, Jeremy and I have been looking to see how we can help in this fight against COVID-19. Our efforts are miniscule compared to what I just described above. But we do what we can.
One of the things we have been doing is to guide people toward better investment behaviours by regularly providing the appropriate context and information about the current market situation. “The investor’s chief problem – and even his worst enemy – is likely to be himself,” the legendary Ben Graham once said. We are our own worst enemies, and this is a problem Jeremy and I have been trying to help tackle at The Good Investors. If we succeed in helping even just one investor exhibit better investment behaviour in this current climate, then society as a whole, will come out of this crisis in slightly better financial shape.
To widen the reach of our good fight, Jeremy and I are partnering with Online Traders’ Clubfor a one-day investment webinar that is open to the general public. Online Traders’ Club is a non-profit organization formed in 2005 for members who have a deep interest in the financial markets. Learn more about it here. Online Traders’ Club has kindly offered to handle all the logistics and provide a webinar-platform for Jeremy and I to share our investing thoughts.
Access: Access from any connected devices. There is nothing to install. Please update your desktop/mobile browser (eg. Chrome) to the latest version.
What Jeremy and I will share during the webinar: (1) The key mindsets you need to be a good investor; (2) my investment framework for evaluating companies; (3) how to find long-term investment opportunities during the COVID-19 crisis; (4) Q&A
The key takeaways you will have: (1) Understand what the stock market is; (2) understand the right mindsets to be a successful investor; and (3) have a sound framework to analyse investment opportunities
Cost of attending webinar: FREE!
Capacity for webinar: (1) 200 pax, for webinar room where attendees can ask questions; (2) Unlimited pax for Watch-Only experience on Youtube
Jeremy and I hope to see you at the webinar in 2 weeks! In the meantime, stay safe, and stay strong. We. Will. Get. Through. This.
Editor’s note: We published the recorded webinar and the presentation deck on 27 April 2020. They can be found here.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
Some Singapore REITs will be providing quarterly updates soon. I’ll be keeping a close eye on any updates on rebates, distributions, and cashflow.
As an investor with a very long-term focus, I usually don’t pay much attention to quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in earnings. But these are not normal times. And as someone who invests in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Singapore’s stock market, I will be paying close attention to the following elements in their upcoming earnings announcements.
Cash flow
I suspect that REITs will continue to record the usual rental income on the income statement. However, actually collecting the cash from tenants is a different matter.
In the next earnings release, I will be keeping an eye on the cash flow statement. In particular, I’m watching the changes to the cash flow from operation.
The most important thing to look at in the balance sheet is the changes to the “Trade and other receivables” line. If that number increases disproportionately, it could be a sign that some tenants have not been able to hand over their rental payment to the REIT.
Updates on how they will help tenants
The Singapore government has stepped in to support businesses that are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants, shops, hotels and tourist attractions will pay no property tax for 2020.
Property owners, such as REITs, are expected to pass these cost savings onto their tenants.
In the coming earnings update, I will be keeping my ears peeled on how the REITs will pass on these cost savings to tenants. This could be in the form of rental waivers or simply cash rebates.
SPH REIT was the first REIT to commit to helping its tenants. It said in its latest earnings announcement:
“To assist our tenants, SPH REIT will pass on fully the property tax rebates from IRAS announced by the Singapore Government on 26 March 2020, which will be disbursed in a targeted manner. On top of the Government’s property tax rebates, SPH REIT has provided further assistance to help tenants through this difficult period. In February and March 2020, tenant rebates amounting to approximately S$4.6 million have been granted to those affected tenants. This is part of the Tenants’ Assistance Scheme under which SPH REIT has rolled out to provide tenants with rent relief for February and March.
SPH REIT will extend Tenants’ Assistance Scheme for the months of April and May, for which the rebates will be granted according to the needs of the tenants. For the most affected tenants, they will be granted rental rebates of up to 50% of base rent. In addition, the full property tax rebates will be passed on to these tenants. Effectively, the most affected tenants will have their base rents waived for up to 2 months.
For tenants who are required by the Government to cease operations such as enrichment centres, SPH REIT will grant a full waiver of rental for the period of closure.”
I think this is the right way to go for REITs. Although landlords are not obliged to support their tenants through rent waivers, I think that providing some aid could be beneficial in the long term. Tenants that get support are more likely to remain a going concern and consequently can continue to rent the space in the future.
Distribution per unit
REITs are required to pay out at least 90% of their distributable income to receive special tax treatment. However, I think many of the REITs may opt to distribute much less than that in the first quarter of 2020.
SPH REIT was the first to slash its distribution per unit. It cut its distribution for the quarter ended 28 February 2020 by 78.7% despite a 12.2% increase in income available for distribution.
There are a few reasons I believe more REITs will follow in SPH REIT’s footsteps.
First, they may need the cash to tide them through the rest of the year if they foresee rental defaults or lower occupancy.
Second, as demonstrated by SPH REIT, some REITs are using their own cash to help tenants ride out this challenging period.
And third, the REIT is only required to pay out more than 90% of distributable income within the whole financial year. So REITs may opt to keep the cash first as a precaution. If the REIT doesn’t need the cash in the future, it can always distribute it in future quarters.
Updates on a rights issue
With REIT prices slashed this year, the last thing that investors want is a REIT being forced to raise money through a rights issue.
Unfortunately, this may be the case for REITs that are highly geared and that have trouble paying their interest expenses.
In addition, if a REIT’s rental yield falls, asset prices may decline and gearing levels will rise. REITs with a high debt-to-asset ratio may, in turn, have to pay higher interest rates when they refinance their loans. As such, it is possible that REITs with a high gearing ratio may choose to raise capital through a rights issue to deleverage their balance sheet.
Challenging times for REITs…
REITs are not spared in this challenging period for business.
Investors of REITs should pay close attention to the news the next few months to see which REITs are best positioned to ride out these unprecedented times.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
DocuSign has only been in my family’s portfolio for a short time, but it has done well for us. Here’s why we continue to own DocuSign.
DoucSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) is one of the 50-plus companies that’s in my family’s portfolio. I first bought DocuSign shares for the portfolio in December 2018 at a price of US$41 and I’ve not sold any of the shares I’ve bought.
The purchase has worked out very well for my family’s portfolio thus far, with DocuSign’s share price being around US$79 now. But we’ve not even owned the company’s shares for two years, and it is always important to think about how the company’s business will evolve going forward. What follows is my thesis for why I still continue to hold DocuSign shares.
Company description
DocuSign provides DocuSign eSignature, currently the world’s leading cloud-based e-signature solution. This software service enables users to sign a document securely using almost any device from virtually anywhere in the world. It is the core part of the broader DocuSign Agreement Cloud, which is a suite of software services – again all delivered over the cloud – that automates and connects the entire agreement process. DocuSign Agreement Cloud includes:
Automatic generation of an agreement from data in other systems;
Support of negotiation-workflow;
Collection of payment after signatures;
Use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse agreement-documents for risks and opportunities; and
Hundreds of integrations with other systems, so that the agreement process can be seamlessly combined with other business processes and data
At the end of its fiscal year ended 31 January 2020 (FY2020), DocuSign had over 585,000 paying customers and hundreds of millions of users. From its founding in 2003 through to FY2019, the company had processed over 1 billion successful transactions (around 300 million in FY2019 alone). DocuSign defines a successful transaction as the completion of all required actions (such as signing or approving documents) by all relevant parties in an Envelope; an Envelope is, in turn, a digital container used to send one or more documents for signature or approval to the relevant recipients.
DocuSign serves customers of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to the companies that are among the top 2,000 publicly-traded enterprises. The company’s customers also come from many different industries, as the chart below illustrates.
For a geographical perspective of DocuSign’s business, its users are in over 180 countries. But in FY2020, 82% of the company’s revenue came from the US.
Investment thesis
I had previously laid out my six-criteria investment framework in The Good Investors. I will use the same framework to describe my investment thesis for DocuSign.
1. Revenues that are small in relation to a large and/or growing market, or revenues that are large in a fast-growing market
Has it ever occured to you that the innocuous act of signing documents with pen-and-paper can actually be a significantly wasteful activity for companies? The thought struck me when I was doing research on DocuSign before I bought its shares. Think about it. Signing a paper document requires you to fax, scan, email, snail-mail, courier, and file. DocuSign’s solution can save us both time and money.
There are many use-cases for DocuSign’s software services, ranging from sales contracts to employment contracts, non-disclosure agreements, and more. In fact, DocuSign has a customer that has implemented over 300 use-cases. DocuSign documents are legally accepted and protected with cryptographic technology from tampering. The documents also have a full audit trail, including party names, email addresses, public IP addresses, and a time-stamped record of each individual’s interaction with a document.
DocuSign estimated that it had a total addressable market of US$25 billion in 2017, using (1) the number of companies in its core markets, and (2) its internal estimate of an annual contract value based on each respective company’s size, industry, and location. This estimate remains unchanged (it was mentioned in the company’s FY2020 annual report), though recent business moves may have significantly expanded its addressable market. More on this later. At just US$974.0 million, DocuSign’s revenue in FY2020 is merely a fraction of its estimated market opportunity.
I believe that DocuSign’s addressable market will likely grow over time. There are clear benefits to e-signatures. A 2015 third-party study by Intellicap (commissioned by DocuSign) found that the company’s enterprise customers derived an average incremental value of US$36 per transaction (with a range of US$5 to US$100) when using the company’s software as compared to traditional paper-processes. In FY2020, 82% of all the successful transactions that flowed through DocuSign’s platform were completed in less than 24 hours, while 50% were completed within just 15 minutes. DocuSign’s services help companies save money and time.
2. A strong balance sheet with minimal or a reasonable amount of debt
As of 31 January 2020, DocuSign held US$895.9 million in cash, short-term investments, and long-term investments. This is nearly twice the company’s total debt of US$465.3 million (all of which are convertible notes). For the sake of conservatism, I also note that DocuSign had US$183.2 million in operating lease liabilities. But the company’s cash, short-term investments and long-term investments still comfortably outweigh the sum of the company’s debt and operating lease liabilities (US$648.5 million).
3. A management team with integrity, capability, and an innovative mindset
On integrity
Leading DocuSign as CEO is Daniel Springer, 57, who joined the company in January 2017. Among other key leaders in DocuSign are:
Scott Olrich, Chief Operating Officer, 48
Michael Sheridan, Chief Financial Officer, 55
Loren Alhadeff, Chief Revenue Officer, 41
Kirsten Wolberg, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, 52
Most of them have relatively short tenure with DocuSign, but have collectively clocked decades in senior leadership roles in other technology companies.
Source: DocuSign proxy statement
DocuSign has opted not to share details about its compensation structure for senior management because of its status as an “emerging growth company.” And Springer’s total compensation for FY2019 was a princely sum of US$13.4 million. But I take heart in this: 94% of Springer’s total compensation in FY2019 came from stock awards, and around 70% of the stock awards vest over a period of four years. The multi-year vesting of the stock awards means that Springer’s compensation is tied to the long run performance of DocuSign’s stock price, which is in turn governed by its business performance. So I think Springer’s interests are aligned with mine as a shareholder of the company.
Notably, Springer also controlled 2.3 million shares of DocuSign as of 31 March 2019, a stake that’s worth a sizable US$211 million at the current share price.
On capability
From FY2013 to FY2020, DocuSign has seen its number of customers increase more than 10-fold (41% per year) from 54,000 to 585,000. So the first thing I note is that DocuSign’s management has a terrific track record of growing its customer count.
Source: DocuSign June 2018 investor presentation and annual report
To win customers, DocuSign’s software service offers over 300 pre-built integrations with widely used business applications from other tech giants such as salesforce.com, Oracle, SAP, Google, and more. These third-party applications are mostly in the areas of CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), and HCM (human capital management). DocuSign also has APIs (application programming interfaces) that allow its software to be easily integrated with its customers’ own apps.
I also credit DocuSign’s management with the success that the company has found with its land-and-expand strategy. The strategy starts with the company landing a customer with an initial use case, and then expanding its relationship with the customer through other use cases. The success can be illustrated through DocuSign’s strong dollar-based net retention rates (DBNRRs). The metric is a very important gauge for the health of a SaaS (software-as-a-service) company’s business. It measures the change in revenue from all of DocuSign’s customers a year ago compared to today; it includes positive effects from upsells as well as negative effects from customers who leave or downgrade. Anything more than 100% indicates that the company’s customers, as a group, are spending more – DocuSign’s DBNRRs have been in the low-teens to mid-teens range in the past few years.
Source: DocuSign IPO prospectus and earnings call transcripts
On innovation
I think DocuSign’s management scores well on the innovation front, since the company has been busy with using blockchain technology and AI to improve its services.
Blockchain technology is the backbone of cryptocurrencies and DocuSign has been experimenting with blockchain-based smart contracts since 2015. In June 2018, DocuSign joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and showed how a DocuSign agreement can be automatically written onto the Ethereum blockchain. Here’s an example of a smart contract described by DocuSign:
“A smart contract turns a contract into something like a computer program. The Internet-connected program monitors data and triggers actions relevant to the contract’s terms. For example, a crop-insurance smart contract might use a trusted Internet feed of weather data. If the temperature goes above 85 degrees Fahrenheit in April, the smart contract will automatically trigger a crop-insurance payout, again via the Internet. This total automation eliminates ambiguity and promises large savings in time and effort for all parties involved.”
It’s early days for DocuSign’s use of blockchain, but I’m watching its moves here. DocuSign’s management acknowledges that many of the company’s customers don’t yet see the value of blockchain technology in the agreement process. But the company still believes in blockchain’s potential.
DocuSign has been working with AI since at least 2017 when it acquired machine-learning firm Appuri during the year. In February 2020, DocuSign inked an agreement to acquire Seal Software for US$188 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of DocuSign’s FY2021. Seal Software was founded in 2010 and uses AI to analyse contracts. For example, Seal Software can search for legal concepts (and not just keywords) in large collections of documents, and automatically extract and compare critical clauses and terms. Prior to the acquisition, DocuSign was already tacking Seal Software’s services onto DocuSign Agreement Cloud. The combination of Seal Software and DocuSign’s technologies have helped a “large international information-services company” reduce legal-review time by 75%. Ultimately, DocuSign thinks that Seal Software will be able to strengthen DocuSign Agreement Cloud’s AI foundation.
Speaking of DocuSign Agreement Cloud, it was released in March 2019. As mentioned earlier, it includes multiple software services. DocuSign sees DocuSign Agreement Cloud as a new category of cloud software that connects existing cloud services in the realms of marketing, sales, human resources, enterprise resource planning, and more, into agreement processes.
I see two huge positives that come with the introduction of multi-product sales. Firstly, it will likely lead to each DocuSign customer using more of the company’s products. This means that DocuSign could be plugged into an increasing number of its customers’ business processes, resulting in stickier customers. Secondly, DocuSign thinks that covering a wider scope of the entire agreement process could roughly double its market opportunity from the current size of US$25 billion to around US$50 billion.
4. Revenue streams that are recurring in nature, either through contracts or customer-behaviour
DocuSign’s business is built nearly entirely on subscriptions, which generate recurring revenue for the company. Customers of DocuSign gain access to the company’s software platform through a subscription, which typically ranges from one to three years. In FY2020, FY2019, and FY2018, more than 93% of DocuSign’s revenue in each fiscal year came from subscriptions to its cloud-based software platform; the rest of the revenue came from services such as helping the company’s customers deploy its software efficiently.
It’s worth noting too that there is no customer-concentration with DocuSign. There was no customer that accounted for more than 10% of the company’s revenue in FY2020.
5. A proven ability to grow
There isn’t much historical financial data to study for DocuSign, since the company was only listed in April 2018. But I do like what I see:
Source: DocuSign annual reports and IPO prospectus
A few notable points from DocuSign’s financials:
DocuSign has compounded its revenue at an impressive annual rate of 40.4% from FY2016 to FY2020. The rate of growth has not slowed much, coming in at a still-impressive 38.9% in FY2020.
DocuSign is still making losses, but the good thing is that it started to generate positive operating cash flow and free cash flow in FY2018.
Annual growth in operating cash flow from FY2018 to FY2020 was strong, at 45.1%. Free cash flow has increased at a much slower pace, but the company is investing for growth.
The company’s balance sheet remained robust throughout the timeframe under study, with significantly more cash and investments than debt.
At first glance, DocuSign’s diluted share count appeared to increase sharply by 30.7% from FY2019 to FY2020. (I only started counting from FY2019 since DocuSign was listed in April 2018, which is in the first quarter of FY2019.) But the number I’m using is the weighted average diluted share count. Right after DocuSign got listed, it had a share count of around 152 million. Moreover, DocuSign’s weighted average diluted share count showed acceptable year-on-year growth rates (acceptable in the context of the company’s rapid revenue growth) in the first, second, and third quarters of FY2020.
Source: DocuSign quarterly earnings updates
6. A high likelihood of generating a strong and growing stream of free cash flow in the future
DocuSign has already started to generate free cash flow. Right now, the company has a poor trailing free cash flow margin (free cash flow as a percentage of revenue) of just 4.5%.
But over the long run, I think it’s likely that there is plenty of room for DocuSign’s free cash flow margin to expand. I showed in my recently published investment thesis for Alteryx (NYSE: AYX) that there are other larger SaaS companies such as Adobe, salesforce.com, and Veeva Systems that have much fatter free cash flow margins. Here’s the table I showed in my article on Alteryx:
Source: Companies’ annual reports and earnings updates (data as of 23 March 2020)
Valuation
Right now, DocuSign has a market capitalisation of US$14.34 billion against trailing revenue of US$974.0 million. These numbers give rise to a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 14.7, which makes the company look pretty darn expensive. For perspective, if I assume that DocuSign has a 30% free cash flow margin today, then the company would have a price-to-free cash flow ratio of 49 based on the current P/S ratio (14.7 divided by 30%).
But DocuSign also has a few strong positives going for it. The company has: (1) revenue that is low compared to a fast-growing addressable market; (2) a business that solves important pain points for customers; (3) a large and rapidly expanding customer base; and (4) sticky customers who have been willing to significantly increase their spending with the company over time. I believe that with these traits, there’s a high chance that DocuSign will continue posting excellent revenue growth – and in turn, excellent free cash flow growth – in the years ahead.
The current high valuation for DocuSign does mean that its share price is likely going to be more volatile than the stock market as a whole. I’m also keeping in mind that stocks have been very volatile of late because of COVID-19 fears. But the potential volatility is something I’m very comfortable with.
The risks involved
DocuSign has a short history in the stock market, given that its IPO was just two years ago in April 2018. I typically stay away from young IPOs. But I’m making an exception for DocuSign because I think its business holds promise for fast-growth for a long period of time. But the company’s young age as a publicly-listed company is still a risk I’m watching.
Adobe is a much larger SaaS company with trailing revenue of US$11.7 billion. Through its Adobe Sign product, Adobe is the primary competitor of DocuSign. So far, DocuSign has defended its turf admirably. This is shown in DocuSign’s strong revenue and customer growth rates. But Adobe’s larger financial might compared to DocuSign means competition is a risk.
Another important risk for DocuSign relates to data breaches. DocuSign handles sensitive information about its customers due to the nature of its business. If there are any serious data breaches in DocuSign’s software services, the company could lose the confidence of customers and the public, leading to growth difficulties. The signing of documents may be highly time-sensitive events. So if there is any significant downtime in DocuSign’s services, it could also lead to an erosion of trust among existing as well as prospective customers. So far, DocuSign has done a great job by providing 99.99% availability in FY2020.
Valuation is another risk to consider. DocuSign’s high P/S ratio means that the market expects rapid growth from the company. So if the business performance disappoints subsequently, market sentiment could turn quickly on DocuSign, leading to a cratering stock price.
Earlier, I discussed the advantages that the launch of DocuSign Agreement Cloud brought to the company. But there are downsides too. For instance, multi-product sales involves higher complexity and a longer sales cycle; these factors negatively affected DocuSign’s billings growth and net dollar-based retention rate in the first quarter of FY2020. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused business activity around the world to slow tremendously, with many countries being in various states of lockdown. A lengthy sales cycle could hamper DocuSign’s business in the current environment. For now, DocuSign’s business does not seem to have been impacted by COVID-19. Here’s CEO Dan Springer’s comment on the matter in DocuSign’s FY2020 fourth-quarter earnings call:
“[T]he vast majority of our implementations are done remote. And of course, if you think about the perfect example of that it’s our web and mobile customers, where they never actually have to speak. Not only do they don’t have to have us in person they don’t need to speak to us to onboard. … We do find with some of our larger enterprise customers that they get more value when some of the installation is done on their premises. But we have not had the opportunity in the past to consider doing that completely remotely. And it may be in the new way of business over the next X period of time here then we’ll do more of it.”
And when DocuSign’s management was asked in the same earnings call if its growth would be affected by a recession, Springer answered:
“Yes, I don’t. Because, I think, for most of our customers, at least half of the focus is around efficiency. And people see the incredibly high ROI. And I can’t speak for all-digital transformation programs, of course, but as I think about the ones that are DocuSign-centric people are laser-focused on the ROI they get from getting rid of those manual processes, the wasted labor, getting rid of things like the transportation cost, the shipping, et cetera.
That’s a big focus. So I don’t think in a recession you would see people pull back on that. I would say that any time if you had a significant recession, you expect people to kind of shoot first ask questions later and that could lead to some delays. But, in general, we think the business case just gets stronger when people need to find those efficiencies.”
Lastly, the following are all yellow-to-red flags for me regarding DocuSign: (1) The company’s DBNRR comes in at less than 100% for an extended period of time; (2) it fails to increase its number of customers; and (3) it’s unable to convert revenue into free cash flow at a healthy clip in the future.
The Good Investors’ conclusion
Summing up DocuSign, it has:
Valuable cloud-based software services in the agreements space that solves customers’ pain-points;
high levels of recurring revenue;
outstanding revenue growth rates;
positive operating cash flow and free cash flow, with the potential for much higher free cash flow margins in the future;
a large, growing, and mostly untapped addressable market;
an impressive track record of winning customers and increasing their spending; and
capable leaders who are in the same boat as the company’s other shareholders
The company does have a premium valuation, so I’m taking on valuation risk. There are also other risks to note, such as strong competition and a longer sales cycle that may not be conducive for a business environment that’s struggling with COVID-19. But after weighing the pros and cons, I have to agree with the idea of having DocuSign continue to stay in my family’s investment portfolio.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
The best articles we’ve read in recent times on a wide range of topics, including investing, business, and the world in general.
We’ve constantly been sharing a list of our recent reads in our weekly emails for The Good Investors.
Do subscribe for our weekly updates through the orange box in the blog (it’s on the side if you’re using a computer, and all the way at the bottom if you’re using mobile) – it’s free!
But since our readership-audience for The Good Investors is wider than our subscriber base, we think sharing the reading list regularly on the blog itself can benefit even more people. The articles we share touch on a wide range of topics, including investing, business, and the world in general.
Here are the articles for the week ending 5 April 2020:
1. Message from Ser Jing’s friend
Ser Jing’s friend recently sent a wonderful text message on a list of wholesome activities we can all do during these difficult times to still add grace, beauty, purpose, and meaning to our lives:
– Picking up a book that you have been wanting to read – Taking this period of time to rest and re-calibrate yourself – Spending quality time and doing stuffs for your loved ones – Taking up online courses. Think Coursera and etc – Starting up your own side line business – Developing a new skill or hobby – Practicing meditation, yoga and journalism to master your inner thoughts and emotions [Ser Jing meditates regularly] – Spending some time alone in nature – Getting in touch with your friends – Spend time reflecting
Encourage everyone in the world with access to the internet to report whether they can or cannot smell. Make it easy for them to do so. Find widely admired people with big social-media followings to make short videos on the subject — at the bottom of which there’d be a simple button that allows anyone watching to report their sense of smell. Go viral with the virus [COVID-19]. Before long you’d have a pile of data that smart analysts could use to map it, and evaluate its risks. The results might not be perfect, but they were far better than what we have now in any rich country and far better than what they might ever have in countries with fewer resources.
I love this idea. Hancock is well on his way to building an organization to make it happen — the website is sniffoutcovid.org. He is in the market for both widely admired people and data scientists. Here’s to hoping he finds them before my father calls me to say that he can no longer smell his Burgundy.
I have noted in myself a kind of reflexive optimism (i.e. “This is going to be okay,” “We’ll get through this,”) of which I’m becoming suspicious. Do I just feel that way because I’ve been inoculated by my privilege? Surely this is going to be calamitous for many people – far beyond the sick and the dying – and I don’t want to turn a blind eye toward that suffering: the suddenly unemployed and homeless, the relapsing addict and those that love them, those trapped in abusive and unsafe homes, etc.
It feels like this moment is asking me to grow up, to stop relying on false-hope granting platitudes and accept that pain, suffering, and grief are part of the birthright of being a human being. I say that with the full knowledge and deep belief that love, joy, laughter, and art are also part of that birthright. Light and shadow are inextricably bound up with each other and it’s naïve to think that darkness can be vanquished or banished in favor of everlasting light. That’s magical thinking of a kind to which I refuse to subscribe.
“If you’re not willing to react with equanimity to a market price decline of 50% two or three times a century, you’re not fit to be a common shareholder and you deserve the mediocre result you’re going to get.” -Charlie Munger, Interview with BBC
“Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” – Paul Samuelson
“I tell my father’s story of the gambler who lost regularly. One day he hears about a race with only one horse in it, so he bet the rent money. Halfway around the track, the horse jumped over the fence and ran away.” -Howard Marks, The Most Important Thing
However, there are a number of differences between 1929-1932 and its aftermath and the current situation.
The Fed. The Federal Reserve was still relatively new during the Great Depression, having been founded just 16 years prior. Not only did they pour gasoline on the fire during the speculative period leading up to the crash, but they did next to nothing in trying to stop the crisis as it was unfolding.
John Kenneth Galbraith once wrote, “The Federal Reserve Board in those times was a body of startling incompetence.”
In the current crisis, the Fed has acted fast and they’ve gone big. Central banks around the globe have pumped liquidity into the system to make sure the plumbing of the financial markets continues to function.
This was not happening during the Great Depression and it’s one of the reasons there was a run on the banks and a huge number of bank failures.
Government Spending. During a severe economic contraction, individuals and corporations spend less money so it’s typically up to the government to make up for this shortfall.
During the Great Depression, they did the opposite. Republicans and Democrats alike sought to balance the budget and cut spending. Even in 1932, at the depths of the depression, they wanted to shrink government spending by 25%.
Today, we’re getting $2 trillion in fiscal stimulus rescue funds plus another $4 trillion in loans from the Fed. It’s likely we’ll need even more government spending depending on how long it takes to beat the virus.
UC’s fixed payments were supposed to account for 66 per cent of EHT’s projected rental income in 2020, though the US lodging market began to weaken in the second half of last year. EHT’s revenue for 2019 came in 10 per cent lower than forecast. On Feb 17, 2020, a week before the US confirmed its first case of local Covid-19 transmission, UC amended the master lease agreements to allow EHT to receive more rent from any hotels that produce excess cash ow, to make up for shortfalls in any underperforming hotels.
The master lease agreements also formed the basis for EHT’s adopted valuations of its hotels.
According to EHT’s oer document, UC was required to hand over a US$43.7 million security deposit to EHT during the IPO, equivalent to nine months of fixed rent. UC funded US$23.7 million in cash, and indicated in the offer document that it would provide the balance of US$20 million by way of a letter of credit on or around EHT’s listing on May 24, 2019.
After EHT’s IPO, most investors assumed that the full US$43.7 million was safely in escrow, until they were told differently on March 19, 2020.
What they learnt is that UC had used US$5 million in cash to top up its security deposit to US$28.7 million, though it still had not managed to procure a letter of credit for the remaining US$15 million of the US$43.7 million.
Then you ignore good news because you’re once bitten, twice shy. Avoiding further downside becomes such a focus that you lack the mental bandwidth to even recognize good news.
Then you deny good news. You’re so attuned to risk that you reflexively think good news must be wrong or out of context. Anyone promoting good news is criticized by the masses, who enjoy safety in numbers.
Then you realize you missed the good news. In hindsight you realize things turned a corner while people were most certain about how bad it was. You look back and can’t believe how obvious it was that people were too pessimistic, and can’t believe clear the signs of improvement were.
Disclaimer:The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
COVID-19’s economic impact is being felt by many companies. Those with high fixed costs, weak balance sheets, and disrupted businesses could be fighting for survival.
By now, you might have heard that Singapore Airlines Ltd (SGX: C6L) is being saved by Temasek who promised to inject capital into the debt-ridden company. But our flag carrier is not the only company that may need saving.
Many local businesses in Singapore face an existential crisis in these challenging times. Companies that (1) have high fixed expenses, (2) have insufficient cash on the balance sheet, and (3) face major disruption to their business, are most at risk.
Here are some Singapore-listed companies that could be fighting for their survival in the coming weeks and months.
Neo Group (SGX: 5UJ)
Singapore’s leading food catering company is high on the list. As of 31 December 2019, Neo Group had S$20.4 million in cash and equivalents but S$34.9 million in short term bank borrowings that need to be repaid within a year. On top of that, it also had $45.7 million in long term debt.
Neo Group’s food catering business has also likely been heavily disrupted due to the recent restrictions on gatherings of more than 10 people. The extent of the problem is made worse as Neo Group’s catering segment was its most profitable business in the financial year ended 31 March 2019.
The company also has a substantial amount of fixed costs. In the last quarter, Neo Group incurred S$14 million in employee expenses and S$1.1 million in finance costs. These are overheads that are unlikely to go away, even as orders dry up. Given Neo Group’s weak balance sheet, it could face difficulty obtaining a loan to bridge it through this challenging period.
Sembcorp Marine (SGX: S51)
Another one of Temasek’s investments, Sembcorp Marine could face a similar fate to Singapore Airlines. Sembcorp Marine is highly dependent on the health of the oil industry and faces major disruptions to its business amid tumbling oil prices (oil prices are near 20-year lows now).
Like Neo Group, Sembcorp Marine has more short-term debt than cash on its balance sheet. That’s extremely worrying given that credit may dry up during this trying times. As of 31 December 2019, Sembcorp Marine had S$389 million in cash and a staggering S$1.42 billion in short-term borrowings. In addition, the company had S$2.98 billion in long-term debt.
And let’s not forget that Sembcorp Marine also has heavy expenses. In the quarter ended 31 December 2019, Sembcorp Marine racked up S$29 million in finance costs alone and also had a negative gross margin. The company also spends heavily on capital expenditures just to maintain its current operations. Sembcorp Marine was free cash flow negative in 2019 after spending S$316 million in capital expenditures.
Sakae Holdings (SGX: 5DO)
Restaurant operator Sakae Holdings has been on the decline in recent years. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, revenue and earnings for the company have plunged. In the six months ended 31 December 2019, Sakae’s revenue fell 13.9% and it reported a S$1.56 million loss.
Worryingly, Sakae looks likely to run into cash flow problems in the very near future. As of 31 December 2019, Sakae had S$4.3 million in cash but near-term bank loans amounting to S$45.7 million.
I don’t see how Sakae can pay back its debtors and I doubt it can negotiate to refinance such a large sum over the next 12 months.
The COVID-19 crisis could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Sakae Holdings.
My conclusion
Obviously this is not an exhaustive list of companies in Singapore’s stock market that could face a liquidity crisis in these trying times. The pause in the global economy (Singapore’s included) will definitely impact many more companies than those I listed.
Companies that are not prepared and do not have the resources to ride out this period could be in big trouble. Companies that go broke will see a steep fall in their share prices and shareholders will get very little or nothing back if a company is forced into liquidation.
Disclaimer: The Good Investors is the personal investing blog of two simple guys who are passionate about educating Singaporeans about stock market investing. By using this Site, you specifically agree that none of the information provided constitutes financial, investment, or other professional advice. It is only intended to provide education. Speak with a professional before making important decisions about your money, your professional life, or even your personal life.
