Thursday, September 13, 2012

Infinite QE

Ben Bernanke proposed an infinite QE until significant economic objectives are met. He has the printing press. So do not fight the Fed. If you are still all in cash, you find have to start to find ways to prevent the dollar value from eroding. Between Ben and Draghi, I think they have effectively taken the "tail risk" of total economic collapse off the table. I also do not think they made the decisions independently of each other.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

SPH - Share Buyback

SPH started its share buyback since 2008. It purchased 500K shares at $3.96 yesterday. I believe this would support the price at around this level. I would expect yer-end DPS to be around 17 cents.

This is an underestimated stock as most people think that print media will decline due to online media growth. However, I think any decline in SPH print business in terms of revenues and profits will be muted as most of adv revenue come from display advertisements which is not easily taken over by online media. Also, SPH business is buffeted by a quasi-REIT business with low gearing and a stable magazines business. Over the years, circulation show little growth but not significant decline either. In other words, not an exciting stock but will provide stability in income and little capital erosion over time.