Visitors actively participated in seminar sessions and there was equal interest in attending the many booths. The seminar “Picking the Right Stocks-Catching the Market Timing” by Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) Pcl. was fully packed, with almost no room to stand. Another popular session was “Recommended Stocks Before Christmas Time”, by Far East Securities in Meeting Hall 3.
“Following the Stock Wizard’s Path” and the mutual funds sessions -- such as “The Economy Under Thaksin 2: an Investment Changing Point” by TMB Asset Management; “LTF…Investing with Privileges” by One Asset Management, and “LTF-RMF: Beautiful Twins for Saving Taxes” -- all received a lot of attention.
Kim Eng Securities recommended 2 outstanding sectors for the year-end period: the finance and communication sectors. Interesting stocks in the banking sector include Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam City Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank. Bangkok Bank is outstanding because of its size and favorable growth. It also has a large reserve fund and manages its non-performing loans well.
As for the communication sector, Kim Eng prefers Shin Corporation, as it has large cash reserves available. Other interesting sectors are consumer products, with companies like Oishi; and building materials with firms like Siam Cement, Thai Plastic and Chemicals, National Petrochemicals, and Thai Olefins.
Far East Securities recommended two sectors for the pre-Christmas period: energy and petrochemicals. These two sectors will benefit from the recovery of the Chinese and U.S. economies, as there will be higher demand for oil. This sector will also benefit from higher oil prices affected by supply hoarding due to the fear of oil scarcity. The forecasted trends for the 2 sectors are excellent, with expectations that they will both post good sales and profits.
Average profit growth of the energy sector is forecasted at 45% this year. PTT and Thai Oil are interesting, as they both possess strong fundamentals and show consistent dividend increases. PTT has the largest market capitalization on the bourse, accounting for a full 10% of the total, and has numerous long-term revenue bases resulting in reduced volatility in its stock prices trend.
As for Thai Oil, being an integrated oil refinery makes it flexible enough to produce output that can correspond directly to market demand. Another supporting factor is that it works together with PTT in a strong distribution alliance which creates room for an increase in revenues and a stabilization of its revenue base.
As for the petrochemical sector, Far East Securities recommends The Aromatics (Thailand) Pcl., as it has a superior debt-restructuring plan. Its debt-to-equity ratio has been decreased to 1.56 times in 2004, from 9.95 times in 2001. Besides, there’s an existing trend that indicates it will gain from higher demands for textile materials.
