I just went into the US stock market un June last year. My current portfolio of stocks are as follows::

1) Luckin Coffee
2) Phillips66
3) Bristol Myers Squibb
4) Microsoft
5) Wallgreens
7) Exxon Mobil
8) Momo
9) NextEra Energy

Any suggestions on stock which i should consider for 2020?

War is coming at the right time. US markets at record high so a correction is long overdue. Hope to get at least a 10% correction to go in again.

I opted for some defensive shares (with dividends) to re-balance my portfolio in Dec 2019. Walgreens and Exxon were chosen mainly because of their number of years of consecutive dividend growth (44 & 36 yrs respectively).

Besides that, i decided on Walgreens because of:

1) price was lowest since end 2013
2) general analysts consensus price value was $125 hence at $54 it was trading at 55% below value
3) short term assets exceed long term liabilities
4) remote possibility of Warren Buffet buying into WBA

I only bought 50 shares of Walgreens so portfolio exposure is minimum.

As for Exxon Mobil (XOM), i went in because:

1) trading near a 8 year low
2) consensus fair price value of $113 vs $69 currently (potential upside of 38%)
3) XOM's 15.3%/year earnings is projected to grow faster than the 14.3% for the US market in general
4) XOM's debt level and debt coverage is pretty good
5) Dividend yield of 5.03%

I did look at Chevron and although its financials were stronger than Exxon, i was a bit concerned about the entry point which was almost at peak. And yes im looking at JPM now.

Which sectors do you think will outperform the US market for 2020?

In an article dated 6 Jan 2020, Goldman Sachs portfolio investment strategy group led by their Chief Equity Strategist listed 10 stocks which they think will deliver the largest year-over-year percentage increases in earnings per share (EPS) for 2020:

1) Charter Communications (CHTR) - 88%
2) Netflix (NFLX) - 63%
3) Exxon Mobil (XOM) - 39%
4) Facebook (FB) - 36%
5) Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) - 34%
6) Adobe (ADBE) - 27%
7) Amazon (AMZN) - 26%
8) Nvidia Corp (NVDA) - 26%
9) Fisery (FISV) - 26%
10) Qualcomm (QCOM) - 24%

Key points to note:

1) The projected 2020 average EPS growth rate of 9% for the entire S&P 500 would be a major improvement over the 0% actual growth rate for 2019

2) Based on this, the top 3 sectors would be Energy 19%, Materials 16% & Industrials 14%

3) The downside to this is that big boosts in EPS during 2020 may be already priced in. If so, any earnings disappointments may send their shares tumbling.

Based on this, i think any stock which is trading at its peak now should be avoided. That leaves only Exxon Mobil and Bristol Myers are worthy buys based on current prices.

Missed the boat. Too risky to go in now i think.

How many of you bought Luckin Coffee? I entered at $19.90 back in June 2019 and stock is up 122% to date.

Im considering an entry into ROKU

1) TV streaming platform
2) Market cap $15.8 bil
3) Best performing tech stock of 2019
3) 36% increase in the number of homes subscribing to ROKU in 2019
4) 68% increase in video streaming hours in past 12 months
5) ROKU returned 238% vs 23% for the US entertainment industry last year
6) Forecast annual earnings growth: 48% vs 11.7% for industry
7) Forecast annual revenue growth: 24% vs 11% for industry
8) ROKU currently unprofitable but expected to become profitable within 3 years
9) ROKU's short term assets ($686mil) exceed its long term liabilities ($156mil)
10) Price jumped from low of $27 in Dec 2018 to a high of $177 in Sept 2019
11) Price has corrected to $133. Im considering an entry between $
12) Im considering an entry either at $116 (Nov 2019 low) or $127 (Dec 2019 low)

Im also looking at Shopify and Snap. Thoughts?

I use Maybank too but fees don't really matter to me because im not trading stocks. Im focused on the buy and hold strategy. Stock trading is far too risky and prone to the gambling cancer.

Ill only consider going in around $450. The rise past 1 month was too sharp and sudden to be sustainable.

Sorry what do u mean by withholding tax? I thought we are not subjext to any tax

I guess not a big impact since we arent taxed on capital gains of the stock and only taxed on the dividends.

Another record high in the stock market last night. I wonder how long this bullrun will last. Probably a big correction looming closer to the US Presidential elections or just after.

The risk with the stock market now has little to do with the trade war or other geopolitical risks. Its all about the numbers specifically stock valuations and the risk/reward ratio which is growing increasingly counter flow to the bullish stock market.

Majority of the new investors in the stock market today are going in because of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and is resulting in an unnatural build up of buying power that cannot be sustained long term. This is classic makings of a bubble and we all know that the bigger the bubble gets the larger the bust will be.

Just look at the S&P500 chart. Its near vertical. History has proven that any chart with a near vertical acceleration normally reaches a point where sellers outweigh buyers and the crumble begins. This risk is highlighted by the number of put options on the S&P500 which is at historical levels currently which is similar to the levels last seen in Jan 2018 before the correction. Jan 2018 was the best month in 2 years but the market corrected 12% in just 2 weeks in Feb 2018 before ramping up again. But investors who thought Feb/March 2018 was the bottom and rushed into the market in April 2018 got a pretty good ride until Dec 2018 before the almost 20% correction came and it took just 3 weeks to wipe out the entire year's gains. Most major stocks were down between 15-20% in a month. It was a bloodbath.

Most ppl make the mistake of thinking a correction can be timed and its usually due to a negative preceding event. But history has proven that the usual preceding event is actually an extraordinary monthly bull run. We had that month in Dec 2019 and its continuing in Jan 2020 as we speak. So to say that the world is at peace so therefore there is little chance of a market correction taking place is incorrect.

The market now has long moved from being valuation driven to being momentum driven mainly by investors with the FOMO syndrome. Company valuations have gone up while earnings have dropped. Continuing earnings decline in Q4 2019 will mark the 4th straight quarter of annual declines. That’s bad news for the stock market because the S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings multiple has now increased to 19 which is higher than the 10-year historical average of 15. The US is officially in an earnings recession. This may not be the only catalyst for a correction but its surely a strong warning sign.

Im not saying a crash is going to happen but i am echoing a cautious sentiment that we need to be prudent with our buying of stocks. Jumping into stocks like TESLA, etc at its peak is pure greed. The best investors in the stock market who made really good gains were those who focused on a long term plan rather than embarking on an impromptu buying spree. Most of those jumping into stocks at peak now do not have the risk appetite to hold on to these stocks when they correct 15-20%. They will start jumping off the train in large numbers at the first sign of trouble. It is this action which brings down the market faster.

As Warren Buffet once said, 'Don't buy a stock if you don't intend to hold it for 10 years'. He isn't referring to the actual act of holding a stock for 10 years but rather the thought process that goes into making a decision to choose and hold a particular stock long term.

There is storm on the horizon heading for the US stock market. Timing and intensity unknown but its looming. It may be weeks or months before it hits but it will hit. The question is how strong is your home (stock portfolio) in withstanding this storm?

For me im building my portfolio around defensive stocks with a few growth stocks to take advantage of the tail end of this bull market. But my exposure to the stock market is minimal enough that i don't have to offload any stocks despite say a 30% correction. But im also building a war chest to buy target stocks if they become more affordable at some point in the future.

This post has been edited by cybermaster98: Jan 15 2020, 12:32 PM

Any idea whats a share 'reverse split'? Why do companies do it?

I think we should start sharing, suggesting and discussing possible US stocks to buy together with our reasons for wanting to buy.

That way we can add more depth to this thread.

How do you all analyse and select whoch stocks to buy? Im looking at longer term holding vs short term trading

I generally look at 5 main criteria when selecting stocks:

1) Extension of current price vs 3 year average
2) Technical chart analysis
3) Financial numbers
4) News
5) Insider trading, buying/selling trends

This post has been edited by cybermaster98: Jan 20 2020, 03:03 AM

Can we purchase ETF's like this the same way we purchase US stocks via Maybank?

https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/11/t...uy-in-2020.aspx

https://www.fxstreet.com/analysis/sp-500-in...re-202001211518

The Standard Deviation Indicator in the ultra long term configuration – 200 weekly periods – just hit 319 points.

In May 2015, shortly before the S&P500 fell 337 points (-15.73%) the standard deviation indicator marked 300 points.
In Sept 2018, shortly before the S&P500 fell 598 points (-20.33%), the standard deviation indicator marked 300 points.

This post has been edited by cybermaster98: Jan 21 2020, 11:57 PM