It’s always useful to keep an eye out for interesting corporate developments.
Such developments could act as catalysts or good reasons why a stock may be interesting.
In particular, companies that have reported stronger results this earnings season should come under your radar.
The better performance could be an indication of better things to come amid a sustained recovery post-pandemic.
We feature three stocks that may make it into your buy watchlist for March.
ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited (SGX: C52)
ComfortDelGro, or CDG, is one of the world’s largest transport companies with a fleet of around 34,000 buses, taxis and rental vehicles.
The group also runs light and heavy rail networks in both Singapore and New Zealand while having a presence in Australia, the UK, Ireland, China, and Malaysia.
CDG released its 2022 results and saw a strong recovery after enduring two years of headwinds.
Revenue inched up 7.9% year on year to S$3.8 billion with operating profit jumping 35.1% year on year to S$270 million.
This set of results was achieved despite the government dialling down its reliefs from S$84.6 million in 2021 to S$19.6 million last year.
Operating profit excluding government relief and one-off items such as impairments and asset disposals would have soared 54.1% year on year to S$214.1 million.
Net profit increased by 40.7% year on year to S$173.1 million for the land transport giant.
CDG’s revenue increases were broad-based across all of its divisions except the bus station.
Crucially, its Taxi division saw operating profit nearly triple year on year from S$18.5 million to S$52.1 million as more people went back to work in offices and commuted to malls and other locations.
A final dividend of S$0.0176 was declared, and management has once again declared a special dividend of S$0.0246 to commemorate the group’s 20th anniversary of its listing on the Singapore Exchange.
Around half a year ago, CDG also declared a special dividend of S$0.0141 along with an interim dividend of S$0.0285.
The dividend bonanza means that the 2022 dividend totals S$0.0848, giving its shares a trailing dividend yield of 7.1%.
Excluding the special dividends, the group’s dividend yield would have been 3.8%.
Nordic Group (SGX: MR7)
Nordic is a solutions provider serving the marine, oil and gas, petrochemical, semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries.
The group provides services such as vessel maintenance, repair and overhaul, precision engineering, and scaffolding and insulation services.
Nordic reported a sparkling set of results for 2022 with its revenue jumping 58% year on year to S$162.8 million, an all-time high.
Gross profit climbed 65% year on year as the group saw its gross margin improve from 27% in 2021 to 28.1% in 2022.
Net profit increased by 50% year on year to S$20.9 million.
The better performance was because of maiden contributions from Nordic’s acquisitions along with higher demand for project services in Malaysia.
Nordic also generated S$34.1 million of free cash flow in 2022, more than triple the S$9.2 million in the prior year.
In line with the good results, Nordic has declared a final dividend of S$0.00906, bringing its 2022 dividend to S$0.02068.
This level of dividend is 20% higher than 2021’s total dividend of S$0.0174.
As of 31 December 2022, the group had an order book of around S$232.5 million that will be progressively delivered over three years.
Credit Bureau Asia (SGX: TCU)
Credit Bureau Asia, or CBA, provides credit and risk information to a client base of banks, financial institutions, multinational corporations, and government bodies/public agencies.
The group operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar and has two core divisions providing both consumer and commercial credit risk information.
For 2022, CBA saw revenue edge up 7% year on year to S$48.6 million as the reopening of economies helped the business to enjoy higher business volumes.
Net profit improved by 7.2% year on year to S$8.4 million.
Free cash flow also improved for the business, increasing by 18.4% year on year from S$16.8 million to S$19.9 million.
A final dividend of S$0.017 has been declared, bringing 2022’s total dividend to S$0.034.
Shares of CBA provide a trailing dividend yield of 3.5%.
CBA has not only signed on the existing 30 licensed financial institutions in Singapore but also onboarded all five Singapore-licensed digital banks last year.
These five digital banks will have a positive and material contribution to both revenue and earnings for CBA this year.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
