Blue-chip stocks are well known for their quality characteristics such as stability and the ability to weather different economic scenarios.
Investors usually include such stocks to form the bedrock of their investment portfolios.
The great thing is that most blue-chip stocks also dish out a dividend, thus helping you to generate a passive source of income that supplements your earned income.
After the recent earnings season, several blue-chip companies saw their share prices hitting a new 52-week high.
We filtered out three promising ones that you can consider adding to your buy watchlist.
Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68)
Singapore Exchange Limited, or SGX, is Singapore’s only stock exchange operator.
The group operates a platform for the buying and selling of a wide variety of securities such as foreign exchange (FX) contracts, equities, derivatives, bonds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
SGX saw its share price touch a 52-week high of S$10.43 recently and is up close to 6% year-to-date.
The bourse operator released its fiscal 2024 (FY2024) earnings recently for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2024.
Revenue rose 3.1% year on year to S$1.2 billion, buoyed by higher revenue from the Currencies and Commodities division but offset by lower revenue from the equities division.
Adjusted net profit (excluding one-off items) increased by 4.5% year on year to S$525.9 million.
The blue-chip group raised its quarterly dividend from S$0.085 to S$0.09, taking its annualised dividend per share to S$0.36 for FY2025.
Currencies and Commodities trading volumes surged 42.1% year on year to 111.2 million contracts in FY2024, which helped to drive revenue up 23% year on year for this division.
This good performance was offset by lower equity derivatives volumes which fell 7.7% year on year to 159.3 million contracts.
Over at SGX’s FX division, average daily volume (ADV) across the FX franchise has doubled in the last three years, attesting to the success of the group’s platform.
Total notional open interest grew by 76% year on year to US$27.6 billion while the over-the-counter FX ADV hit US$111 billion in FY2024, nearly double of the US$59 billion logged in FY2021.
Looking ahead, SGX plans to forge closer regional partnerships to increase the breadth of its product offering.
The group will also work on growing its FX franchise as it looks for clients across Asia and Europe to come onto its platform.
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings (SGX: BS6)
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, or YZJ, is one of China’s largest private shipbuilders.
The group has four shipyards in Jiangsu province which produce a broad range of commercial vessels such as large containerships, bulk carriers, and LNG carriers.
The shipbuilder’s share price has soared 63% year-to-date and recently hit its 52-week high of S$2.75.
YZJ reported a sparkling set of earnings for the first half of 2024 (1H 2024).
Revenue jumped 15.3% year on year to RMB 13 billion, boosted by more shipbuilding activity along with improved shipping charter rates.
Gross profit climbed 65.1% year on year to RMB 3.5 billion.
Net profit surged 77.2% year on year to RMB 3.1 billion, a new record for the group.
For 1H 2024, YZJ snagged US$8.48 billion worth of contracts, nearly doubling its original objective.
Its order book surged by 39% from US$14.4 billion at the end of 2023 to US$20.15 billion as of 30 June 2024.
Management sees healthy demand growth for containerships, crude oil tankers, LNG carriers and LPG carriers from now till 2029.
Singapore Technologies Engineering (SGX: S63)
Singapore Technologies Engineering, or STE, is a technology, defence, and engineering group with customers across the aerospace, smart city, defence, and public security segments.
The engineering giant’s share price has risen 17.7% year-to-date and recently touched its 52-week and five-year high of S$4.62.
Revenue for 1H 2024 rose 13.5% year on year to S$5.5 billion with operating profit climbing 17.7% year on year to S$522.9 million.
Net profit jumped nearly 20% year on year to S$336.5 million.
STE reported year-on-year revenue increases across all its three segments.
The engineering firm also declared an interim quarterly dividend of S$0.04 per share, taking its annualised dividend to S$0.16.
The group’s contract win momentum remained strong with a total of S$6.1 billion in new contracts secured in 1H 2024.
STE’s order book grew to S$27.9 billion as of 30 June 2024, up slightly from the S$27.7 billion at the end of the previous quarter.
Around S$4.9 billion of its order book is expected to be delivered for the rest of this year.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Singapore Exchange Limited.
