| There were 193 Singapore-listed stocks that suffered a drop of more than 10%, with losses as high as 92%, over the past 1 year. We culled the list from the stock screener on the SGX website. Let’s talk about some of those which might just surprise us in 2025 with a turnaround. As the saying goes, "the darkest hour is just before dawn." In the truncated list below are 8 possibilities which could be worth watching out for. |
• AEM: Bet on a bounce
After a tough 2023, AEM stock faced a brutal 2024 due to a continued cyclical downturn in the semiconductor industry and its heavy reliance on a major customer, Intel.
Source: SGXBut in Dec 2024, DBS Research stuck its neck out, being the first to call for a buy on the stock.
"We believe that AEM is near an inflexion point and foresee its customer diversification strategy yielding more significant returns starting from 1Q25 onwards."
(See: AEM: DBS sees this stock as a winner; Maybank and UOB urge caution, say Sell. What gives?)
• Cordlife: Cleaned up its act
2024 was a horror year, marked by operational, regulatory, and financial difficulties.
The company’s Singapore operations, its largest revenue contributor, were suspended by the Ministry of Health due to lapses in the storage and handling of cord blood units.
Cordlife implemented corrective measures, including enhanced safety protocols, staff training, and operational oversight.
Will it achieve a full recovery from its reputational loss and see a return to some semblance of normalcy in its business in 2025?
• Hiap Seng Industries: Rising from the ashes
The company was placed under judicial management in 2020 and underwent debt restructuring.
This extinguished its borrowings through a combination of cash settlements and equity issuance in early 2024.
Hiap Seng emerged debt-free and reported a significant turnaround in profitability, driven by increased revenue from maintenance activities for the oil & gas clients, and improved cost controls.
Its 1HFY25 (ended Sept 2024) profit was $4.1 million, including $2.2 million in other gains (including sale of property, plant and equipment).
Its end-Sept cash balance of S$14.9 million is almost equal to its current market cap ($16.9 million).
 • Delfi: Will the sweetness return? It was faced with declining sales and margin pressures, mainly caused by high cocoa prices. A weak rupiah in its key market of Indonesia led to weaker corporate financials reported in USD. But Delfi’s strong balance sheet and consistent dividend payouts underscore its financial resilience and potential for recovery in the coming year. |
• Raffles Medical: Post-Covid blues to go away
Net profit plunged 48.8% year-on-year to S$30.6 million in the first half of the year.
This decline was largely attributed to the cessation of COVID-19-related activities, which had significantly boosted earnings in prior years.
Raffles Medical's hospitals in China, particularly in Shanghai and Chongqing, continued to incur gestational losses.
| • ISDN: Auto-revert to stability? Impacted by a downturn in key sectors -- semiconductors and industrial automation.  Teo Cher Koon, MD of ISDNNet profit declined by -17.4% yoy in 1H2024. ISDN saw certain cyclical industries moving into more stable demand in 1H2024. The Group is cautiously optimistic that the industrial downcycle will continue this improvement towards recovery. Mr Teo Cher Koon, ISDN’s MD and President, said: “We are seeing more stability in our core markets as Asia’s industrial and manufacturing sector navigates the cyclical downturn." |
• Frencken:Semiconductor struggles
Suffered delayed recovery in the global semiconductor industry, which accounts for about 40% of its revenue.
Key customers like ASML and Applied Materials reduced orders amid slower demand.
"We are still overall constructive on the medium -term outlook of the firm. Despite near - term uncertainties affecting its customers, we think Frencken’s efforts to contract new production initiatives by leveraging on its key capabilities, position it well to ride the recovery and growth of its different segments," wrote OCBC Investment Research in a Nov 2024 report.
• Trendlines: Fruits ready for harvest
Its capital-intensive business model and the challenging environment for its portfolio companies were exacerbated by the war that Israel waged in the Middle East.
Trendlines has been encountering delays in realizing exits from its portfolio companies. A non-binding letter of intent for the acquisition of one of its firms fell through in early 2024.
Trendlines implemented organizational and structural changes to focus on its core business while reducing operating costs.
It has several maturing portfolio companies, one of which may achieve an exit in 2025. If it's a big exit, it could do wonders for the stock.
