Recently, one of my NS friends told me that a counter he holds, Lion Asiapac, is giving out huge dividends of $0.10/share (XD: 13th July 2010). So, I was interested in getting hold of the stock if it was a good buy after all. I went to research it to find out if it was worth buying even for the short-term. It does not closely fit the value investing tenants though. Current share price is at $0.34. Here goes the research:
Before XD
Previous massive dividend paid on 26th April 2010: $0.15/share. This amounts to a total of $60.828 mil (the total outstanding shares used for all the calculations: 405,523,000 ). The company announced on 20th May that it will invest $9.3 mil investment into Mindax Ltd- an ASX-listed company involved in minerals exploration. $60.828 mil+$9.3 mil=$70.128 mil (total paid for dividends and investment). In the balance sheet as of 31/3/2010, the cash stands at $188.416 mil. So, $188.416 mil-$70.128 mil= $118.288 mil. This figure divided by total outstanding shares will give a cash of $0.292/share. The NAV at this point of time is $0.369 (total assets-total liabilities/outstanding shares). Their current ratio is stand at 17.91, assuming no changes to other components like PPE, trade payables and borrowings.
After XD (after 13th July 2010)
After the $0.10/share dividends are given off, the cash balance in their balance sheet will surely drop. A total of $40.552 mil will be exhausted after giving the dividends. Cash balance left on balance sheet will be $77.736 mil. The cash/share will stand at $0.192/share. The NAV will stand at $0.269. Their current ratio will stand at 11.49, assuming no changes to other components like PPE, trade payables and borrowings.
On 1st July, when the announcement was made the previous day that $0.10/share dividends will be given off, the share price shot up 30.8% from $0.26 to $0.34 (refer to image below)! On hindsight, it would have been awesome to hold the stock before 30th Jun to capitalize on the capital gain and dividends. Also, when bought at $0.26, there was a huge margin of safety as NAV and cash/share were all above $0.26. Now, is it worth it to buy the stock? In my opinion, it will be quite a risky buy. If I were to buy in, I would buy at $0.33 as comparing to the previous round of dividends, the lowest the stock came down was 1 cent (refer to image below, highlighted in purple). At $0.33, it’s a 11.8% margin of safety (MOS) from the NAV of $0.369. Also, there might be a possibility of next round of ‘jumbo’ dividends as the current ratio will stand at a high of 11.49 with negligible debt at $361,000. Management may give out dividends again if they are not going to use it for investments or expansion. As I said at the start, this is not a value investment strategy.
The best price to buy the stock now will be at $0.28 which is at 25% MOS from its NAV and $0.28 is also below the cash/share of $0.292. At $0.28, I feel it will be a risk-free purchase considering the management may give out a 3rd round of dividends. Looking at the technicals, the RSI is at an overbought level as well.
If I were to buy at $0.33, I would have stringent cut-loss levels as well to make sure the dividends I receive do not get eroded.
Lionapac Techincals:
Dividend infomation:
*Disclaimer: This post is not a recommendation to buy Lion Asiapac. The writer will not take any responsibility arising from any losses incurred by the individual by buying the stock.
SudhanP.com 