Philippine Stock Market Analysis (As of November 29, 2024). Watchlist: PLUS

Philippine Stock Exchange Index (As of November 29, 2024)

See you at 6200. Nothing much to look at here for now for major index stocks. So either look at the smaller companies which may buck the trend or at the crypto market which is on a bullish run.

Will the Philippine Peso (PHP) continue to depreciate beyond Php60 vs the US Dollar?

The PHP did flirt weakening near the Php60 area; however has gained a bit of strength the past few days. The central bank has always said that peso depreciation is not much of a concern, unless the drops are sharp and continuing. They will let the market decide.

Looking at the chart, there seems to be strong resistance at Php60, so hopefully PHP strengthens further, just not sure by how much. I look forward to its correction, let's see where it will settle in the coming weeks.

This week's watchlist: DigiPlus Interactive Corporation [PSE:PLUS]

One of my brokers put this stock at its "Stocks to Watch List" since last week and eventually released a "Trade" recommendation last Monday. The charts are looking good as it is trading within a tight Bollinger band and just recently has crossed its upper bands. Broker's target price is Php24 though which right now gives just around 10% potential reward.

What's interesting is that its earnings have increased greatly by 3-5x its annual revenue starting 2023. Apparently, this stock has been renamed from LR (Leisure & Resorts World Corporation) to PLUS (DigiPlus). They have pivoting from the traditional the gaming business (e.g. Bingo Parlors, Hotel Casinos) towards digital gaming (e.g. PAGCOR eGames, sports betting, online bingo, etc).

I've heard most about Bingo Plus as they are being heavily advertised now with big-name local celebrities (e.g. Piolo Pascual, Maine Mendoza, etc). There seems to be a lot of online gaming platforms being set up, so far Digiplus claims almost 50% of the total market share.

It's just year 2 since their transition and they plan to introduce more concepts like ArenaPlus for sports betting. It would be interesting to see if they'd be able to add more success after online Bingo. The stock's price already increased by 150%, so is there still room for capital appreciation at this stage? Hence, I agree with broker's assessment to just trade this stock for now as the chart is still looking good.

I don't encourage nor promote gambling since it's statistically designed for gamblers to lose money ("House always wins"). I do find it interesting to see this digital transformation success of a local company. I guess a gaming company would show the way and the rest of the industries follow suit as soon as possible. Let's see if I can ride its wave or just see the price movement from afar.