Investor's Checklist: Business Services

Understand the business model.  Knowing if a company leverages technology, people, or hard assets will provide insight as to the kind of financial results the company may produce.

Look for scale and operating leverage.  These characteristics can provide significant barriers to entry and lead to impressive financial performance.

Look for recurring revenue.  Long-term customer contracts can guarantee certain levels of revenue for years into the future.  This can provide a degree of stability in financial results.


Focus on cash flow.  Investors ultimately earn returns based on a company's cash-generating ability.  Avoid investments that aren't expected to generate adequate cash flow.

Size the market opportunity.  Industries with big, untapped market opportunities provide an attractive environment for high growth.  In addition, companies chasing markets perceived to be big enough to accommodate growth for all industry participants are less likely to compete on price alone.

Examine growth expectations.  Understand what kind of growth rates are incorporated into the share price.  If the rates of growth are unrealistic, avoid the stock.  



Ref:  The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing by Pat Dorsey



Read also:
Investor's Checklist: A Guided Tour of the Market...

Jobstreet

Market Watch

Recent Financial Results

Announcement Date		Financial Yr. End		Qtr	Period End		Revenue RM '000		Profit/Lost RM'000		EPS		Amended
15-Nov-11		31-Dec-11		3	30-Sep-11		36,030		12,232		3.61		-
23-Aug-11		31-Dec-11		2	30-Jun-11		36,226		13,932		4.20		-
18-May-11		31-Dec-11		1	31-Mar-11		33,626		12,156		3.57		-
24-Feb-11		31-Dec-10		4	31-Dec-10		29,355		11,933		3.64		-

High		Low
	Prices 1 Month	2.520	(17-Oct-11)	2.300	(07-Oct-11)
	Prices 3 Months	2.930	(30-Jun-11)	2.300	(07-Oct-11)
	Prices 12 Months	2.990	(24-May-11)	2.300	(07-Oct-11)
	Volume 12 Months	21,524	(05-Jan-11)	2	(28-Sep-11)

Recruitment ads increase on new investments

Tuesday June 14, 2011

Malaysia job ads rose 33% in Q1

By SHARIDAN M. ALI
sharidan@thestar.com.my

Recruitment ads increase on new investments

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia, recently included in the Asia Job Index, recorded a 33% rise in job advertising numbers from January to March this year.

Asia Job Index is published by international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.

According to Robert Walters Malaysia country manager Sally Raj, recruitment advertising levels in Malaysia had gradually increased over the past quarter as companies continued to invest in new business development initiatives to spur growth.

“The region remains something of a safe haven from the effects of the global financial crisis and the Government continues to introduce projects and initiatives for both developing and existing businesses and attracting skilled Malaysians back to meet demand for professional and skilled talents.

“The main challenge for businesses is the ability to retain and attract the best talents,” she said in a statement yesterday.

Quarter on quarter (q-o-q) or year-on-year (y-o-y) comparison were not available for Malaysia as the country is new to the index.

For other countries in the region, Robert Walters noted that hiring levels within China had remained stable over the past quarter, with the number of job advertisements increasing by 3% the first quarter on a on a q-o-q basis.

China's job advertisements for roles in marketing and advertising saw a 11% growth q-o-q as companies looked to maximise sales due to returning consumer confidence.

For Hong Kong, the level of job advertisements remained largely consistent from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter this year, with a rise of only 4% with property management and operations and logistics sectors showing significant growth.

In Singapore, the number of job advertisements grew by 22% q-o-q following strong growth in March, as companies ended any short term recruitment freezes and recruitment levels increased as a result of its recent election.

In Japan, advertising activity slowly gained momentum through the quarter until the devastating earthquake and tsunami of early March.

In the first quarter this year, Japan's job advertisements contracted by 18% from the previous quarter.

South Korea, also a first time entrant in the index, saw job advertising through the quarter increased by 70% from January to March.

In a nutshell, Robert Walters said recruitment advertising volumes in March reached their highest levels since the inception of the Asia Job Index in the second quarter of 2008.

“Recruitment advertising activity has remained steady, rising 2% from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the first quarter this year.

“This is largely due to the effects of the festive period and pending bonus payments, which historically result in a slowdown in hiring activities.

“Y-o-y growth in job advertising remains strong across the region, increasing by 61% from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011, predominantly on the back of strong growth in China and Japan,” it said.

Jobstreet

Date announced 16/11/2010
Quarter 30/09/2010 Qtr 3 FYE 31/12/2010

STOCK Jobstreet C0DE 0058

Price $ 2.9 Curr. ttm-PE 25.48 Curr. DY 1.03%
LFY Div 3.00 DPO ratio 35%
ROE 23.7% PBT Margin 48.9% PAT Margin 31.7%

Rec. qRev 30425 q-q % chg 2% y-y% chq 24%
Rec qPbt 14867 q-q % chg -6% y-y% chq 42%
Rec. qEps 3.06 q-q % chg -13% y-y% chq 25%
ttm-Eps 11.38 q-q % chg 6% y-y% chq 59%

Using VERY CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES:
EPS GR 5% Avg.H PE 21.00 Avg. L PE 12.00
Forecast High Pr 3.05 Forecast Low Pr 1.40 Recent Severe Low Pr 1.40
Current price is at Upper 1/3 of valuation zone.

RISK: Upside 9% Downside 91%
One Year Appreciation Potential 1% Avg. yield 2%
Avg. Total Annual Potential Return (over next 5 years) 3%

CPE/SPE 1.54 P/NTA 6.04 NTA 0.48 SPE 16.50 Rational Pr 1.88


Decision:
Already Owned: Buy, Hold, Sell, Filed; Review (future acq): Filed; Discard: Filed.
Guide: Valuation zones - Lower 1/3 Buy; Mid. 1/3 Maybe; Upper 1/3 Sell.

Aim:
To Buy a bargain: Buy at Lower 1/3 of Valuation Zone
To Minimise risk of Loss: Buy when risk is low i.e UPSIDE GAIN > 75% OR DOWNSIDE RISK <25%
To Double every 5 years: Seek for POTENTIAL RETURN of > 15%/yr.
To Prevent Loss: Sell immediately when fundamentals deteriorate
To Maximise Gain & Reduce Loss: Sell when CPE/SPE > 1.5, when in Upper 1/3 of Valuation Zone & Returns < 15%/yr

A quick look at JobStreet (18.5.2010)

A quick look at JobStreet (18.5.2010)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t_gp8dCkSwqnr86sAMKPM8g&output=html

Jobstreet wins Singapore deal

By Karamjit Singh

Last November, JobStreet.com announced that it had won a tender to supply the Singapore government with an online recruitment service worth S$134,000 (RM325,000) over a period of two years. 

For JobStreet, it was a significant win.  The deal enhances JobStreet's credibility in the Singapore market.  "It was a very competitive bid and to win it against global players just shows the government's trust in us," says CFO Gregory Poarch.

There could also be potential upside in the deal as it will give the company the opportunity to work with about 100 government bodies in Singapore, each of which will have different recruitment needs. 

While Singapore looks good, JobStreet is still behind the market leader, JobsDB.com.

It is also trying harder in China, where it has indirect exposure through its 17% stake in 104 Corp, the leading Taiwanese online recruitment company.  "It is the dominant player in the Taiwanese market and have been in operations since around the time we started in Malaysia," says CEO Mark Chang. 

With so many Taiwanese companies operating in China, 104 Corp has a firm foothold in mainland China, JobStreet has already established itself as a "strong No 1" in the Philippines.  The booming business process outsourcing and contact centre industry there is estimated to create one million new jobs over the next five years. "That's good for our business," says Poarch.

Indeed, with JobStreet only collecting money from companies which post job listings on its website, it is easy to see why it likes its Philippines business.  JobStreet set up in the Philippines about four years after Malaysia and has almost two million users there (meaning resumes posted on its Philippine site) and has about 70% market share, says Poarch.

JobStreet's definition of users is when someone registers on the site, posts his or her resumes and creates a profile of what jobs they would be interested in, and they must leave an email ID where JobStreet can reach them should it find a job match.  But if the email bounces or is full, JobStreet does not consider them a registered user, explains Poarch.  Typically it has 10% of its user base actively seeking jobs, but Poarch notes that in December, this goes down to almost zero as people are waiting for their bonuses.

How has the recession impacted this business?

The company was fortunate to have a near-record cash position and this allowed it to expand while others were scaling down or going into defensive mode. 

It began to see a recovery in companies hiring since last March.  In total, JobStreet had about 5.7 million users at the beginning of 2009 and ended the year with almost 6.8 million users. 

This large number is akin to the circulation of a newspaper which keeps attracting companies to post their listings with JobStreet, notes Poarch.

"It is not a very sexy model but it works for us."  Mark Chang couldn't have put it better.

The Edge Malaysia
January 11, 2010