Sea, Grab, Mandiri are Asean’s most-watched stocks: Macquarie
Resumption in investment cycle to boost the region’s corporate performance, but macro tailwinds remain uneven
[SINGAPORE] Singapore’s Sea, Grab and Indonesia’s Bank Mandiri are the hottest names among investors in Asean, Macquarie Equity Research found at its 16th annual Asean conference in August.
Of the 51 regional companies present, Sea and Grab garnered the most attention from an audience of over 300 investors, the bank noted in its conference highlights report on Monday (Aug 25). Sea executives held 52 meetings with investors, while Grab met with 47 investors.
Macquarie’s analysts noted that New York-listed Sea, which operates verticals across e-commerce, digital finance and gaming, recorded strong performance across all three in its second-quarter earnings report.
Grab, the Nasdaq-listed super app, had announced in a July earnings call that it intended to lean into more affordable offerings across its delivery and mobility lines in order to drive volumes.
Company executives were posed questions by conference attendees on the impact on margins, but the platform’s management reiterated its focus on absolute profitability, the report noted.
Indonesia’s largest lender, Bank Mandiri, rounded out the top three with 37 meeting requests. Net interest margins have remained flat despite headwinds from easing reference rates, while lending competition has eased, the bank’s executives told investors at Macquarie’s conference.
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However, uncertainty remains over the extent of Mandiri’s involvement in the government-backed “Red-White cooperatives” loans, a scheme aimed at broadening grassroots access to credit, where details on risk-sharing and funding costs remain unclear.
Beyond headline names, investors sought the most meetings with Singapore blue-chips Sembcorp Industries, with 35 requests, and DBS with 34. These were followed by Philippine shipping company International Container Terminal Services with 27 meetings.
Macquarie noted that investors also showed interest in several small and mid-cap regional names.
Among the top 10 companies investors at the conference requested to meet with were Singapore-based digital banking platform iFast and the Philippines’ Jollibee Foods. Both were among Macquarie’s regional top picks, with “outperform” ratings.
Jollibee has continued to gain traction internationally, with Macquarie analyst Karisa Magpayo noting a return to the black for sales growth in China and healthy performances outside Asia.
Uneven macro environments
Macquarie said policymakers and investors at the conference expressed growing confidence in the region’s macroeconomic environment.
Investors in Indonesia expressed optimism in the country’s corporate performance, with targeted investments from sovereign wealth fund Danantara and a recovering macroeconomic environment garnering attention at the conference. Names such as Telkom Indonesia and auto manufacturer Astra International drew strong investor interest – and “outperform” ratings from the bank.
An uplift in the healthcare sector may also be on the cards as one of Danantara’s priority sectors. This comes as companies such as hospital operator Mitra Keluarga have expressed a favourable sector outcome, with expectations of higher universal healthcare allocations in 2026.
On Malaysia, Macquarie’s head of Malaysia research Andrew San said investors maintained confidence in economic fundamentals being more resilient than what market performance suggested.
Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz noted in his keynote speech that regional cooperation will be a key focus for Malaysia in its role as Asean chair. This includes goals to boost intra-Asean trade beyond its present 23 per cent share, “albeit of an ever-increasing pie”.
The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone remains a priority for both Malaysia and Singapore’s policymakers, where the creation of a hinterland would ultimately draw foreign direct investment (FDI) into the region, said Jayden Vantarakis, Macquarie’s head of Asean and Singapore research.
Such policy moves into higher-value industries, as well as readjustments in supply chains, are expected to boost the region’s incoming investment.
“A resumption of the investment cycle was a key thematic,” noted Vantarakis. “We expect sequential annual increases in FDI (into the region) over the next three years.” The bank projects a total of US$342 billion in FDI into Asean in 2027, up from US$272 billion in 2024.
Investors, however, remain mixed on the Philippines’ market. “We believe this boils down to a lack of a unique country-specific catalyst,” said Macquarie’s head of Philippines research Gilbert Lopez, with the country experiencing similar tariff rates to the rest of the region, while a rate cut fails to boost confidence.
Likewise for Thailand, an ongoing political crisis and cross-sector market underperformance continues to unnerve investors in Thai equities, Macquarie observed. “Most investors we spoke to had a neutral weighting on Thailand, with some underweight,” said head of Thailand research Kaushal Ladha. “Investors agreed that there has been no real fundamental change in the economy.”
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