S'pore stocks: Where giants rule the land

Singapore

LARGE companies on the Singapore Exchange have been delivering better average returns over the past three years than their smaller counterparts, according to a study by The Business Times.

There was also less variance in returns between the larger companies, which managed to outperform despite richer valuations.

The analysis looked at 319 stocks for which Bloomberg data was available as at May 18. The market value of those counters ranged from S$11.4 million for Mary Chia Holdings to S$68.5 billion for Singapore Telecommunications.

The stocks were first ranked by market capitalisation, and then divided into 10 buckets of about 32 stocks each.

Over three years, the bucket with the largest stocks achieved a total return - comprising price appreciation and reinvested dividends - of 40.2 per cent, compared to negative-2.2 per cent for the smallest stocks. The best-performing bucket consisted of stocks with a market cap of S$908 million to S$1.7 billion, delivering a median three-year total return of 70.3 per cent. The median three-year return…