Is illiquidity bad?

AN illiquid stock, to paraphrase a conversation I once had with a value fund manager, could be a nice girl next door. She may not be interested in dating now, but does that mean she is not marriage material?

While other markets now seem more exciting, there are a number of relatively illiquid, small-sized stocks in the Singapore market that might still be intriguing buys.

These companies trade at relatively cheap valuation metrics when compared to their larger peers. For example, they are valued at five times earnings. Or they might be valued at a discount to their book value.

These stocks tend to be…