OREANDA-NEWS. As a regional and global hub for companies to do business, transportation is an important part of Singapore’s economy. While technology is moving services around the world, transportation continues to move people, capital goods and consumer products across the globe. In the “Economic Survey of Singapore Third Quarter 2015” released by the Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI), the Transportation & Storage industry generated a 1.5% YoY increase in GDP, from S$6.3 billion in 3Q 2014 to S$6.4 billion in 3Q 2015. 

Singapore’s Transport Sector

The 30 Transport stocks listed on SGX have a combined market capitalisation of S$48.5 billion, which account for 5.5% of the combined market capitalisation of all stocks in Singapore. This compares to the transportation sectors of Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia, which represent 6.4%, 5.2%, 2.8% and 1.7% of their respective parent indices.

The 10 largest active transportation stocks listed on Singapore Exchange (SGX) by market value have a combined market capitalisation of S$44.7 billion, and represent more than 90% of Singapore’s Transport sector. This includes five components of the Straits Times Index (STI) – Singapore Airlines, ComfortDelGro Corporation, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, SATS and SIA Engineering Company. The other five are Singapore Post, Neptune Orient Lines, SMRT Corporation, China Merchants Holdings (Pacific) and Tiger Airways Holdings.

These 10 stocks have mixed revenue streams, and in more than one instance, can also be considered consumer plays. For instance, in their most recent Annual Reports, SATS reported 60% of its revenue to Food Solutions and 40% to Airport Services, while Singapore Post reported 51% of its revenue to Mail.

The MSCI World Transportation Index comprises global stocks categorised to the Transportation sector, and has a combined market capitalisation of US$945.5 billion. The index generated a 2015 total negative return of 2.7% in Singapore Dollar terms. In comparison, the 10 largest Transportation stocks on SGX have outperformed the index, averaging an 11.8% total return in 2015.

The five best performers of the 10 in 2015 were Tiger Airways Holdings, Neptune Orient Lines, SATS, ComfortDelGro Corporation and China Merchants Holdings (Pacific). These five stocks averaged a 30.7% total return over the past calendar year.

The 10 largest Transportation stocks are detailed in the table below, and are sorted according to market capitalisation. Click on the stock name to access its profile on SGX StockFacts.

As of Monday’s close, the 10 stocks above maintained price-earnings (P/E) and price-book (P/B) ratios of 19.8 and 2.3 respectively, and were trading at 16.4% below their 12-month highs and 24.5% above their 12-month lows.

The next 10 largest capitalised stocks that represent the transport sector after those tabled above are CWT, Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation, SBS Transit, Vibrant Group, Poh Tiong Choon, Singapore Shipping Corporation, Courage Marine Group, Samudera Shipping Line, Penguin International and Rickmers Maritime.