the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. There are rallies that announce themselves with fireworks, and then there are rallies that quietly rearrange the scoreboard for everyone who had the good sense—or the patience—to already be on the field. International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICT) has been the loud kind lately. At ₱680 a share (as of Feb. 20, 2026 ), it’s the sort of valuation that doesn’t just lift a stock—it reshapes the pecking order of portfolios that hold it. And as ICT climbs, the spotlight naturally falls on the usual suspects: the founders, the nominee accounts, the insiders whose names the market knows by heart.  But one of the most interesting beneficiaries isn’t a port operator at...

  We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. The market has been running a split screen: ICTSI’s valuation has been re-rated upward , while SM’s has been marked down —despite both being best-in-class franchises. The cleanest way to describe what’s happening is multiple expansion versus multiple compression : the market is willing to pay more for ICTSI’s earnings stream, and less for SM’s—even if SM remains profitable and resilient. The bridge between price and valuation is always the same question: what did the latest quarter do to conviction? In their 3Q 2025 SEC Form 17-Qs , ICTSI delivered the kind of numbers that investors tend to reward with a higher multiple— double-digit growth, margin lift, and strong operatin...

We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. There’s a certain kind of investor who treats a dividend announcement like a weather report: not because surprises never happen, but because most of the time, patterns win. Filinvest Land, Inc. (FLI) looks set to follow its familiar pattern in 2026— keep the cash dividend flat —not because it can’t pay more, but because the company’s operating reality and capital priorities strongly argue for stability over generosity . Good year, not a “raise-the-dividend” year FLI’s 2025 results were respectable. The company reported ₱25.90 billion in consolidated revenues and other income, up 6% , while net income after tax rose 4% to ₱4.81 billion —a steady performance given high interest rate...

We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. Some days, the market hands you a headline that reads like a business textbook—simple, clean, and undeniably uplifting. Today is one of those days for Emperador Inc. (EMI) , after the company disclosed a fresh tranche of treasury shares sold under its Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) —a move that doesn’t just reward performance, but celebrates it in the most tangible way possible: real equity, real upside, real wealth creation .  At the heart of the story is a number that leaps off the page: ₱7.00 per share . That’s the ESOP strike/acquisition price cited in the company’s ESOP-related treasury-share sales disclosures. And when you set that against EMI’s prevailing market leve...

We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. Filinvest REIT Corp. (FILRT) declared a ₱0.0600 per share cash dividend for February 2026 , payable on March 19, 2026, marking a decline from the ₱0.0620 per share level that investors had seen consistently through most of 2024 and 2025. The lower payout reinforces market concerns that recent asset infusions—while earnings‑accretive at the portfolio level—are dilutive on a per‑share basis . Based on the published dividend history, FILRT’s cash dividend per share has followed a gradual downward trajectory since 2022, with payouts easing from the ₱0.071–₱0.088 range in earlier years to the low ₱0.06 level in 2024–2026. The February 2026 declaration represents the lowest regular qu...

  We’ve been blogging for free. If you enjoy our content, consider supporting us! Disclaimer:  This is for informational purposes and is  not  investment advice. Figures are taken from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios include the author’s calculations based on cited inputs. At a time when Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) chairman Tony Tancaktiong is aggressively expanding overseas—snapping up food and beverage brands across North America, Europe, and Asia—the absence of one very visible local target is becoming increasingly conspicuous: MerryMart Consumer Corp. MerryMart’s share price, now hovering near all‑time lows as shown by its long downward trend since listing, reflects a market that has largely lost faith in founder Injap Sia’s vision of building a nationwide mass‑market retail champion. What makes this skepticism more striking is that, on paper, MerryMart looks like the kind of company JFC could easily buy, fix, and scale. Yet it remains com...