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. If you’re buying MREIT for dividends, the latest numbers deliver the kind of comfort income investors like: a growing rental base, steady cash generation, and distributions that track distributable income almost to the penny. But therein lies the catch. When a REIT is already paying out nearly everything it can , future dividend-per-share growth becomes less about “discipline” and more about whether the business can expand distributable income per share —after interest costs, lease-linked expenses, and dilution.  A strong quarter—driven by assets, not alchemy MREIT’s nine-month story to September 30, 2025, is straightforward: bigger portfolio, higher revenues. Total rev...

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.   If Victorias Milling Company (VMC) were a simple “revenue story,” the latest quarter would have been a celebratory one: consolidated sales climbed to ₱3.235 billion , up from ₱2.511 billion a year earlier.  But the market doesn’t pay dividends in revenues—it pays them in durable margins and cash flow . And this quarter’s defining feature is not growth; it is compression . VMC’s earnings print shows why. Despite higher sales, net income fell to ₱161.5 million from ₱367.9 million , and EPS dropped to ₱0.03 from ₱0.07 . In short: the company moved more product, but kept less profit per peso sold. That is the telltale signature of a margin squeeze—exactly the kind that of...

  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 particular kind of quiet opportunity that shows up when a familiar consumer name gets priced like a mistake. Not a scandal, not a bankruptcy candidate—just… unloved . Monde Nissin (MONDE) feels like that right now. The stock has been orbiting the bottom end of its recent trading band, with market data showing a 52‑week range around ₱5.61 to ₱8.60 and recent prints in the ₱5–₱6 area. At those levels, the conversation changes. You stop debating “what’s the next growth driver?” and start asking a simpler, more investor-friendly question: “Will they keep paying me while I wait?” For dividend-yield investors, that’s the whole game—collect cash distributions whi...

  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.   If there’s one phrase that captures Megawide Construction Corporation’s nine-month performance to September 30, 2025, it’s this: profit resilience amid a cyclical slowdown . The company managed to keep earnings in the black— ₱501 million in net income —even as revenues pulled back to ₱12.3 billion , down ₱4.04 billion year-on-year . That headline result deserves both applause and scrutiny. Applause, because a construction-heavy group surviving a downshift without collapsing margins is not trivial. Scrutiny, because the numbers also reveal an uncomfortable truth: Megawide is still largely tethered to a business that is inherently lumpy, and it is carrying a financing s...

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.   By the numbers, Pryce Corporation (PPC) is having a vintage year. By the market’s temperament, it still trades like it has something to prove. Pryce Corporation’s third-quarter filing reads like the kind of report investors usually reward: nine-month net income surged 35.1% year-on-year to ₱2.99 billion , while revenues rose 10.6% to ₱16.97 billion . The headline isn’t just growth—it’s quality of growth, with profitability ratios moving in the right direction: net margin improved to 20.8% , ROE climbed to 17.33% , and ROA rose to 12.26% . And yet, for all this fundamental muscle, PPC often sits in that familiar Philippine-market category: the steady earner that still looks c...

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 few corporate turnarounds more dramatic than the kind delivered by a commodity tape that suddenly turns generous. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) is living that script today: a miner whose financial statements, long haunted by accumulated losses, are now being rehabilitated by a roaring precious-metals market—especially gold and silver.  The numbers tell the story in bold strokes. For the first nine months of 2025, Lepanto booked ₱3.33 billion in revenues and ₱1.18 billion in net income , a huge leap from the same period a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, Q3 alone produced about ₱407 million in net income, a multi-fold increase versus the prio...

  (Based on PLDT Inc.’s SEC Form 17‑Q for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025, filed Nov. 11, 2025; plus public disclosures on Kayana through Jan. 28, 2026. Not investment advice.) 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. PART 3 — “Kayana: The Data Bet That Could Protect (or Unlock) Dividend Growth” If Part 2 is about spending on towers, fiber, and 5G, then Part 3 is about the quieter bet: data-driven monetization —and that is where Kayana Solutions, Inc. enters the story. Kayana describes itself as a “data-powered digital experience company,” backed by PLDT, Meralco, and MPIC, built to transform customer engagement using data + GenAI , payments , and identity . Its offerings include “Customer 360,” an AI “digital ...

(Based on PLDT Inc.’s SEC Form 17‑Q for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025, filed Nov. 11, 2025; plus public disclosures on Kayana through Jan. 28, 2026. Not investment advice.) 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. PART 2 — “Where the Cash Goes: Network, Fiber, 5G—and the Price of Staying Ahead” A dividend investor’s favorite question is not “How much did they pay?” but “What will they need to spend to keep paying?” On that front, PLDT’s 17‑Q reads like a familiar telecom playbook: spend heavily now to defend the network, monetize data, and keep enterprise growth moving. The headline number: ₱52.1 billion spent on purchases of property and equipment (including capitalized interest) in 9M25—up 7% year‑on‑year. In c...

  (Based on PLDT Inc.’s SEC Form 17‑Q for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025, filed Nov. 11, 2025; plus public disclosures on Kayana through Jan. 28, 2026. Not investment advice.) 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. PART 1 — “The Dividend Machine Still Runs… But It’s Feeling the Heat” There’s a simple reason PLDT (TEL) continues to command attention among income investors: cash generation . In the first nine months of 2025, TEL produced ₱75.8 billion in operating cash flow—up 11% year‑on‑year—while cash dividends paid were about ₱20.6 billion , essentially steady versus the prior year. That is the kind of coverage that reassures dividend holders: the payout isn’t being “imagined” into existence; it’s being fu...