Three Shares That Beat the Market Yesterday

The US stock market closed at a record high as the S&P 500 Index inched up 0.2% to 1,696 points. The Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI), which is still some way off its peak of 3,876 points, closed 0.6% higher at 3,254 points.

Golden Agri Resources (SGX: E5H) rose 1.8% to $0.56. The company, which owns 464,300 hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, will release second-quarter results on 2 August. In the first quarter, Golden Agri’s profits fell by 30% to US$112.8m and investors will be hoping for something better next month.

Golden Agri has been in the spotlight due to its vast palm oil plantations in Indonesia. However, the company has denied any links to the forest fires. It released a press statement stating that it is “absolutely against burning”.

Shares in United Overseas Bank (SGX: U11) climbed 2.3% to $21.77. Last Monday, UOB announced that it plans to issue S$850m worth of non-convertible perpetual securities. The securities will carry a distribution rate of 4.9% per year (amounting to an annual payment of around S$41.7m to holders of the perpetual securities) and can be redeemed by the bank in 2018.

The distribution rate for the securities is also subject to a reset every five years after 23 July 2018 if they are not redeemed by the bank. The distribution rate after the reset would be equal to 3.195% plus the five-year Singapore dollar SOR (Swap Offer Rate).

UOB is pencilled in for second-quarter results on Thursday, 1 August 2013.

Finally, Q&M Dental Group (SGX: QC7) jumped 3.3% to $0.31. The company, which runs dental clinics and centres, has been busy with acquisitions. Two weeks ago, Q&M announced that it had acquired 70% of AR Dental Supplies, a distributor of dental equipment and supplies in Malaysia, for around S$3.4m. AR Dental has been providing support services for Q&M’s Malaysian operations.

With the acquisition, Q&M thinks it will be able to “effectively enhance its presence in the dental supplies distribution market in South East Asia when ARD’s operations are complemented by the distribution companies owned by [the former] in Singapore.”

Q&M also plans to use ADR’s contacts and network to recruit more dentists and dental practices to grow its business.