Quick takes from around the market

The BIR [link] has had its special audit powers greatly reduced by the Department of Finance. Last week’s weird BIR x Megaworld [MEG 2.85] thing was (apparently) the BIR’s ham-fisted attempt to compel MEG to submit to an audit of some segment of its business. Anything that increases certainty (and reduces the chance of getting sniped by the company’s buy-back program while the PSE sleeps at the halt switch) is good for investors.
 

Raslag [ASLAG 2.00 pre-IPO] [link] offer period starts today. The IPO stock is available for purchase through your broker, and through the PSE’s portal for small investors, PSE EASy. ASLAG recently announced that it would stick with the P2.00/share price that it set in its preliminary documents. No first-customer discounts from this solar power producer!
 

BDO [BDO 128.90 2.20%] [link] clarified that the BSP did not punish the bank with monetary sanctions for its role in the hacked accounts issue. BDO did not elaborate on what the sanctions actually were, only saying that they weren’t monetary in nature, and that they won’t have a material impact on the business of the bank. Another tap on the wrist for our banking industry? Did they even have to pinky-swear to do better?
 

COL Financial [COL 3.60 2.17%] [link] Q1 profit slumped 75% y/y to P90 million, due to the “high base” effect of Q1/21’s “basurapalooza”, when trash-tier stocks (and some other pump-friendly stocks like AC Energy [ACEN 7.06 0.86%]) were going up 50% per day. Around 80% of COL’s revenues came from commissions on our trades, but the brokerage feels pretty passive in terms of what it can do to encourage greater use of its platform, and this passivity makes me wonder how well COL will respond to the global trend towards lower commissions on trades.
 

Suntrust Home Developers [SUN 1.02] [link] got frisky with its fonts. SUN submitted its Q1 earnings report using a daring font blend of COOPER and IMPACT (check the link here). Carefully designed to distract from the accelerating losses, or just hilariously coincidental? Maybe I read too many of these, but I’m all about these little bits of fun.

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Merkado Barkada's opinions are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any particular stock. These daily articles are not updated with new information, so each investor must do his or her own due diligence before trading, as the facts and figures in each particular article may have changed.

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