CureVac, Pollux Properties, SAP - Go for the latecomers!

Corona dents everywhere

Germany was not the only country to feel the force of the economic downturn. Even Asia, which is admittedly coping better with the pandemic, had to let up in certain sectors. In Singapore, the city-state with the highest standard of living in the Southeast Asian region, the average economic growth in recent years was 13% per year. In the Corona year 2020, however, Singapore's economy shrank by 5.8%, according to estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The commercial real estate market was also hit hard. Here, the price index for office space fell by 10.73%. Private real estate, on the other hand, increased in price by 2.2%. Office rents are expected to drop by around 5% in 2021 due to the expansion of home office spaces and savings measures in rents.

With a tailwind into the future

Singapore's stock returns were also among the weakest in Asia in 2020. However, with the start of global Covid-19 vaccinations, Singapore fund managers expect returns to rise sharply again this year and economic growth to continue ahead of Corona. Despite the Corona Crisis year, Pollux Properties is well-positioned due to its three-legged portfolio. The Company manages properties worth the equivalent of around EUR 200 million in Singapore, with an extensive portfolio of residential properties and office and retail space. Although the real estate development segment came to a standstill in 2020, the Company maintained its sales at around the previous year's level despite Corona thanks to its existing properties and its third pillar, fund management.

Favorable opportunity

The payment of a dividend was waived for 2020. Due to the expected upswing that experts expect for property prices in Singapore in the next few years, we expect dividend payments to increase continuously in the coming years. As of the end of December 2020, the Company had a cash balance of EUR 19.74 million. The portfolio real estate segment is to be strongly expanded. Likewise, the Company is still in the early stages of fund management. Here, the Company is aiming for a significantly higher fund volume. In the long term, Pollux Properties offers an interesting entry opportunity. The stock market value is currently EUR 66.6 million. In addition to the domestic market in Singapore, the shares are also traded in Germany.

Before admission

Compared to other countries, Germany is only progressing at a snail's pace with its vaccination program. Currently, only 3% of the population has been vaccinated twice. In addition to BioNTech, Moderna and the criticized AstraZeneca vaccine, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is expected to be added this week, which should speed up the vaccination process once again. The EU has ordered 200 million units from Johnson & Johnson, with 55 million expected to be ready by the end of June. Next in line should be the second German manufacturer, CureVac AG. The rolling approval procedure was applied for 3 weeks ago. The submission of the data relates to the preclinical and Phase 1 data, which are already with the regulatory authority EMA.

According to the Company's management, good progress is being made in terms of safety and tolerability. The CureVac vaccine should also be effective against mutations. The Tübingen share reached a high of EUR 125 in December, then entered a consolidation phase. Currently, the breakout area at EUR 70 was tested, which has already been held several times. Due to further positive news flow, the share is striving for the annual high of EUR 110. The stock is currently attractive as a trading position.

When will the gap close?

After the third quarter's disappointing figures, the price gap at around EUR 125 still needs to be closed for the software provider SAP. The Walldorf-based Company is currently trading at EUR 105, around EUR 5 below the breakout level. While SAP was still struggling with the weakened cloud business last year, the competition made extremely successful progress in this business. Oracle, for example, reported strong quarterly figures due to its strong cloud business with IT applications and storage space on the Internet. At the bottom line, the Group earned EUR 5.0 billion, EUR 4.2 billion in the three months to the end of February, almost twice as much as a year ago.

The figures for SAP subsidiary Qualtrics were also strong. It significantly reduced its loss in the fourth quarter. Subscription revenue rose by a third to USD 160.4 million in the quarter. The Nasdaq-listed subsidiary posted a net loss of USD 14.5 million, or USD 0.03 per share, in the final quarter, compared with a loss of USD 147.3 million, or USD 0.35 per share, in the same period the previous year. Analysts were expecting significantly lower earnings.