Earnings Season: Do SGX and Keppel Still Have Room to Run?

Tiger_SG
02-04 23:00

As the Straits Times Index (STI) recently hit a new intraday high, market attention is now locked on two major Singapore blue chips reporting earnings on 5 Feb 2026: SGX Group and Keppel Ltd.

1) $SGX(S68.SI)$: High Valuation, Even Higher Expectations

SGX is set to report earnings on 5 Feb. As of 3 Feb 2026 (intraday), the stock traded at S$18.13, up +2.84%, with volume surging to 3.37M shares — significantly above its usual average.

The market is clearly positioning for a strong print.

EPS (previous period): S$0.60
Strong profitability: Gross margin at 74.31%, net margin at 47.28%
Solid cash flow: Operating cash flow per share at S$0.81, comfortably supporting its S$0.39 dividend per share

Valuation & Risk

SGX is currently trading at a meaningful premium:

SGX P/E = 29.27 vs Sector Avg P/E = 14.28

While its ROE of 30.62% helps justify a near-30x earnings multiple, it also means the market has very little tolerance for an earnings miss.

Here are the key angles investors will likely focus on:

Derivatives & data services revenue: Watch trading income trends and data services growth — both are critical to margin expansion.
Cost & recurring revenue mix: The market will pay close attention to the share of recurring revenue driven by connectivity and data subscriptions.

2) $Keppel(BN4.SI)$: Can the Bifrost Cable Ignite Its Transformation Story?

Keppel is expected to report its full-year earnings before market open on 5 Feb. This is more than an earnings report — it’s a real test of its transition toward an asset-light model and its positioning as a digital infrastructure operator.

The Transformation Catalyst: AI Power & Infrastructure

Keppel has been actively reshaping its identity from a traditional conglomerate into an infrastructure asset management company, with a new spotlight on the Bifrost subsea cable system.

Keppel recently disclosed that it signed a Binding Term Sheet with a “global telecom company” to sell the 25-year long-term usage rights (IRU) for a pair of fibres in the Bifrost cable system.

While the company stated the transaction is not expected to have a material impact on earnings this financial year, it does validate Keppel’s ability to monetize strategic infrastructure assets.

With cloud demand accelerating and AI-driven capex expanding rapidly, data centres — and the connectivity layer that supports them (including subsea cables) — are increasingly becoming a core part of Keppel’s valuation narrative.

Earnings Pick

STI is strong, and both companies report on the same day — so let’s do a quick prediction challenge:

After the 5 Feb earnings release, which stock is more likely to hit a “post-earnings high”?

A) SGX (S68.SI) — earnings can still justify the premium 🚀
B) Keppel (BN4.SI) — AI infra / subsea cable narrative re-rates the stock 🔥
C) Both go up (STI momentum lifts all blue chips) 📈
D) Both pull back (already priced in, “sell the news”) 😵

💬Comment your choice + ONE short reason (even 10 words is enough!)

Example:

“A — volume spike shows strong positioning”
or “B — AI infra demand is the real multi-year story”

We’ll come back after earnings to recap the results and see who called it right.

Each participant gets 5 Tiger Coins just for joining.

Each participant who guesses the correct closing price will share 500 Tiger Coins (evenly split).

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