The top 10 recommendations in Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2010 guidebook

The world's largest travel guide book and digital media publisher Lonely Planet has released their 208 pages Best in Travel 2010 guidebook, and you can find it in Amazon.com online bookstore.

Being the 5th in their annual collection of the best places to go and best things to do for the year ahead, this traveller's guidebook highlighted 850 trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for year 2010.

"Malaysia is a clever choice for travellers on the lookout for a bargain”, they commented in the guidebook.

And here are their picks:

Top countries:

• El Salvador
• Germany
• Greece
• Malaysia
• Morocco
• Nepal
• New Zealand
• Portugal
• Suriname
• United States

Top regions:

• Alsace, France
• Bali, Indonesia
• Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
• Goa, India
• Koh Kong Conservation Corridor, Cambodia
• Lake Baikal, Russia
• Oaxaca, Mexico
• Southern Africa
• The Lake District, England
• Southwest Western Australia

Top cities:

• Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Charleston, United States
• Cork, Ireland
• Cuenca, Ecuador
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Kyoto, Japan
• Lecce, Italy
• Sarajevo, Bosnia
• Singapore
• Vancouver, Canada

8 common technology capabilities that IT organization needs

The technology capabilities that IT organization needs might form a very wide and deep list, varying based on the business strategies in place.

Richard Brennan, managing director of Denver-based technology strategy and advisory firm Tipperary Partners, has come out with a list of 8 common technology capabilities for our reference.

1. Operational: Expert in operating systems, networks, data centers; scaling them efficiently while appropriately managing risks.
2. Development: Expert in leveraging the appropriate technology to code and deploy complex systems.
3. Innovative: Expert at introducing technologies and processes.
4. Project management: Expert at managing and delivering complex projects within budget and timeframe.
5. Architectural: Expert in designing reliable, scalable and extensible applications and systems.
6. Data management: Expert at collecting, managing, organizing and providing access to data.
7. Process: Expert in establishing and managing operational and business processes.
8. Agile: Expert in reacting quickly to the changing technical/business environment.
   

This list is good enough for organizations to use as reference to determine and define technology capabilities of their own need. It is also a good evaluation/assessment list for both employers and employees.

Bear in mind that we might not be able to master in all of them. It is better to pick at most three to four items in the list and excel in them.

Are you willing to buy Maxis IPO for RM5.20 at PE 17?

Maxis, after privatized and delisted for some times, is coming back to KLSE again with a new IPO.

According to the latest news, they will not be issuing new shares, but will offer 2.25 billion shares, representing 30% of its existing share capital. The estimated IPO price is RM5.20 per share.

With this information, let's do some calculation.

The total shares of Maxis is 2.25 billion / 30% = 7.5 billion.

For your information, Maxis made a revenue of RM8.45 billion and net profit of RM2.4 billion in 2008. For the 1st half year of 2009, revenue is RM4.24 billion and net profit is RM1.14 billion.

Let's estimate the EPS of Maxis now.

I'll estimate the net profit with the following simple guessing formula:

Multiply the half year net profit of 2009 by 2 to get a full year figure.

1.14 x 2 = 2.28

With this, the EPS will be 2.28/7.5 = 0.304

If the IPO price is 5.20, then the PE will be 5.2/0.304 = 17.11

Maxis stated that they plan to give back 75% of net profit as dividend. So the dividend will be around 0.304 x 75% = 0.228.

And the estimated DY will then be 0.228/5.20 = 4.38%

So, are you willing to buy Maxis IPO at the PE of around 17?

I think they come out with the proposed IPO price by referencing to Digi (6947), which currently has a PE of around 15.

Currently, even Digi doesn't seem attractive to me, so why should I buy Maxis at a higher PE and lower DY? This IPO is not attractive to me from the fundamental perspective.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in Bursa Malaysia.