Vietnam stock slide impact: just 8 stocks above $4

Consecutive sharp drops have seen almost all Vietnamese stocks slide, with only eight trading above VND100,000 ($4) per share on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

Despite positive information about third-quarter GDP and inflation, Vietnam's stock market has remained negative. In the first half of October, the benchmark VN-Index had five losing sessions out of nine, standing at 1,050.99 points at the end of Thursday’s session, down 8% compared to the beginning of the month and 29.3% from the beginning of the year.

VCF of Vinacafe Bien Hoa tops the list of eight most expensive stocks in Vietnam at present, with a market price of VND236,900 ($9.8) per share on Thursday, October 13, up 1% from the beginning of the year. The company’s capitalization now stands at nearly VND6.3 trillion ($261 million).

However, this stock's liquidity has always remained at a very low level, with a trading volume of only a few hundred shares per session due to ownership concentration.

Currently, Masan Beverage, a subsidiary of giant local conglomerate Masan Group, holds a 98.79% stake of Vinacafe Bien Hoa.

SAB of Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) comes second with a closing price Thursday at VND190,000 ($7.9) per share, up 26% compared to the beginning of the year. The firm’s capitalization is about VND121.8 trillion ($5 billion).

With more than 140 years of experience, Sabeco owns famous Vietnamese beer brands like Saigon and 333. It holds the largest market share in the Vietnamese beer market and is one of the leading beer companies in Southeast Asia.

WCS of Western Coach Station JSC - a small enterprise with a charter capital of VND25 billion ($1.04 million) also holds a place in this list. WCS is traded at around VND156,000 ($6.5) per share, down 15.6% compared to the beginning of the year. Its market capitalization is currently at VND390 billion ($16.2 million).

Established in 1973, Western Coach Station JSC was known for its high annual cash dividend rate, 400% in 2018 and 516% in 2019. However, the 2022 rate dropped to 20%, or VND2,000 per share due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, WCS has set a target of more than VND100 billion ($4.14 million) in revenue and more than VND34 billion in after-tax profit, 82% and 2.8 times higher than the 2021 figures, respectively.

The fourth place belongs to SLS of the Son La Sugar JSC with the closing price Thursday at VND126,200 ($5.23) per share, down 20% compared to the beginning of the year, and a capitalization of nearly VND1.5 trillion ($62.15 million).

In fifth place is VJC of Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company at VND108,700 per share, down 14% compared to the year’s beginning and capitalization of over VND56.9 trillion ($2.36 billion).

The company has a charter capital of VND5.4 trillion. It plans to issue 119.1 million shares to pay 2021 dividend at the rate of 20% and raise its charter capital VND7.15 trillion ($296.3 million), thus maintaining the third position among Vietnamese airlines.

The last three are GAS of PV Gas, a subsidiary of the state-owned Petrovietnam, PDN of Dong Nai Port JSC, and PNJ of Phu Nhuan Jewelry JSC, with respective market prices of VND108,000 ($4.47), VND107,100 and VND104,500 at the end of the Thursday session.