MANILA: As foreign investors exit Philippine equities at a record pace amid the sell-off brought on by the coronavirus, some domestic fund managers are scooping up blue-chip bargains.
“You will never be able to catch the bottom, so if you believe in the company and you have the cash, then pick up the name that you like,” said Oleta, who helps manage about US$2 billion.Overseas investors have pulled US$373 million from Philippine equities from end-2019 through yesterday, a record outflow to start a year, based on data going back to 2000.
The index is trading at about 13.4 times earnings projected for the next 12 months, the cheapest since January 2012 and a discount to the five-year average of 17.1 times, data compiled by Bloomberg show.