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Is Tiong Woon A $200M Giant Hiding In Plain Sight? · Investor Exchange

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  At Investor Exchange, it's time for another podcast with your hosts, David and Brenda.
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  Welcome to The Debate. Today, we're looking at a company that quite literally
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  does the heavy lifting for the global economy. We're talking about Chung Wong
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  Corporation, or TWC, a Singapore-based specialist in heavy lift and haulage.
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  And it's really the classic investor's dilemma, isn't it? After that CGS International
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  report from January 16, 2026, the market is completely split.
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  Is TWC an undervalued giant about to wake up or is it a value trap just stuck
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  in a cycle of, you know, operational headaches?
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  I'm taking the position that this is a massive undervaluation opportunity.
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  I see a company that is perfectly positioned for a breakout as these huge infrastructure
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  projects start to move into their next phase.
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  And I'm looking squarely at the execution risks.
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  You see a bargain. I see a company that frankly struggles to manage its own
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  assets. Okay, but look at the price tag first.
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  TWC is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 6.7 times for the fiscal year 2027 forecast.
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  I mean, that's a 45% discount compared to their peers. And this isn't some small shop.
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  We're talking about the 15th largest crane operator on the planet.
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  My core thesis is simple. TWC is a late-cycle beneficiary.
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  All this massive construction, the Chungi Airport expansion,
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  the new marina-based Sands Tower, it's shifting from foundation work to superstructure work.
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  And that is when the real heavy lifting happens.
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  That is TWC's sweet spot. Right. But that discount isn't a gift. It's a warning sign.
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  You're looking at the valuation, but I'm looking at the bleeding operations.
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  In fiscal year 2025, their external equipment rental costs, they tripled to S11.9 million dollars.
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  Which was due to a demand spike. But let me finish that number is critical.
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  It means TWC owns the assets to make these high margins. But because of,
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  well, poor scheduling, they had to go out and rent machines from their competitors to do the job.
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  They effectively torched their own profit advantage. You know,
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  having a massive fleet means nothing if you can't coordinate it efficiently.
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  That's fair. It was a chaotic period, I'll grant you that. But you're looking in the rearview mirror.
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  The superstructure works. The actual vertical building for Changi Terminal 5
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  and the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort 2 are expected to ramp up significantly starting in 2027.
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  So revenue is projected to peak in FY28.
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  This is about patience. The low-margin, slow foundation work is finishing up.
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  The profitable part is about to begin.
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  But foundation delays, they act like a domino effect.
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  If the groundwork slips, the superstructure work gets pushed back.
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  The problem is, TWC still has all this overhead while they wait. I mean, look at FY25.
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  Their utilization rate in India dropped to just 24% specifically because of these kinds of delays.
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  You're basically betting on a perfect timeline in an industry that's notorious for being late.
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  That's exactly why they're pivoting their strategy.
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  They aren't just relying on general construction anymore. They're moving aggressively
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  into these high-margin sectors like petrochemicals and, importantly, data centers.
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  They're offering one-stop solutions, so engineering plus the lifting,
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  all to restore their gross profit margins to over 40%.
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  They are becoming critical to the digital economy, building the data centers that power AI.
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  Margin recovery. We've heard that story before. Shifting to data centers just
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  adds complexity, not some magic fix.
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  You think managing a crane in Singapore is hard? Try coordinating specialized
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  lifts in the Saudi desert for the Neon project, while you're also juggling a fleet in India.
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  That complexity just increases the risk of those expensive external rentals
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  happening all over again.
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  They couldn't balance the fleet in 25. Why do we think they can balance it across
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  three countries now? Because the demand is unprecedented.
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  I mean, we are talking about 30 billion U.S. dollars in data center spending in India alone.
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  And Saudi Arabia's projects are totaling 700 billion. These are nation-building initiatives.
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  TWS has the heavy assets, the cranes over 600 tons, that very few competitors possess.
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  When you need to lift a server-haul cooling unit, you really don't have many
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  options. They have pricing power here. Hmm.
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  But owning a 600-ton crane is a double-edged sword.
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  It just eats cash every single day it sits idle.
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  You can't just use a monster crane for a small job to pay the bills.
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  So this creates massive lumpiness in cash flow.
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  And TWC is competing with global giants in these regions.
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  If they have just a few idle months with those heavy assets,
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  it could destroy an entire quarter's profitability. To summarize my point is
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  that the risk-reward ratio is incredibly favorable.
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  You are buying a top 15 global player at nearly half the price of its peers,
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  just as their primary demand cycle, that superstructure phase, is kicking in.
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  The sheer volume of work in Southeast Asia and the Middle East makes this a
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  strong buy for patient capital that's willing to wait for 2027.
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  And my view remains that TWC is cheap for a reason. It's a bet on execution,
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  and their track record of managing scheduling conflicts is, well, it's shaky.
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  Until they can prove they can stop renting from competitors and utilize their
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  own fleet effectively, it's just a lot of heavy metal gathering rust.
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  A fascinating look at the mechanics of heavy industry investing.
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  That wraps up our discussion for today. Indeed.
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  Thanks for listening. This content is intended to serve strictly and only as
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  an informational, independent, objective summary of recent events and should
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  in no way be interpreted,
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  construed, or relied upon by any party as inside information or financial advice.