The next Amara? Stamford Land (SGX: H07)
Undervalued, insider buying and top holding of Morph Investments
Picking stocks is dangerous for your wealth. Look away now, Noo-Noo.
Stamford Land recently popped up on my radar again after being mentioned on NextInsight[1] and so I took a closer look.
3 things stand out: clear undervaluation, insider buying and it being Morph’s largest position.
Undervaluation
I’ve only considered Stamford Land’s freehold hotels here, which total ~1.2k keys and ignored the leasehold Brisbane hotel as a margin of safety. Current share price implies a price per key of AUD100k(!)
Based on the balance sheet as of Mar ’25, I consider only the investment properties, cash and total liabilities.
Hotel rooms in Australia typically go for AUD300k[2] per key today – if that happens, we could see an undervaluation of ~30%.
Stamford Land’s hotels are outdated and in severe need of capex; nonetheless chatgpt says these are in prime locations and should command pricing of up to AUD900k - the value should pop if such pricing materializes.
Insider buying
“There are many reasons an insider sells, but only one reason an insider buys — they think the stock is going up.”
C K Ow (the executive chairman) has been buying almost weekly since July at prices ranging from $0.42 to $0.43. His stake today is ~46%, up from ~42% in June. His daughter holds ~11%. Thus, they hold ~57% of the company.
It is not difficult to imagine the options at play here: take-private with a PE company who can provide the capex to refurb, rebrand the hotels and enjoy better earnings.
Top holding of Morph
As I recently shared in the below article, Stamford Land has been the top holding of privatization specialist Morph Investments (since Q2 2023) at 18% of the portfolio.
If anything, it gives one comfort that at least one other fund sees value.
Was it also happenstance that Morph was the 4th largest shareholder of Amara prior to their privatisation? :)
Risk - value trap
The main risk here is whether this is a value trap or not. Stamford Land does not have a good track record of shareholder value here: see low dividend (1% yield), lawsuit against minorities[3] and deletion of forum threads.
Thus, the discount on the shares could well be justified – the value of these hotels may never be passed thru to minorities. This is mitigated with the insider buying and the presence of Morph on the shareholder register.
All in all, I think anyone buying the shares will need to tan ku ku (wait long long in Hokkien) for the payout - this is a question of when not how.
[1] https://www.nextinsight.net/story-archive-mainmenu-60/948-2025/16347-this-company-is-cash-rich-owns-undervalued-hotels-and-offers-margin-of-safety
[2] https://www.propertycouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Are-We-There-Yet-Tracking-Hotel-Demand-and-the-Road-to-Supply-3.pdf
[3] https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/stamford-land-and-mano-sabnani-reach-amicable-settlement