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This week in the stock market

Chart of the week as of March 3, 2025

Puregold’s broadly strong presence

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Puregold Price Club is poised to benefit from better household spending, with consumption supported by upcoming elections, lower policy rates, and real wages catching up to inflation. Additionally, PGOLD has a strong exposure in both retail and premium markets, giving it a better advantage amid current economic circumstances.

(Disclaimer: This is general investment information only and does not constitute an offer or guarantee, with all investment decisions made at your own risk. The bank takes no responsibility for any potential losses.)

Stock Watch: Puregold, Globe, SM Prime

Makati cityscape at night with lights from buildings and cars.

For the first half of 2025, staying in liquid and quality stock names shall be the core strategy given the fragile but improving economic outlook. From a stock picking standpoint, companies favored include those that could benefit from the current economic backdrop, has exposure to resilient consumer segments, earnings visibility, and strong cash flow generation capable of weathering fast inflation and higher interest rates. Given economic and financial-market developments, banks, utilities, shipping, and select consumer names are favored.

Stock	Call	Index Weight	Remarks
Puregold Price Club (PGOLD)	Overweight	0.8%	With the midterm election drawing closer, lower policy rates, and real wages catching up to inflation, household spending is expected to find another stronger support. Against this backdrop, PGOLD is positioned to benefit, given its strong presence in both premium and core markets.
Globe Telecom (GLO)	Neutral	2.1%	GLO is likely to face less upbeat sentiment. The company missed its full-year earnings consensus on on-offs related to its financial technology unit, Mynt. GLO also gave a low- to mid-single-digit revenue guidance. While a closer look reveals that profits jumped 22% year-on-year excluding one-offs, near-term pessimism may linger.
SM Prime Holdings (SMPH)	Underweight	6.8%	Two major factors are expected to weigh on SMPH, which are the central bank’s delayed rate cuts and a sharp 40% decline in full-year residential presales. These are likely to present an overhang on the stock, overshadowing the developer’s solid 4Q24 earnings growth.