Bought few lots of Cosco Corp at $2.88 today. Share price of Cosco has been battered due to disclosure lapses and potential orders cancellation. I see this as a good opportunity to pick up some for short term gain. Investors who do not have holding power should not touch this volatile counter at the moment as more margin calls may set in to drive the price down further.

The following news brief is extracted from Kim Eng Bulletin 10/04/2008:

Cosco Corp (Singapore) – Its 51%-owned Cosco Shipyard Group (CSG) unit has secured about US$292.3m worth of offshore and tanker building deals. But it also announced the cancellation of a project worth over US$200m. CSG is building the hull of a semi-submersible production unit for an American owner for RMB923m (about US$131.8m). A deposit of US$3m has been received and the unit is scheduled for completion in 2010. Although the job is priced in yuan, the contract provides that payment be made in US dollars at the prevailing exchange rate on the payment date, Cosco Corp said. The second contract secured is to build two 59,000 dwt shuttle tankers for a Danish owner valued at 101.2m euros ($220m). The client has agreed to pay 65% of the contract value as the first instalment and the two vessels are scheduled for delivery around June and December 2011. The group also announced yesterday that it will not be proceeding with a US$202m project to build a GM5000 semi-submersible rig hull for Norwegian owner Red Flag AS as announced last May. One of the contract conditions requiring deposits from the customer before work would commence has not been fulfilled.