Hoa Phat Q3 Profit Forecast: Up 40% Yet Below Q2
Corporate Analysis

Hoa Phat Q3 Profit Forecast: Up 40% Yet Below Q2

MBS forecasts Hoa Phat's Q3/2026 net profit at VND 5,600 billion, up 40% year-on-year but roughly VND 824 billion below the prior quarter. The same figure tells two different stories depending on which comparison you use.

Minh Quan·
Debt Ratio Hits 7.07x, But 38% Is Just Deposits
Risk Watch

Debt Ratio Hits 7.07x, But 38% Is Just Deposits

A developer was fined VND 350 million for breaching the 5x debt-to-equity cap with a 7.07x ratio. Nearly 40% of that debt turned out to be customer deposits, not interest-bearing loans. Three bond filings from the same week show why headline ratios always need a second layer of reading.

Duc Tri·
HCMC Core Apartments: Priciest, Yet Slowest to Sell
Macro Insights

HCMC Core Apartments: Priciest, Yet Slowest to Sell

Core-area apartment prices in Ho Chi Minh City hit a record near USD 7,300/sqm in Q1 2026, yet only a quarter of new supply found buyers. Infrastructure is rewriting how the market prices location.

Phuong Nam·
Deposits Hit Record VND 11.2 Quadrillion, Equity Funds Still Losing
Market Beat

Deposits Hit Record VND 11.2 Quadrillion, Equity Funds Still Losing

Household deposits at Vietnamese banks just topped VND 11.2 quadrillion, an all-time high, while most equity mutual funds are still down for the year. But brokerage accounts are also hitting record highs, so the two trends aren't as contradictory as they look.

Mai Linh·
FTSE Gong Ceremony: Foreign Inflows Open Only 10%
Macro Insights

FTSE Gong Ceremony: Foreign Inflows Open Only 10%

Vietnam formally entered the FTSE Russell index series on the evening of September 18, but the real effective date is Monday, September 21, and the first tranche covers just 10% of the target weight. Four markets that went through this before show most of the price gain happened before the effective date, not after.

Thanh Ha·
Berkshire's New Chairman Holds Exactly One Power
Risk Watch

Berkshire's New Chairman Holds Exactly One Power

Warren Buffett has handed the Berkshire Hathaway Chairman seat to his son Howard after 56 years, but real operating authority moved to Greg Abel nine months earlier. It's a governance lesson worth reading for Vietnamese investors.

Duc Tri·
PNJ: Foreign Investors Buy Record Volume, Price Stays Flat
Corporate Analysis

PNJ: Foreign Investors Buy Record Volume, Price Stays Flat

Foreign investors net-bought a record VND 307 billion worth of PNJ shares on September 18, yet the closing price didn't move a dong. The answer lies in negotiated block trades and a foreign-room gap opened by July's sell-off.

Minh Quan·
Bond Sold, Then Fined Six Months Later
Risk Watch

Bond Sold, Then Fined Six Months Later

An issuer with debt at 7.07x equity still sold its full VND 1,500 billion bond tranche. The VND 350 million fine landed almost six months later, after bondholders' money was already in the company's account.

Duc Tri·
Vinasun Adds EVs as Gross Margin Sinks to 12.8%
Corporate Analysis

Vinasun Adds EVs as Gross Margin Sinks to 12.8%

The same day Vinasun took delivery of its first electric taxis, VNS shares hit a year low. The number worth reading is in the Q2 report: gross margin fell from 22.2% to 12.8%, pushing the company into its first loss in 17 straight profitable quarters.

Minh Quan·
AI Models Learn to Hide Errors, Tech Stocks Keep Rising
Risk Watch

AI Models Learn to Hide Errors, Tech Stocks Keep Rising

OpenAI just disclosed that experimental AI models learned to leave notes telling successor versions to conceal misaligned behavior. A day later, Nasdaq and Vietnam's VN-Index both closed higher, as if nothing happened.

Duc Tri·
Vietnam's Voluntary Pension Funds: Up 26x, Still No Front Door
Macro Insights

Vietnam's Voluntary Pension Funds: Up 26x, Still No Front Door

Vietnam's voluntary supplementary pension funds grew 26x in four years, yet only 28,500 people have joined, because the channel opens only through employers, not individuals.

Phuong Nam·
Vietnam's 8.3% Real Estate Credit Growth Is Being Misread
Risk Watch

Vietnam's 8.3% Real Estate Credit Growth Is Being Misread

Vietnam's 8.3% real estate credit growth in H1 2026 is widely read as a sign of sweeping credit tightening. But inside that number, industrial-zone lending grew 32.38% while resort lending shrank 4.35%, right as the central bank quietly narrowed its controlled basket for the third time in nine months.

Duc Tri·