Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

Equity Analyst

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

Equity Bottom-Up

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan-dianping" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan (3690 HK)</a> reported 2Q2021 results on Monday which saw revenues increasing 77.0% YoY to RMB23.1bn (vs consensus revenues of RMB22bn) while the company reported an operating loss of RMB3.25bn (7.4% of total revenues) as opposed to an operating profit of RMB2.18bn (OPM of 8.8%) in the same quarter a year ago.Strong growth in revenue across all three segments contributed to the top line growth, however, New Initiatives &amp; Others continue to weigh on Meituan’s margins where it generated an operating loss of RMB9.2bn (76.8% of revenues) in 2Q2021. Lower revenue base during 2Q2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak also partially supported growth in revenue during the quarter. The other two segments reported improvements in OPM which helped partially offset operating losses from new initiatives &amp; others.

Meituan (3690 HK) reported 2Q2021 results on Monday which saw revenues increasing 77.0% YoY to RMB23.1bn (vs consensus revenues of RMB22bn) while the company reported an operating loss of RMB3.25bn (7.4% of total revenues) as opposed to an operating profit of RMB2.18bn (OPM of 8.8%) in the same quarter a year ago.Strong growth in revenue across all three segments contributed to the top line growth, however, New Initiatives &amp; Others continue to weigh on Meituan’s margins where it generated an operating loss of RMB9.2bn (76.8% of revenues) in 2Q2021. Lower revenue base during 2Q2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak also partially supported growth in revenue during the quarter. The other two segments reported improvements in OPM which helped partially offset operating losses from new initiatives &amp; others.

Meituan: New Initiatives Continue to Heavily Weigh on Margins

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by a host of financial investors including Centurium, Carlyle, CDH, CPE, NWS, Ping An, Goldman Sachs and Yili.As per iResearch, ANE’s network was the largest in China in terms of total freight volume over 2017-20 with a market share of 17.2% in 2020.By Dec 2020, it had collaborated with approximately 26,400 freight partners and agents to serve 3.6m shippers across approximately 96% of the counties and townships in China. Both the freight partners and freight agents operate under its brand and are required to adhere to its service guidelines and policies.ANE’s overall volume and top line growth has been decent. However, not all of its offerings have been growing, while some of its revenue growth was driven by accounting changes. Moreover, despite claiming to be the largest player in its segment, it appears to be losing market share and like the rest of the industry, it appears to have little pricing power.

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by a host of financial investors including Centurium, Carlyle, CDH, CPE, NWS, Ping An, Goldman Sachs and Yili.As per iResearch, ANE’s network was the largest in China in terms of total freight volume over 2017-20 with a market share of 17.2% in 2020.By Dec 2020, it had collaborated with approximately 26,400 freight partners and agents to serve 3.6m shippers across approximately 96% of the counties and townships in China. Both the freight partners and freight agents operate under its brand and are required to adhere to its service guidelines and policies.ANE’s overall volume and top line growth has been decent. However, not all of its offerings have been growing, while some of its revenue growth was driven by accounting changes. Moreover, despite claiming to be the largest player in its segment, it appears to be losing market share and like the rest of the industry, it appears to have little pricing power.

ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - Margins Expanding but Appears to Be Falling Behind

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Event-Driven

The upcoming rebalances for the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-hang-seng-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22899:1" rel="noopener">Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-seng-china-enterprises-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22900:1" rel="noopener">Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI INDEX)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-seng-tech-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31367:1" rel="noopener">Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH INDEX)</a> will be implemented at the close of trading on 3 September. The rebalance will use data from todays close to cap the stocks in the index at a maximum of 8% of the index weight.In this Insight, we show the flows after capping stocks using the close on 30 August. The final numbers will be marginally different based on todays closing prices.For the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-hang-seng-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22899:1" rel="noopener">Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX)</a> there are 3 inclusions - <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xinyi-glass-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11940:1" rel="noopener">Xinyi Glass Holdings (868 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/li-ning-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6047:1" rel="noopener">Li Ning Co Ltd (2331 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-merchants-bank-co-ltd-3388a037-4214-4997-b45d-520518cfdb57" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10987:1" rel="noopener">China Merchants Bank H (3968 HK)</a> and 1 exclusion - <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bank-of-communications-co-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:659:1" rel="noopener">Bank Of Communications Co H (3328 HK)</a>.For the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-seng-china-enterprises-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22900:1" rel="noopener">Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI INDEX)</a>, the inclusions are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/jd-logistics" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31500:1" rel="noopener">JD Logistics (2618 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/li-ning-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6047:1" rel="noopener">Li Ning Co Ltd (2331 HK)</a> while the deletions are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shimao-property-holdings-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8375:1" rel="noopener">Shimao Property Holdings (813 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/anhui-conch-cement-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:159:1" rel="noopener">Anhui Conch Cement (914 HK)</a>.For the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-seng-tech-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31367:1" rel="noopener">Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH INDEX)</a> there is one set of changes with Trip.com (9961 HK) / <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/trip-com-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:180:1" rel="noopener">Trip.com (TCOM US)</a> replacing <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/koolearn-technology-holding" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27796:1" rel="noopener">Koolearn (1797 HK)</a>.<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28434:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (9988 HK)</a>'s weight in all 3 indices is higher than 8% following the increase in the number of index shares at the July monthly rebalance. The stock will have the largest passive selling due to capping back to 8%.Capping and float changes will lead to passive buying on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent (700 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan-dianping" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan (3690 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/beijing-kuaishou-technology-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29725:1" rel="noopener">Kuaishou Technology (1024 HK)</a>, while there will be passive selling on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hsbc-holdings-plc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:516:1" rel="noopener">HSBC Holdings (5 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/aia-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14895:1" rel="noopener">AIA Group Ltd (1299 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-construction-bank-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:45:1" rel="noopener">China Construction Bank H (939 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xiaomi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24409:1" rel="noopener">Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-exchanges-clearing" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:490:1" rel="noopener">HKEX (388 HK)</a>.There will be selling on a lot of the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-hang-seng-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22899:1" rel="noopener">Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX)</a> constituents due to funding flows.

The upcoming rebalances for the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX), Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI INDEX) and Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH INDEX) will be implemented at the close of trading on 3 September. The rebalance will use data from todays close to cap the stocks in the index at a maximum of 8% of the index weight.In this Insight, we show the flows after capping stocks using the close on 30 August. The final numbers will be marginally different based on todays closing prices.For the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX) there are 3 inclusions - Xinyi Glass Holdings (868 HK), Li Ning Co Ltd (2331 HK) and China Merchants Bank H (3968 HK) and 1 exclusion - Bank Of Communications Co H (3328 HK).For the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI INDEX), the inclusions are JD Logistics (2618 HK) and Li Ning Co Ltd (2331 HK) while the deletions are Shimao Property Holdings (813 HK) and Anhui Conch Cement (914 HK).For the Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH INDEX) there is one set of changes with Trip.com (9961 HK) / Trip.com (TCOM US) replacing Koolearn (1797 HK).Alibaba Group (9988 HK)'s weight in all 3 indices is higher than 8% following the increase in the number of index shares at the July monthly rebalance. The stock will have the largest passive selling due to capping back to 8%.Capping and float changes will lead to passive buying on Tencent (700 HK), Meituan (3690 HK) and Kuaishou Technology (1024 HK), while there will be passive selling on HSBC Holdings (5 HK), AIA Group Ltd (1299 HK), China Construction Bank H (939 HK), Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK) and HKEX (388 HK).There will be selling on a lot of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX) constituents due to funding flows.

HSI, HSCEI, HSTECH: September Rebalance Flows Post Capping

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

In this analysis, we provide a detailed overview of investor positioning among 250 active Global Emerging Market funds with combined AUM of $500bn.  Highlights:<ul>
<li>Asia the dominant region but also net underweight.  Managers move to underweight EMEA and strengthen overweight in the Americas.</li>
<li>China the dominant weight but allocations move lower.  Mexico and Russia the key overweights, China, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan the largest underweights.</li>
<li>Allocations in China Consumer Discretionary continue to head lower from their peak in October 2020 of 13.9%.  The underweight of -2.33% is towards the lowest on record and is driven by lighter than benchmark holdings in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group-holding-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:787:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (BABA US)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan-dianping" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan (3690 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nio-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27399:1" rel="noopener">NIO Inc (NIO US)</a>.</li>
<li>The rise in Russian Consumer Discretionary ownership driven by Fix Price Group, with 16.1% of funds buying in to the stock after it's IPO back in March.  A quarter of funds now have exposure to the sector, the largest in its history.</li>
<li>Turkish Financials exposure continues to dwindle, with only 16.1% of funds invested.  The most widely held stocks in the sector are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/haci-omer-sabanci-holding-as" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27708:1" rel="noopener">Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS (SAHOL TI)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/akbank-tas" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25033:1" rel="noopener">Akbank TAS (AKBNK TI)</a>, but both are held by just 6% of the funds in our analysis.  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/turkiye-garanti-bankasi-as" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25026:1" rel="noopener">Turkiye Garanti Bankasi As (GARAN TI)</a> is now held by 4% of funds after 4% closed positions in the last 6-months. </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/contemporary-amperex-techn-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24404:1" rel="noopener">CATL (A) (300750 CH).</a> Ownership continues to rise among EM managers, with today's investment levels the highest on record across all metrics.  Recent buyers in to the name include JP Morgan, TT International and American Century.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sea-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8509:1" rel="noopener">Sea Ltd (SE US)</a>.  Ownership remains on an upward trajectory with no signs of that slowing down.  Over the last 6-months, a further 6.8% of funds added exposure, including Fidelity EM Opportunity, Aberdeen Emerging Markets and Ashmore EM Active Equity.  GQG Partners was the only closure after cashing in on a position held since early 2020.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/anhui-conch-cement-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:159:1" rel="noopener">Anhui Conch Cement (914 HK)</a>. Outflows have been severe, with 26.9% of funds invested 6-months ago, now down to just 16.9%.  Among those closing positions were Ashmore Emerging Markets Active, Pictet EM Sustainable and Dunham Emerging Markets.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/credicorp-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25963:1" rel="noopener">Credicorp Ltd (BAP US).  </a>Once among the larger holdings in EM active portfolios, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/credicorp-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25963:1" rel="noopener">Credicorp Ltd (BAP US)</a> has moved out of favour with EM fund managers.  In a slide that started in late 2019, the percentage of funds with investment in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/credicorp-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25963:1" rel="noopener">Credicorp Ltd (BAP US)</a> fell a further 6.4% over the last 6-months.  Closures were led by Liontrust, Matthews and HSBC.</li>
</ul>

In this analysis, we provide a detailed overview of investor positioning among 250 active Global Emerging Market funds with combined AUM of $500bn.  Highlights:
Asia the dominant region but also net underweight.  Managers move to underweight EMEA and strengthen overweight in the Americas.
China the dominant weight but allocations move lower.  Mexico and Russia the key overweights, China, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan the largest underweights.
Allocations in China Consumer Discretionary continue to head lower from their peak in October 2020 of 13.9%.  The underweight of -2.33% is towards the lowest on record and is driven by lighter than benchmark holdings in Alibaba Group (BABA US), Meituan (3690 HK) and NIO Inc (NIO US).
The rise in Russian Consumer Discretionary ownership driven by Fix Price Group, with 16.1% of funds buying in to the stock after it's IPO back in March.  A quarter of funds now have exposure to the sector, the largest in its history.
Turkish Financials exposure continues to dwindle, with only 16.1% of funds invested.  The most widely held stocks in the sector are Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS (SAHOL TI) and Akbank TAS (AKBNK TI), but both are held by just 6% of the funds in our analysis.  Turkiye Garanti Bankasi As (GARAN TI) is now held by 4% of funds after 4% closed positions in the last 6-months. 

CATL (A) (300750 CH). Ownership continues to rise among EM managers, with today's investment levels the highest on record across all metrics.  Recent buyers in to the name include JP Morgan, TT International and American Century.
Sea Ltd (SE US).  Ownership remains on an upward trajectory with no signs of that slowing down.  Over the last 6-months, a further 6.8% of funds added exposure, including Fidelity EM Opportunity, Aberdeen Emerging Markets and Ashmore EM Active Equity.  GQG Partners was the only closure after cashing in on a position held since early 2020.

Anhui Conch Cement (914 HK). Outflows have been severe, with 26.9% of funds invested 6-months ago, now down to just 16.9%.  Among those closing positions were Ashmore Emerging Markets Active, Pictet EM Sustainable and Dunham Emerging Markets.

Credicorp Ltd (BAP US).  Once among the larger holdings in EM active portfolios, Credicorp Ltd (BAP US) has moved out of favour with EM fund managers.  In a slide that started in late 2019, the percentage of funds with investment in Credicorp Ltd (BAP US) fell a further 6.4% over the last 6-months.  Closures were led by Liontrust, Matthews and HSBC.


EM Fund Positioning:  All You Need to Know

Overseas Chinese Equities, Aequitas Research

Ming Lu

Overseas Chinese Equities

<ul>
<li>Meituan’s revenue continued to grew fast in 2Q21 due to the low comparison base in 2Q20.</li>
<li>We see restaurants crowded and food delivery scooters running in streets.</li>
<li>Both food delivery and in-store were healthy as the operating margins improved.</li>
<li>The company admitted that it continued to invest heavily in Meituan Select, but no company wins in the community group purchase market.</li>
<li>The operating loss swelled to RMB9.2 billion in 2Q21 from RMB8 billion in 1Q21.</li>
</ul>


Meituan’s revenue continued to grew fast in 2Q21 due to the low comparison base in 2Q20.
We see restaurants crowded and food delivery scooters running in streets.
Both food delivery and in-store were healthy as the operating margins improved.
The company admitted that it continued to invest heavily in Meituan Select, but no company wins in the community group purchase market.
The operating loss swelled to RMB9.2 billion in 2Q21 from RMB8 billion in 1Q21.


Meituan (3690 HK): 2Q21, Initiatives Loss Continued to Swell

China

Meituan operates as a web based shopping platform for locally found consumer products and retail services. The Company offers deals of the day by selling vouchers on local services and entertainment, dining, delivery, and other services. Meituan provides its services throughout China.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Meituan (3690 HK)

Meituan: New Initiatives Continue to Heavily Weigh on Margins

Strong growth in revenue across all three segments contributed to the top line growth, however, New Initiatives (Meituan Select in particular)...

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - Margins Expanding but Appears to Be Falling Behind

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO.

Sumeet Singh

HSI, HSCEI, HSTECH: September Rebalance Flows Post Capping

There are some pretty large flows across the HSI, HSCEI and HSTECH at the September rebalance due to name/float/capping changes. Impact on some...

Brian Freitas

EM Fund Positioning: All You Need to Know

In this analysis, we provide a detailed overview of investor positioning among 250 active Global Emerging Market funds with combined AUM of $500bn.

Steven Holden

Meituan (3690 HK): 2Q21, Initiatives Loss Continued to Swell

Revenue continued to grew fast due to the low comparison base. The company continued to invest heavily in Meituan Select, but no company wins in...

Ming Lu

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)