Telco/Internet specialist

Kirk Boodry

Redex Research

Equity Bottom-Up

A healthy amount of share buybacks and a solid return for Vision Fund’s public holdings have taken the holding company discount back below 30% for the first time since the WeWork debacle. The improvement comes despite weakness for Alibaba which has fallen 26% since late October on regulatory concerns. Holding the discounted value of Alibaba steady, the discount on the remaining assets has fallen to the mid-teens. With Q3 now in the books, quarterly results should be solid thanks to upside in the public share portfolio boosted by new listings like DoorDash and Opendoor. The next big event will be management comments at Q3 results in early February and absent a tech sell-off, the same positive Vision Fund sentiment and buyback support that helped shares get this far should keep the discount from widening.

A healthy amount of share buybacks and a solid return for Vision Fund’s public holdings have taken the holding company discount back below 30% for the first time since the WeWork debacle. The improvement comes despite weakness for Alibaba which has fallen 26% since late October on regulatory concerns. Holding the discounted value of Alibaba steady, the discount on the remaining assets has fallen to the mid-teens. With Q3 now in the books, quarterly results should be solid thanks to upside in the public share portfolio boosted by new listings like DoorDash and Opendoor. The next big event will be management comments at Q3 results in early February and absent a tech sell-off, the same positive Vision Fund sentiment and buyback support that helped shares get this far should keep the discount from widening. 

Softbank Group -  Buybacks and New Listings Have Narrowed Discount to Two-Year Peak

Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Oshadhi Kumarasiri

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.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>As a part of “Smartkarma Originals” initiative, we developed separate screening systems - <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/fragility-and-resilience-screening-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fragility and Resilience Screening System</a> in May 2020, to identify the potential bankruptcy candidates and the most resilient companies.</li>
<li>2020 was a year like no other. As the year 2020 draws to a close, we test the effectiveness of our screening system and update the bankruptcy screening files to identify new bankruptcy targets of 2021.</li>
</ul>


As a part of “Smartkarma Originals” initiative, we developed separate screening systems - Fragility and Resilience Screening System in May 2020, to identify the potential bankruptcy candidates and the most resilient companies.
2020 was a year like no other. As the year 2020 draws to a close, we test the effectiveness of our screening system and update the bankruptcy screening files to identify new bankruptcy targets of 2021.


Bankruptcy Monitor: May-December 2020 Update

Senior Credit Analyst, Lucror Analytics

Leonard Law, CFA

Senior Credit Analyst

High Yield Experts

Lucror Analytics

Lucror Analytics is a leading credit and ESG research specialist and a provider of technology solutions for differentiated fixed income strategies. Our roots are in bottom-up fundamental credit analysis with a specialization in high yield corporate credits from Europe, Asia and Latin America. We are one of few research specialists integrating ESG considerations with fundamental credit research through a dedicated ESG platform. Our ESG assessment covers five key criteria: Disclosure, E,S, & G Pillars, Controversies, ESG Impact on Credit and ESG Momentum.

Recognizing the importance and value-add of Factor Investing in fixed income, Lucror developed the Smart Quant Navigator (SQN), an intuitive platform that helps clients devise and implement factor-based strategies ranging from pure quant to active fundamental, with integrated ESG.

Our company has been at the forefront of developments in the fixed income markets, identifying opportunities and consistently delivering new products and value-adding solutions to clients. Lucror has close relationships with the largest and most reputable asset managers, family offices, hedge funds, investment and wealth managers globally.

Credit

The Asia HY Trade Book for the month of December includes a summary of our recommendations, as well as our high-conviction ideas. The report also features relative value charts and lists of the bonds in the Lucror Asia HY index.

  The Asia HY Trade Book for the month of December includes a summary of our recommendations, as well as our high-conviction ideas. The report also features relative value charts and lists of the bonds in the Lucror Asia HY index. 

Asia HY Trade Book - December 2020 - Lucror Analytics

The Europe HY Trade Book for December 2020 includes high-conviction trade ideas drawn from our European HY coverage universe, along with relative-value scatter plots and tables by industry.

  The Europe HY Trade Book for December 2020 includes high-conviction trade ideas drawn from our European HY coverage universe, along with relative-value scatter plots and tables by industry. 

Europe HY Trade Book - December 2020 - Lucror Analytics

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone) / Event-Driven

In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/ntt-go-big-or-go-home" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:44964" rel="noopener">NTT - Go Big Or Go Home</a> five weeks ago, I suggested that investors really needed to look at the internal arithmetic of the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nippon-telegraph-telephone-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:623:1" rel="noopener">NTT (Nippon Telegraph &amp; Telephone) (9432 JP)</a> buyout of subsidiary <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ntt-docomo-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1089:1" rel="noopener">NTT Docomo Inc (9437 JP)</a>, which was subsequently completed, and will see the squeezeout take place early. The occasion for that insight was the announcement of a large buyback program by NTT. There had been a fear that the buy-in of Docomo was a "sign" that NTT was being pressured to fund lower Docomo pricing at the expense of NTT shareholder returns. NTT, however, made VERY clear that the company would look to continue its shareholder return policy AND pay down the ¥4+ trillion debt to be incurred buying out the Docomo minorities. The first buyback report came at the beginning of December and the data is interesting. Since I wrote that NTT shares are up 13.4% while <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kddi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:639:1" rel="noopener">KDDI Corp (9433 JP)</a> is down slightly and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/softbank-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27445:1" rel="noopener">Softbank Corp (9434 JP)</a> is up about 8% (though 6% of that has happened in the last few days as news of a "slow-burn" minority buy-in pushes <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/softbank-group-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:315:1" rel="noopener">Softbank Group (9984 JP)</a> shares.It is worth re-iterating the dynamics here and thinking about the timing of buyback pressure, the timing of comp buyback pressure, and when investors will see newsflow on fundamentals.

In NTT - Go Big Or Go Home five weeks ago, I suggested that investors really needed to look at the internal arithmetic of the NTT (Nippon Telegraph &amp; Telephone) (9432 JP) buyout of subsidiary NTT Docomo Inc (9437 JP), which was subsequently completed, and will see the squeezeout take place early. The occasion for that insight was the announcement of a large buyback program by NTT. There had been a fear that the buy-in of Docomo was a "sign" that NTT was being pressured to fund lower Docomo pricing at the expense of NTT shareholder returns. NTT, however, made VERY clear that the company would look to continue its shareholder return policy AND pay down the ¥4+ trillion debt to be incurred buying out the Docomo minorities. The first buyback report came at the beginning of December and the data is interesting. Since I wrote that NTT shares are up 13.4% while KDDI Corp (9433 JP) is down slightly and Softbank Corp (9434 JP) is up about 8% (though 6% of that has happened in the last few days as news of a "slow-burn" minority buy-in pushes Softbank Group (9984 JP) shares.It is worth re-iterating the dynamics here and thinking about the timing of buyback pressure, the timing of comp buyback pressure, and when investors will see newsflow on fundamentals.

Japan

SoftBank Group Corp. provides telecommunication services. The Company also operates ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and fiber optic high-speed Internet connection, e-Commerce businesses, and Internet based advertising and auction businesses.

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Softbank Group (9984 JP)

Softbank Group - Buybacks and New Listings Have Narrowed Discount to Two-Year Peak

A healthy amount of share buybacks and a solid return for Vision Fund’s public holdings have taken the holding company discount back below 30% for...

Kirk Boodry

Bankruptcy Monitor: May-December 2020 Update

This is an analysis of the effectiveness and an update to a screening system, we developed as a part of the Smartkarma Originals initiative in May...

Oshadhi Kumarasiri

Asia HY Trade Book - December 2020 - Lucror Analytics

The Asia HY Trade Book for the month of December includes a summary of our recommendations, as well as our high-conviction ideas. The report also...

Lucror Analytics

Europe HY Trade Book - December 2020 - Lucror Analytics

The Europe HY Trade Book for December 2020 includes high-conviction trade ideas drawn from our European HY coverage universe, along with...

Lucror Analytics

NTT - Still Going Big, Not Going Home

NTT is under-appreciated - March 2022 forecasts still do not include accretion of the NTT Docomo minority into EPS. The company has responded to...

Travis Lundy

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