IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

Equity Capital Markets

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/coupang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28425:1" rel="noopener">Coupang (CPNG KS)</a> is the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea, according to Euromonitor. Coupang is best known for Rocket Delivery, which provides free, next-day delivery for orders placed any time of the day. It also offers the Rocket WOW membership program, a grocery offering (Rocket Fresh), a logistics food delivery offering (Coupang Eats) and digital financial services (Coupang Pay). Coupang, which is backed by <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>, has filed for an NYSE IPO to raise up to $2 billion, according to press reports.</p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Coupang was a beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a strong 2020. It is likely that the COVID-19 pandemic has a shifted some customer behaviour permanently in favour of Coupang’ business. Coupang's fundamentals tick all the right boxes and worth a look, in our view.</p></div>

Coupang (CPNG KS) is the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea, according to Euromonitor. Coupang is best known for Rocket Delivery, which provides free, next-day delivery for orders placed any time of the day. It also offers the Rocket WOW membership program, a grocery offering (Rocket Fresh), a logistics food delivery offering (Coupang Eats) and digital financial services (Coupang Pay). Coupang, which is backed by Softbank Group (9984 JP), has filed for an NYSE IPO to raise up to $2 billion, according to press reports.Coupang was a beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a strong 2020. It is likely that the COVID-19 pandemic has a shifted some customer behaviour permanently in favour of Coupang’ business. Coupang's fundamentals tick all the right boxes and worth a look, in our view.

Coupang IPO Initiation: Delivering the Goods

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

<div class="content-highlight">
<p><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-softbank-backed-coupang-reveals-134723758.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coupang</a>, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks. Coupang is aiming for a valuation of nearly <strong>$50 billion.</strong> This IPO is expected to be the largest IPO by an non-US company in the United States since the Alibaba IPO in 2014. Coupang was last valued at $9 billion in its last private fund raising around 2018. The IPO placeholder is put at $1 billion but this amount is likely to be raised much further. </p>
<p>Coupang has received nearly $3 billion from Softbank and Softbank's Vision Fund since the inception of the company. Other major investors of Coupang include Blackrock, Sequoia Capital, and Bill Ackman. Major underwriters of the Coupang IPO include Goldman Sachs, Allen &amp; Co, JP Morgan, BofA Securities and Citigroup. </p>
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Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks. Coupang is aiming for a valuation of nearly $50 billion. This IPO is expected to be the largest IPO by an non-US company in the United States since the Alibaba IPO in 2014. Coupang was last valued at $9 billion in its last private fund raising around 2018. The IPO placeholder is put at $1 billion but this amount is likely to be raised much further. 
Coupang has received nearly $3 billion from Softbank and Softbank's Vision Fund since the inception of the company. Other major investors of Coupang include Blackrock, Sequoia Capital, and Bill Ackman. Major underwriters of the Coupang IPO include Goldman Sachs, Allen &amp; Co, JP Morgan, BofA Securities and Citigroup. 


Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Equity Bottom-Up

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rakuten-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31:1" rel="noopener">Rakuten Inc (4755 JP)</a>  posted a sharp improvement in sales at Rakuten Ichiba in 2020 as customers flocked to the e-commerce platform in lieu of shopping at physical stores. Based on our estimates, Rakuten and Amazon are pretty much neck and neck for leadership in e-commerce in Japan.</p>
<p>Going forward, Rakuten is hoping that the growth in cross-use of its e-commerce service by its new mobile subscriber base will continue as it works further to improve fulfilment reliability and coverage both alone and through its new joint venture with Japan Post.</p>
<p>In recognition of the increasing diversity of the company’s businesses, Rakuten will change its name to Rakuten Group from April.</p>

Rakuten Inc (4755 JP)  posted a sharp improvement in sales at Rakuten Ichiba in 2020 as customers flocked to the e-commerce platform in lieu of shopping at physical stores. Based on our estimates, Rakuten and Amazon are pretty much neck and neck for leadership in e-commerce in Japan.
Going forward, Rakuten is hoping that the growth in cross-use of its e-commerce service by its new mobile subscriber base will continue as it works further to improve fulfilment reliability and coverage both alone and through its new joint venture with Japan Post.
In recognition of the increasing diversity of the company’s businesses, Rakuten will change its name to Rakuten Group from April.

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst, Obex Capital Research

Aaron Gabin

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research

Obex Capital Research

“Obex” is Latin for Barriers to Entry. Obex Capital Management’s investment philosophy is driven by an intense focus on which business model’s Barriers to Entry are able to withstand the ever increasing competitive disruption in the TMT and Consumer Sectors.

<p>Spotify printed a modest beat on 4Q and a particularly poor guidance for 2021 – even for a company that chronically underwhelms on guidance. What strikes us is this is one of the worst business models of a large cap TMT company we’ve ever seen. The future bliss of podcasting driven profitability is clearly just that…future bliss. Management has NEVER explained how podcasting will translate into a more profitable business other than through hazy comments about “holistic nature of churn reduction and new users”…it reminds us of Reed Hastings when he promised that one day Netflix would be FCF positive years ago…but at least Netflix had an operating model with inherent operating leverage and pricing power, neither of which is present with Spotify. We can justify downside to $125, but realistically think $200 is a reasonable price target.</p><div class="content-highlight"><p>Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.</p></div>

Spotify printed a modest beat on 4Q and a particularly poor guidance for 2021 – even for a company that chronically underwhelms on guidance. What strikes us is this is one of the worst business models of a large cap TMT company we’ve ever seen. The future bliss of podcasting driven profitability is clearly just that…future bliss. Management has NEVER explained how podcasting will translate into a more profitable business other than through hazy comments about “holistic nature of churn reduction and new users”…it reminds us of Reed Hastings when he promised that one day Netflix would be FCF positive years ago…but at least Netflix had an operating model with inherent operating leverage and pricing power, neither of which is present with Spotify. We can justify downside to $125, but realistically think $200 is a reasonable price target.Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>With people staying at home, deliveries for e-commerce orders have a better chance of succeeding, helping failed delivery rates fall from 25% to just 11% in only five years. No wonder e-commerce and transport companies are posting higher profits.</p>

With people staying at home, deliveries for e-commerce orders have a better chance of succeeding, helping failed delivery rates fall from 25% to just 11% in only five years. No wonder e-commerce and transport companies are posting higher profits.

E-Commerce Efficiency Marches on in Japan

United States

Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retailer that offers a wide range of products. The Company's products include books, music, videotapes, computers, electronics, home and garden, and numerous other products.  Amazon offers personalized shopping services, Web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers.

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Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US)

Coupang IPO Initiation: Delivering the Goods

Coupang, which is backed by Softbank, has filed for an NYSE IPO to raise up to $2 billion, according to press reports. Coupang's fundamentals tick...

Arun George

Coupang IPO Preview

Coupang, the largest e-commerce company in Korea, is getting ready to complete its IPO in the New York Stock Exchange in the next few weeks....

Douglas Kim

Rakuten Surges in 2020

Rakuten's Ichiba online shopping platform had a great year based on early numbers coming from CEO Mikitani and looks to have plenty to look forward...

Michael Causton

Spotify 4Q20: Just Trust Us

Spotify printed an OK quarter paired with awful guidance for 2021, especially given that its excuses for missing guidance were they reasons they...

Aaron Gabin

E-Commerce Efficiency Marches on in Japan

Japanese e-commerce fulfilment efficiency is improving month to month, with delivery failure rates plummeting in the last year. The government and...

Michael Causton

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