Founder/CEO of ROK Advisory, ROK Advisory LLC

Ken S. Kim

Founder/CEO of ROK Advisory

ROK Advisory LLC

ROK is an independent research advisory firm. We guide you to minimize the information gap between foreign and local investors in Northeast Asia with a focus in Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Independent Research Advisory Firm

Equity Bottom-Up

The <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-electronics-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:191:1" rel="noopener">Samsung Electronics (005930 KS)</a> Austin fab is still down and local reports indicate that it might be another 2 -3 months before full ramp.  What is the ramification of this delay and who will be most impacted?

The Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) Austin fab is still down and local reports indicate that it might be another 2 -3 months before full ramp.  What is the ramification of this delay and who will be most impacted? 

Impact of Austin Freeze. Will Apple Get Their 5G Phones?

Silver Point

Thomas J. Monaco

Independent Insight Provider

Silver Point is a boutique research firm that focuses on the broader financial services sector, with a particular focus on troubled institutions globally. 

Asia Ex Japan

*Swimmingly Down Under: Tencent Holding’s (700.HK) [Tencent] Afterpay Touch (APT.AU) [Afterpay] reported FY 1H21 operating results. Although operating losses expectedly persist (AUD 79.2 mn vs. AUD 8.2 mn in 2H20), the numbers overall exhibited significant improvement: Financially, we see a light at the end of the tunnel for Afterpay on two fronts: a) receivables impairment increased AUD 25.4 mn (54.5%) HOH. As the global market recover post-vaccine, we’d expect impairments to decline; and b) fair value losses increased AUD 63.7 mn (58.6x). Simply excluding the fair value challenge, After pay would have operated at break-even;  and*Tencent’s Midas Touch: Tencent continues to hit it out of the park with its Afterpay stake. In addition to its superb return on investment of nearly 322% over the past nine  months since the stake announcement - -even after giving back some of its gains, this alliance with Australia’s premier financial technology Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) company is paying dividends to Tencent in numerous other ways.

*Swimmingly Down Under: Tencent Holding’s (700.HK) [Tencent] Afterpay Touch (APT.AU) [Afterpay] reported FY 1H21 operating results. Although operating losses expectedly persist (AUD 79.2 mn vs. AUD 8.2 mn in 2H20), the numbers overall exhibited significant improvement: Financially, we see a light at the end of the tunnel for Afterpay on two fronts: a) receivables impairment increased AUD 25.4 mn (54.5%) HOH. As the global market recover post-vaccine, we’d expect impairments to decline; and b) fair value losses increased AUD 63.7 mn (58.6x). Simply excluding the fair value challenge, After pay would have operated at break-even;  and*Tencent’s Midas Touch: Tencent continues to hit it out of the park with its Afterpay stake. In addition to its superb return on investment of nearly 322% over the past nine  months since the stake announcement - -even after giving back some of its gains, this alliance with Australia’s premier financial technology Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) company is paying dividends to Tencent in numerous other ways. 

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist, Ingenuity

William Keating

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist

Ingenuity

Our focus is exclusively on in-depth research & consulting in the broader semiconductor industry. We focus on the key players, namely Intel, Micron, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, NVIDIA, AMD, TSMC & Global Foundries - as well as some of the lesser known, but nonetheless critical, companies such as ASML (for EUV), Mellanox, Cavium, Xilinx etc. We specialise in their products, roadmaps, process technologies, competitive advantages & threats etc. We also help our clients understand the implications of new and emerging technologies, e.g. 3D X-Point, 3D NAND, Carbon Nanotubes, Autonomous Driving, Graphene, Silicon Photonics, Wafer-Level Optics, Artificial Intelligence, FPGA, GPU, ASIC etc. 

Semiconductor Analysis & Research

Pat Gelsinger took the helm at Intel last week after a decade-long hiatus. In a letter to employees, he reiterated that this was his dream job and set out four priorities, namely product leadership, flawless execution, faster innovation and a reignition of the company's culture. As priorities go, these are standard, off the shelf cookie cutter imperatives that could be used by the incoming CEO of almost any company and tell us little or nothing about the actual direction Intel will take. Intel has the potential to be the technology turnaround story of the decade if not this century. If Gelsinger plays his cards right, Intel's market cap could quadruple to $1 trillion by 2026. Getting there will depend on Gelsinger implementing three key strategies. Here's what we think they are.

Pat Gelsinger took the helm at Intel last week after a decade-long hiatus. In a letter to employees, he reiterated that this was his dream job and set out four priorities, namely product leadership, flawless execution, faster innovation and a reignition of the company's culture. As priorities go, these are standard, off the shelf cookie cutter imperatives that could be used by the incoming CEO of almost any company and tell us little or nothing about the actual direction Intel will take. Intel has the potential to be the technology turnaround story of the decade if not this century. If Gelsinger plays his cards right, Intel's market cap could quadruple to $1 trillion by 2026. Getting there will depend on Gelsinger implementing three key strategies. Here's what we think they are.

Intel. Reaching A $1 Trillion Market Cap In Five Years Depends On Three Key Strategies

Overseas Chinese Equities, Aequitas Research

Ming Lu

Overseas Chinese Equities

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.

<ul class="">
<li>Xiaomi will not supply smartphones if authorized store keepers refuse to “upgrade” their stores.</li>
<li>Xiaomi’s shipment market share rose to No. 3 in the world after 6 years.</li>
<li>Xiaomi has an expanding opportunity inside China due to Huawei’s chip shortage.</li>
<li>We believe the downsize of store number aims to eliminate the competitor, OPPO, from the high-price market in China.</li>
</ul>


Xiaomi will not supply smartphones if authorized store keepers refuse to “upgrade” their stores.
Xiaomi’s shipment market share rose to No. 3 in the world after 6 years.
Xiaomi has an expanding opportunity inside China due to Huawei’s chip shortage.
We believe the downsize of store number aims to eliminate the competitor, OPPO, from the high-price market in China.


Xiaomi (1810 HK): Terminate Contracts with Small Authorized Stores

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

Event-Driven

On 22nd March 2018, after market close in Hong Kong one of the largest overnight placements was launched. On that day, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/naspers-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21085:1" rel="noopener">Naspers (NPN SJ)</a> reluctantly sold US$10bn worth of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a> shares. I say reluctantly because Naspers provided a three year lock-up at the time of the deal. That lock-up will expire next month. We have covered the previous placement in our earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tencent-placement-huge-deal-in-size-small-in-relative-terms-succumbing-to-the-holdco-discount" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tencent Placement - Huge Deal in Size, Small in Relative Terms - Succumbing to the HoldCo Discount</a>. In this note, I’ll talk about the upcoming lock-up expiry, its implications and the updates since then.

On 22nd March 2018, after market close in Hong Kong one of the largest overnight placements was launched. On that day, Naspers (NPN SJ) reluctantly sold US$10bn worth of Tencent Holdings (700 HK) shares. I say reluctantly because Naspers provided a three year lock-up at the time of the deal. That lock-up will expire next month. We have covered the previous placement in our earlier note, Tencent Placement - Huge Deal in Size, Small in Relative Terms - Succumbing to the HoldCo Discount. In this note, I’ll talk about the upcoming lock-up expiry, its implications and the updates since then.

Tencent Placement Lock-Up Expiry - US$10bn+ Block and Buyback Linked Holdco Trade

United States

Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and sells a variety of related accessories. The Company also offers payment, digital content, cloud and advertising services. Apple Inc.'s customers are primarily in consumer, small & mid-sized business, education, enterprise and government markets worldwide.

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Apple (AAPL US)

Impact of Austin Freeze. Will Apple Get Their 5G Phones?

Are Qualcomm and Apple coming into a deep crunch due to the Austin temperature freeze? It seems likely that we will see delays and misses from both

Ken S. Kim

Tencent Holdings – Money to Burn

TENCENT HOLDINGS: Tencent's Afterpay expectedly reported FY 1H21 operating losses, but the numbers overall exhibited significant improvement as it...

Thomas J. Monaco

Intel. Reaching A $1 Trillion Market Cap In Five Years Depends On Three Key Strategies

Intel has the potential to be the turn around story of the decade. A $1 trillion market cap is achievable within 5 years, but it depends on the...

William Keating

Xiaomi (1810 HK): Terminate Contracts with Small Authorized Stores

Xiaomi will not supply smartphones if authorized store keepers refuse to “upgrade” their stores. We believe the downsize of store number aims to...

Ming Lu

Tencent Placement Lock-Up Expiry - US$10bn+ Block and Buyback Linked Holdco Trade

On 22nd March 2018, after market close, one of the largest overnight placements was launched. On that day, Naspers reluctantly sold US$10bn worth...

Sumeet Singh

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