Global Emerging Market Equities, Propitious Research

Wium Malan, CFA

Global Emerging Market Equities

Independent, Fundamental Quantitative Research

Propitious Research

Fully independent, fundamental and quantitative equity research, focused on companies in the Telecommunication, Media, Technology, Internet and Healthcare sectors in the Global Emerging Markets. Idea generation focused on Quality stocks, trading below their intrinsic Value, with sound Corporate Governance.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

This insight provides a summary of the key news developments impacting the largest countries and constituents of the Global Emerging Markets equity indices. 
Key macro developments and companies mentioned this week:
<ul>
<li>Mixed economic activity data points out of China, with mostly positive macro developments across the rest of Asia supports further earnings recovery for the Emerging Markets</li>
<li>Negative developments for <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent (700 HK)</a>’s “Fortnite” ambitions in China and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bytedance-technology" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27936:1" rel="noopener">ByteDance (1439927D CH)</a> unveil their longer-term strategic thinking with a reorganisation of the group into 6 key segments, most notably distancing US-based TikTok further from the rest of the group.  </li>
</ul>

This insight provides a summary of the key news developments impacting the largest countries and constituents of the Global Emerging Markets equity indices. 
Key macro developments and companies mentioned this week:

Mixed economic activity data points out of China, with mostly positive macro developments across the rest of Asia supports further earnings recovery for the Emerging Markets
Negative developments for Tencent (700 HK)’s “Fortnite” ambitions in China and ByteDance (1439927D CH) unveil their longer-term strategic thinking with a reorganisation of the group into 6 key segments, most notably distancing US-based TikTok further from the rest of the group.  


Global Emerging Markets Weekly: 5 November 2021

APAC IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Clarence Chu

APAC 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

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/uju-holding" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:34824:1" rel="noopener">Uju Holding (1948 HK)</a> is looking to raise up to US$141m in its Hong Kong IPO.Uju Holding is a one-stop cross media online marketing solutions provider that works with media partners to market its advertiser customer’s products and/or services. Incorporated in 2018, the firm contributed approximately 1.1% of the total marketing gross billing of China’s online marketing market in 2020, as per iResearch. For FY20 and 4M21, the firm had worked with 1,028 and 651 advertiser customers and 32 and 21 media partners, respectively. During its track period, Uju Holding has recorded strong growth in its operating numbers and topline has followed closely as well. Its U-Engine platform, launched in 2020 could change the dynamics with its advertiser customers and improve efficiency. Cornerstones are also noteworthy and could aid sentiment but isn’t a large amount nonetheless. However, margins have been falling and the firm’s business model centers around a small number of participants. Combined with operating in a fragmented market, margins could be further compressed.

Uju Holding (1948 HK) is looking to raise up to US$141m in its Hong Kong IPO.Uju Holding is a one-stop cross media online marketing solutions provider that works with media partners to market its advertiser customer’s products and/or services. Incorporated in 2018, the firm contributed approximately 1.1% of the total marketing gross billing of China’s online marketing market in 2020, as per iResearch. For FY20 and 4M21, the firm had worked with 1,028 and 651 advertiser customers and 32 and 21 media partners, respectively. During its track period, Uju Holding has recorded strong growth in its operating numbers and topline has followed closely as well. Its U-Engine platform, launched in 2020 could change the dynamics with its advertiser customers and improve efficiency. Cornerstones are also noteworthy and could aid sentiment but isn’t a large amount nonetheless. However, margins have been falling and the firm’s business model centers around a small number of participants. Combined with operating in a fragmented market, margins could be further compressed. 

Uju Holding IPO - Margin Compression Looks to Persist

Telco/Internet specialist

Kirk Boodry

Redex Research

Equity Bottom-Up

Shares of Didi Global appear to have stabilized after regulatory turmoil but whilst the stream of bad news has slowed, the lack of good news (an end to the app ban, any management comments) is also troubling. Even with a hopeful view on the end of regulatory pressure, the company appears less valuable as competition and higher pay for drivers shifts the economics and our new forecasts value the company at $9.74 versus our pre-IPO value of $15.8. We track Didi as part of our Softbank Group coverage.

Shares of Didi Global appear to have stabilized after regulatory turmoil but whilst the stream of bad news has slowed, the lack of good news (an end to the app ban, any management comments) is also troubling. Even with a hopeful view on the end of regulatory pressure, the company appears less valuable as competition and higher pay for drivers shifts the economics and our new forecasts value the company at $9.74 versus our pre-IPO value of $15.8. We track Didi as part of our Softbank Group coverage.

Didi Global - Regulatory Overhang Remains and Long-Term Value Is Falling

China and US Equity Analyst

Roger Xie

<ul>
<li>Regulatory risk is the major headwind for <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/weibo-corp-adr" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3826:1" rel="noopener">Weibo Corp (WB US)</a>, a twitter-like social media platform for sharing news and user opinions.  As Beijing tightening its grip on social media platform, we have observed Weibo's value declining 65% from its high in 3-year period. In the latest move, China reiterates the ban on private enterprise in news organizations. In the past 10 months, the magnitude of policy change on tech giant is unprecedent. The latest rounds of measurements on social media include: 1) crackdown of internet influencer/celebrity culture; 2) adjustment on algorithm-powered feeds; 3) macro impact on SME ad campaign spending. </li>
<li>We believe <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/weibo-corp-adr" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3826:1" rel="noopener">Weibo Corp (WB US)</a> has strong presence in celebrity and key opinion leaders on social media, which differentiates it from other major platform such as <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent (700 HK)'s  </a>WeChat/QQ, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bytedance-technology" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27936:1" rel="noopener">ByteDance (1439927D CH)</a>'s Toutiao.  With its 521 million monthly active users and 225 million daily active users, Weibo is one of the largest social platform.  As more key opinion leaders join Weibo, more users use Weibo to read view the key opinion leaders’ content and engage with them through replying, sharing, and clicking the “Like” button. These key opinion leaders can also get tipping from or sell merchandise to their fans. We believe Weibo's business model and scale is hard to replicate. </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/weibo-corp-adr" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3826:1" rel="noopener">Weibo Corp (WB US)</a> has strategic partnership with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sina-corp-china" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22691:1" rel="noopener">Sina Corp (Class A) (SINA US)</a> and <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> The parent company Sina owns 45% Weibo outstanding shares and has 71% voting right. Alibaba owns 30% Weibo outstanding shares and has 16% voting right. Given the recent scrutiny of Alibaba and forcing exit from media industry, we think the upcoming recapitalization of Weibo could be a positive catalyst. Weibo has already explored the potential Hong Kong secondary listing.  And it could use the IPO proceed to partially buyout Alibaba stake. Another option is that new strategic investors could be introduced to take Alibaba's stake as well. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/weibo-corp-adr" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3826:1" rel="noopener">Weibo Corp (WB US)</a> is traded at forward 15x consensus P/E, and could deliver 15% revenue CAGR in the next 3 year. We think valuation is attractive for Weibo's scale and monetization potential. </li>
</ul>


Regulatory risk is the major headwind for Weibo Corp (WB US), a twitter-like social media platform for sharing news and user opinions.  As Beijing tightening its grip on social media platform, we have observed Weibo's value declining 65% from its high in 3-year period. In the latest move, China reiterates the ban on private enterprise in news organizations. In the past 10 months, the magnitude of policy change on tech giant is unprecedent. The latest rounds of measurements on social media include: 1) crackdown of internet influencer/celebrity culture; 2) adjustment on algorithm-powered feeds; 3) macro impact on SME ad campaign spending. 
We believe Weibo Corp (WB US) has strong presence in celebrity and key opinion leaders on social media, which differentiates it from other major platform such as Tencent (700 HK)'s  WeChat/QQ, and ByteDance (1439927D CH)'s Toutiao.  With its 521 million monthly active users and 225 million daily active users, Weibo is one of the largest social platform.  As more key opinion leaders join Weibo, more users use Weibo to read view the key opinion leaders’ content and engage with them through replying, sharing, and clicking the “Like” button. These key opinion leaders can also get tipping from or sell merchandise to their fans. We believe Weibo's business model and scale is hard to replicate. 

Weibo Corp (WB US) has strategic partnership with Sina Corp (Class A) (SINA US) and Alibaba Group (BABA US). The parent company Sina owns 45% Weibo outstanding shares and has 71% voting right. Alibaba owns 30% Weibo outstanding shares and has 16% voting right. Given the recent scrutiny of Alibaba and forcing exit from media industry, we think the upcoming recapitalization of Weibo could be a positive catalyst. Weibo has already explored the potential Hong Kong secondary listing.  And it could use the IPO proceed to partially buyout Alibaba stake. Another option is that new strategic investors could be introduced to take Alibaba's stake as well. Weibo Corp (WB US) is traded at forward 15x consensus P/E, and could deliver 15% revenue CAGR in the next 3 year. We think valuation is attractive for Weibo's scale and monetization potential. 


Weibo (WB US): Regulatory Risks Overshadow Cheap Valuation And Recapitalization Optionality

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.

Several news media outlets reported in September that ByteDance (1439927D CH) has made plans to launch a music streaming app in China later this year. The online music streaming market in China is long dominated by Tencent Music who previously held exclusive music licensing agreements with global music streaming giants Warner Music Group (WMG), Universal Music (UMG) and Sony Music in China. However, TME was ordered to give-up these exclusive music licensing agreements by the country’s market regulator SAMR (state Administration of Market Regulation) and the company announced in August that it has relinquished all of its exclusive music licensing agreements as per the order of the Chinese regulators.TME’s shares are currently trading at US$6.87 per ADR at its all-time low and the shares are down 77.4% compared to its peak of US$30.42 per ADR in mid-March.

TME: ByteDance’s Entry into Music Streaming to Further Threaten TME’s Dominance

China

Beijing Douyin Information Service Co. Ltd. provides online information and contents. The Company develops and operates short video platform, original short video community, news platform, and other related products. Beijing Douyin Information Service offers services worldwide.

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ByteDance (1439927D CH)

Global Emerging Markets Weekly: 5 November 2021

This insight provides a summary of the key news developments impacting the largest countries and constituents of the Global Emerging Markets equity...

Wium Malan, CFA

Uju Holding IPO - Margin Compression Looks to Persist

Uju Holding (1948 HK) is looking to raise up to US$141m in its Hong Kong IPO. The firm is a one-stop cross media online marketing solutions...

Clarence Chu

Didi Global - Regulatory Overhang Remains and Long-Term Value Is Falling

Volatility in Didi shares appear has stabilized after regulatory turmoil but whilst the stream of bad news has slowed, a lack of good news is also...

Kirk Boodry

Weibo (WB US): Regulatory Risks Overshadow Cheap Valuation And Recapitalization Optionality

Although Weibo (WB.US) is facing regulatory risk and growth is slow, we think valuation is attractive for its scale and monetization potential....

Roger Xie

TME: ByteDance’s Entry into Music Streaming to Further Threaten TME’s Dominance

ByteDance has made plans to launch a music streaming app in China later this year which is likely to further threaten TME's market dominance as it...

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

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