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

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/freee-kk" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28424:1" rel="noopener">freee (4478 JP)</a>  reported its 3QFY06/21 results yesterday (12<sup>th </sup>May 2021) which saw revenue growing 48.2% YoY while operating losses for the quarter declined to 24% of revenues compared to 49% in the same quarter last year. The annual recurring revenues of the company for the first time crossed JPY10bn mark and it grew 50% YoY during the period</p>

freee (4478 JP)  reported its 3QFY06/21 results yesterday (12th May 2021) which saw revenue growing 48.2% YoY while operating losses for the quarter declined to 24% of revenues compared to 49% in the same quarter last year. The annual recurring revenues of the company for the first time crossed JPY10bn mark and it grew 50% YoY during the period

Freee 3Q Results: Strong Earnings Momentum Continues; Recent Drop in Multiples Offer a Good Entry

Japan Specialist

Mark Chadwick

<p><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto">The recent sharp sell-off in global growth stocks has provided an opportunity for long-term investors to buy <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/freee-kk" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28424:1" rel="noopener">freee (4478 JP)</a> </span><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"> at more attractive prices. Having fallen 45% from its peak earlier this year, the stock now trading at a trailing 12M EV/Revenue of 37x. </span></p>
<p><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><strong>Is that cheap enough?</strong> Well, the company is growing revenue at close to 50% YoY. If we assume that rate of growth is maintained into the next fiscal year, the stock would be much closer to a 20x multiple and much closer to the average of small cap Japanese growth companies currently trading at 15x revenue. </span></p>
<p><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto">There is a good buying opportunity opening up for patient investors. </span><span data-ccp-props='{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}'> <br><br></span></p>
<section class="figure">
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/205/714/original/freee3.png?1620815258" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="205714"></figure>
</section>
<div class="content-caption">Source: Company presentation</div>
<p><span data-ccp-props='{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}'> </span></p>

The recent sharp sell-off in global growth stocks has provided an opportunity for long-term investors to buy freee (4478 JP)  at more attractive prices. Having fallen 45% from its peak earlier this year, the stock now trading at a trailing 12M EV/Revenue of 37x. 
Is that cheap enough? Well, the company is growing revenue at close to 50% YoY. If we assume that rate of growth is maintained into the next fiscal year, the stock would be much closer to a 20x multiple and much closer to the average of small cap Japanese growth companies currently trading at 15x revenue. 
There is a good buying opportunity opening up for patient investors.    



Source: Company presentation
 

Japan Small Cap Growth: FREEE (4478) - Opportunities Opening Up

APAC IPOs & Placements

Zhen Zhou, Toh

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

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/visional-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32977:1" rel="noopener">Visional Inc (4194 JP)</a> raised US$609m at JPY5,000 per share, the top-end of its IPO price range.</p>
<p>Visional Inc. is a human resources (HR) technology company based in Japan. The company operates BizReach, an online recruiting platform that helps to connect professional job seekers to direct employers and third-party recruiters. It also offers HRMOS, which is a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) platform.</p>
<p>We have previously covered the IPO in:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/visional-inc-ipo-pricey-hire" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:50114" rel="noopener">Visional Inc IPO - Pricey Hire</a> </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/visional-inc-ipo-good-vision-muddled-by-dilution-and-selling-shareholders" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:50086" rel="noopener">Visional Inc IPO - Good Vision Muddled by Dilution and Selling Shareholders</a> </li>
</ul>
<p>In this note, I'll look at the deal dynamics and provide a table with implied valuation at different share price levels.</p>

Visional Inc (4194 JP) raised US$609m at JPY5,000 per share, the top-end of its IPO price range.
Visional Inc. is a human resources (HR) technology company based in Japan. The company operates BizReach, an online recruiting platform that helps to connect professional job seekers to direct employers and third-party recruiters. It also offers HRMOS, which is a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) platform.
We have previously covered the IPO in:


Visional Inc IPO - Pricey Hire 

Visional Inc IPO - Good Vision Muddled by Dilution and Selling Shareholders 

In this note, I'll look at the deal dynamics and provide a table with implied valuation at different share price levels.

Visional Inc IPO Trading Update - Good Demand, Small Upside Based on SOTP

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/visional-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32977:1" rel="noopener">Visional Inc (4194 JP)</a> is looking to raise up to US$609m in its Japan IPO.</p><p>Visional Inc. is a human resources (HR) technology company based in Japan. The company operates BizReach, an online recruiting platform that helps to connect professional job seekers to direct employers and third-party recruiters. It also offers HRMOS, which is a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) platform.</p><p>In this note, we share our thoughts on assumptions, valuation, and deal dynamics.</p>

Visional Inc (4194 JP) is looking to raise up to US$609m in its Japan IPO.Visional Inc. is a human resources (HR) technology company based in Japan. The company operates BizReach, an online recruiting platform that helps to connect professional job seekers to direct employers and third-party recruiters. It also offers HRMOS, which is a cloud-based human capital management (HCM) platform.In this note, we share our thoughts on assumptions, valuation, and deal dynamics.

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

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Quantitative Analysis

<div><p>The Asia Short Interest weekly looks at moves in market wide short interest and highlights movements in stock specific short interest across Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan using the last available data published by the relevant authorities.</p></div><div><p>There was no report from the SFC this week since Friday was a holiday. The report should be published on Wednesday when markets reopen. For the week from 29 March - 1 April, the highest shorts in notional terms were on <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>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tracker-fund-of-hong-kong-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29257:1" rel="noopener">Tracker Fund of Hong Kong Ltd (2800 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ping-an-insurance-grp-co-of-china-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12880:1" rel="noopener">Ping An Insurance (H) (2318 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/baidu-inc-a55ca720-5968-48f0-8194-ac94390d065c" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32212:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (9888 HK)</a>. </p></div><div><p>In Japan, stocks that saw the most shorts were <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/base-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28353:1" rel="noopener">BASE Inc (4477 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toshiba-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:637:1" rel="noopener">Toshiba Corp (6502 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/gmo-payment-gateway-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1492:1" rel="noopener">GMO Payment Gateway (3769 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/freee-kk" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28424:1" rel="noopener">freee (4478 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sanken-electric-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6073:1" rel="noopener">Sanken Electric (6707 JP)</a> while shorts decreased on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/eneos-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:638:1" rel="noopener">ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/japan-airport-terminal-co" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18034:1" rel="noopener">Japan Airport Terminal Co (9706 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsubishi-ufj-lease-finance" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1467:1" rel="noopener">Mitsubishi UFJ Lease &amp; Finance (8593 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/change-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27414:1" rel="noopener">Change Inc (3962 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/benext-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17685:1" rel="noopener">BeNEXT Group (2154 JP)</a>. Shorts increased in the Information Technology and Indsutrials sectors, and decreased in the the Energy sector.</p></div><div><p>In Korea, short increased on <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>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sk-hynix-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16955:1" rel="noopener">SK Hynix (000660 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/naver-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16029:1" rel="noopener">Naver Corp (035420 KS)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hyundai-motor-co" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:155:1" rel="noopener">Hyundai Motor Co (005380 KS)</a> while shorts decreased on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/celltrion-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:991:1" rel="noopener">Celltrion Inc (068270 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/samsung-biologics-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22932:1" rel="noopener">Samsung Biologics Co., (207940 KS)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/netmarble-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22839:1" rel="noopener">Netmarble Corporation (251270 KS)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/posco-chemical-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12421:1" rel="noopener">Posco Chemical Co Ltd (003670 KS)</a>. </p></div><div><p>Stocks in Taiwan that saw the highest increase in shorts were <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/inventec-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20856:1" rel="noopener">Inventec Corp (2356 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/yageo-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13212:1" rel="noopener">Yageo Corporation (2327 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/richwave-technology-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18629:1" rel="noopener">Richwave Technology (4968 TT)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/asia-cement-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15350:1" rel="noopener">Asia Cement (1102 TT)</a> while shorts were covered on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/taiwan-semiconductor-manufacturing-company" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11230:1" rel="noopener">TSMC (2330 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mediatek-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:772:1" rel="noopener">Mediatek Inc (2454 TT)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/united-microelectronics-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6450:1" rel="noopener">United Microelectronics Corp (2303 TT)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/au-optronics-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6704:1" rel="noopener">AU Optronics (2409 TT)</a>. </p></div>

The Asia Short Interest weekly looks at moves in market wide short interest and highlights movements in stock specific short interest across Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan using the last available data published by the relevant authorities.There was no report from the SFC this week since Friday was a holiday. The report should be published on Wednesday when markets reopen. For the week from 29 March - 1 April, the highest shorts in notional terms were on Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Tracker Fund of Hong Kong Ltd (2800 HK), Ping An Insurance (H) (2318 HK), Meituan (3690 HK) and Baidu (9888 HK). In Japan, stocks that saw the most shorts were BASE Inc (4477 JP), Toshiba Corp (6502 JP), GMO Payment Gateway (3769 JP), freee (4478 JP) and Sanken Electric (6707 JP) while shorts decreased on ENEOS Holdings (5020 JP), Japan Airport Terminal Co (9706 JP), Mitsubishi UFJ Lease &amp; Finance (8593 JP), Change Inc (3962 JP) and BeNEXT Group (2154 JP). Shorts increased in the Information Technology and Indsutrials sectors, and decreased in the the Energy sector.In Korea, short increased on Samsung Electronics (005930 KS), SK Hynix (000660 KS), Naver Corp (035420 KS) and Hyundai Motor Co (005380 KS) while shorts decreased on Celltrion Inc (068270 KS), Samsung Biologics Co., (207940 KS), Netmarble Corporation (251270 KS) and Posco Chemical Co Ltd (003670 KS). Stocks in Taiwan that saw the highest increase in shorts were Inventec Corp (2356 TT), Yageo Corporation (2327 TT), Richwave Technology (4968 TT) and Asia Cement (1102 TT) while shorts were covered on TSMC (2330 TT), Mediatek Inc (2454 TT), United Microelectronics Corp (2303 TT) and AU Optronics (2409 TT). 

Asia Short Interest: Tencent, Ping An, Baidu, BASE, Toshiba, GMO Payment, BeNext, Inventec, Mediatek

Japan

freee K.K. develops software products. The Company produces cloud based accounting softwares, automatic online accounting systems, and other products. freee provides its services throughout Japan.

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Freee KK (4478 JP)

Freee 3Q Results: Strong Earnings Momentum Continues; Recent Drop in Multiples Offer a Good Entry

Freee's 3QFY06/2021 revenue grew 48.2% YoY while operating losses for the quarter declined to 24% of revenues compared to 49% in the same quarter...

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

Japan Small Cap Growth: FREEE (4478) - Opportunities Opening Up

The recent sharp sell-off in global growth stocks has provided an opportunity for long-term investors to buy freee (4478 JP) at more attractive...

Mark Chadwick

Visional Inc IPO Trading Update - Good Demand, Small Upside Based on SOTP

Visional Inc (4194 JP) raised US$609m at JPY5,000 per share, the top-end of its IPO price range. Visional Inc. is a human resources (HR) technology...

Zhen Zhou, Toh

Visional Inc IPO - Pricey Hire

Visional Inc (4194 JP) is looking to raise up to US$609m in its Japan IPO. Visional Inc. is a human resources (HR) technology company based in Japan.

Zhen Zhou, Toh

Asia Short Interest: Tencent, Ping An, Baidu, BASE, Toshiba, GMO Payment, BeNext, Inventec, Mediatek

The Insight looks at large short interest movements across HK, Japan, Korea and Taiwan stocks and highlights large increases/decreases in shorts to...

Brian Freitas

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