Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>Our outlook remains bearish at the index level as downtrends remain intact on the MSCI broad global indexes and also within Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, Germany, and China.</li>
<li>Our preferred Sector overweights continue to be defensives (Utilities, Staples, and Health Care) and commodity Sectors (Energy and Materials).</li>
<li>The secular bull market in commodities (Bloomberg Commodity index, WTI and Brent crude oil, etc.) remains intact, which continues to support our overweight recommendations on the Energy and Materials Sectors.</li>
</ul>


Our outlook remains bearish at the index level as downtrends remain intact on the MSCI broad global indexes and also within Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, Germany, and China.
Our preferred Sector overweights continue to be defensives (Utilities, Staples, and Health Care) and commodity Sectors (Energy and Materials).
The secular bull market in commodities (Bloomberg Commodity index, WTI and Brent crude oil, etc.) remains intact, which continues to support our overweight recommendations on the Energy and Materials Sectors.


Still Bearish at the Index Level; Remain Overweight Defensives & Commodity Sectors

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

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/westports-holdings-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3954:1" rel="noopener">Westports Holdings (WPRTS MK)</a> will replace <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hap-seng-consolidated-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13036:1" rel="noopener">Hap Seng Consolidated (HAP MK)</a> in the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kuala-lumpur-composite-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22913:1" rel="noopener">Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) (FBMKLCI INDEX)</a> after the close of trading on 17 December.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hap-seng-consolidated-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13036:1" rel="noopener">Hap Seng Consolidated (HAP MK)</a> is a delete on liquidity and there will be over 5 days of ADV to sell. The impact on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/westports-holdings-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3954:1" rel="noopener">Westports Holdings (WPRTS MK)</a> is smaller.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hap-seng-consolidated-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13036:1" rel="noopener">Hap Seng Consolidated (HAP MK)</a> could drop in the short term but underperformance vs its peers could provide a buying opportunity, especially close to implementation date.</li>
</ul>



Westports Holdings (WPRTS MK) will replace Hap Seng Consolidated (HAP MK) in the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) (FBMKLCI INDEX) after the close of trading on 17 December.

Hap Seng Consolidated (HAP MK) is a delete on liquidity and there will be over 5 days of ADV to sell. The impact on Westports Holdings (WPRTS MK) is smaller.

Hap Seng Consolidated (HAP MK) could drop in the short term but underperformance vs its peers could provide a buying opportunity, especially close to implementation date.


KLCI Index Rebalance: Westports Replaces Hap Seng

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), TA Securities Holdings Berhad

TA Securities Holdings Bhd

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Equity Bottom-Up

<div class="content-highlight"><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></div>

Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Equity L/S Analyst | Forensic Accounting | India, Yellowstone Equity

Ankit Agrawal, CFA

Equity L/S Analyst | Forensic Accounting | India

Quantitative Analysis

<p>Since our Original on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/asia-buyback-forecasting-which-companies-are-likely-to-raise-cut-buybacks" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:47196" rel="noopener">Asia Buyback Forecasting | Which Companies Are Likely to Raise/Cut Buybacks?</a>, published on Jan 31 2021, this is our first quarterly update. Below we provide updated results from our models based on latest reported fiscal year-end financials. We also discuss companies where there is notable change in our conviction level based on updated data.</p>
<p>At the webinar in March, there was also a request for conducting price movement analysis corresponding to our buyback raise/cut outlook for our back-test results. This analysis is now available. Our results show a decent outperformance/underperformance corresponding to buyback raise/cut prediction, suggesting that users of our models will benefit from guiding their investment decisions based on our buyback raise/cut outlook.</p>

Since our Original on Asia Buyback Forecasting | Which Companies Are Likely to Raise/Cut Buybacks?, published on Jan 31 2021, this is our first quarterly update. Below we provide updated results from our models based on latest reported fiscal year-end financials. We also discuss companies where there is notable change in our conviction level based on updated data.
At the webinar in March, there was also a request for conducting price movement analysis corresponding to our buyback raise/cut outlook for our back-test results. This analysis is now available. Our results show a decent outperformance/underperformance corresponding to buyback raise/cut prediction, suggesting that users of our models will benefit from guiding their investment decisions based on our buyback raise/cut outlook.

Asia Buyback Forecasting | Quarterly Update 1.0

<div>
<p>In this Smartkarma Original, we bring to you a quantitative approach for identifying Asian companies that are likely to raise/cut buyback. Applying this approach to a universe of 920+ companies listed across Asia helped us identify 40+ and 50+ companies that have a high likelihood of raising and cutting buybacks, respectively, over the next five years.</p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div class="content-highlight">
<p><strong>What's Original?</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>We have two separate models, one for forecasting Buyback Raise and the other for Buyback Cut.</li>
<li>Our back test results are very encouraging with &gt;85% hit rate for our Buyback Raise model and &gt;94% hit rate for our Buyback Cut model.</li>
<li>For our Buyback Raise model, we differentiate from other quantitative buyback models by incorporating competing uses of cash like inorganic acquisitions through “Goodwill as % of Total Assets” parameter. Based on our analysis, we have also determined that, contrary to usual perception, any dividend payout is not a competing use of cash vs buyback but a healthy sign of capital return discipline and have incorporated it accordingly in our model. We also use long-term ROE vs growth trends to filter companies where the cash levels maybe low but the capability to do buyback with time can grow significantly. At the same time, we ensure to weed off very high growth companies that may have high re-investment needs through our carefully selected threshold for the "Long-term Revenue CAGR" parameter. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<h3>Insight Flow</h3>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Live Dashboard</li>
<li> Methodology
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Buyback Raise Model</li>
<li>Buyback Cut Model</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Universe</li>
<li>Back Test Results
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Buyback Raise Model</li>
<li>Buyback Cut Model</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Model Results
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Summary Statistics</li>
<li>Companies with High Probability of Buyback Raise</li>
<li>Companies with High Probability of Buyback Cut</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Buyback Timing</li>
<li>Model Risks &amp; Limitations</li>
<li>Conclusion</li>
</ul>
</div>


In this Smartkarma Original, we bring to you a quantitative approach for identifying Asian companies that are likely to raise/cut buyback. Applying this approach to a universe of 920+ companies listed across Asia helped us identify 40+ and 50+ companies that have a high likelihood of raising and cutting buybacks, respectively, over the next five years.




What's Original?

We have two separate models, one for forecasting Buyback Raise and the other for Buyback Cut.
Our back test results are very encouraging with &gt;85% hit rate for our Buyback Raise model and &gt;94% hit rate for our Buyback Cut model.
For our Buyback Raise model, we differentiate from other quantitative buyback models by incorporating competing uses of cash like inorganic acquisitions through “Goodwill as % of Total Assets” parameter. Based on our analysis, we have also determined that, contrary to usual perception, any dividend payout is not a competing use of cash vs buyback but a healthy sign of capital return discipline and have incorporated it accordingly in our model. We also use long-term ROE vs growth trends to filter companies where the cash levels maybe low but the capability to do buyback with time can grow significantly. At the same time, we ensure to weed off very high growth companies that may have high re-investment needs through our carefully selected threshold for the "Long-term Revenue CAGR" parameter. 





Insight Flow



Live Dashboard
 Methodology

Buyback Raise Model
Buyback Cut Model


Universe
Back Test Results

Buyback Raise Model
Buyback Cut Model


Model Results

Summary Statistics
Companies with High Probability of Buyback Raise
Companies with High Probability of Buyback Cut


Buyback Timing
Model Risks &amp; Limitations
Conclusion



Asia Buyback Forecasting | Which Companies Are Likely to Raise/Cut Buybacks?

Malaysia

MISC Berhad owns ships and operates shipping and related services. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides trucking, warehousing and forwarding service, containers and prime movers repair, and container haulage. MISC Berhad also has operation in trucking and launch operator.

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Misc Bhd (MISC MK)

Still Bearish at the Index Level; Remain Overweight Defensives & Commodity Sectors

Our outlook remains bearish at the index level as downtrends remain intact on the MSCI broad global indexes and also within Japan, Hong Kong,...

Vermilion Research

KLCI Index Rebalance: Westports Replaces Hap Seng

Westports Holdings will replace Hap Seng Consolidated in the KLCI at the December rebalance. HAP MK is a liquidity delete and passive trackers will...

Brian Freitas

Delayed Recovery of Petroleum Rates

Buy Misc Berhad: Delayed Recovery of Petroleum Rates. - By: TA Securities Holdings Bhd

TA Securities Holdings Bhd

Asia Buyback Forecasting | Quarterly Update 1.0

This is our first quarterly update since our Original on Buyback Forecasting. We provide updated results based on latest year-end financials.

Ankit Agrawal, CFA

Asia Buyback Forecasting | Which Companies Are Likely to Raise/Cut Buybacks?

A predictive quantitative model for Asian companies to help determine which companies are likely to raise/cut buybacks in future.

Ankit Agrawal, CFA

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52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)