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

Webtoon Entertainment / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/webtoon-entertainment-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:43652:1" rel="noopener">Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US)</a>, a global storytelling platform, seeks to raise up to US$500 million through a Nasdaq IPO.</li>
<li>In <em><strong><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/webtoon-entertainment-ipo-the-bull-case" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:146038" rel="noopener">Webtoon Entertainment IPO: The Bull Case</a></strong></em>, we highlighted the key elements of the bull case. In this note, we outline the bear case.</li>
<li>The bear case rests on declining organic revenue, declining Korean paying ratio, a peaking Japan growth driver, optimistic market sizing, and unsustainable low marketing spending.</li>
</ul>



Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US), a global storytelling platform, seeks to raise up to US$500 million through a Nasdaq IPO.
In Webtoon Entertainment IPO: The Bull Case, we highlighted the key elements of the bull case. In this note, we outline the bear case.
The bear case rests on declining organic revenue, declining Korean paying ratio, a peaking Japan growth driver, optimistic market sizing, and unsustainable low marketing spending.


Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) IPO: The Bear Case

APAC IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Ethan Aw

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.

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/webtoon-entertainment-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:43652:1" rel="noopener">Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US)</a> is looking to raise up to US$500m in its US IPO.</li>
<li>Webtoon Entertainment is a global storytelling platform where a community of creators and users discover, create and share new content.</li>
<li>In our previous note, we talked about the company’s historical performance. In this note, we undertake a peer comparison.</li>
</ul>



Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) is looking to raise up to US$500m in its US IPO.
Webtoon Entertainment is a global storytelling platform where a community of creators and users discover, create and share new content.
In our previous note, we talked about the company’s historical performance. In this note, we undertake a peer comparison.


Webtoon Entertainment Pre-IPO - Peer Comparison - Relatively Small in Operating Scale as a Platform

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/webtoon-entertainment-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:43652:1" rel="noopener">Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US)</a>, a global storytelling platform, seeks to raise up to US$500 million through a Nasdaq IPO.</li>
<li>Webtoon is the leading web-comic player in all its major geographies, including Korea, the US and Japan. <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/ly-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19603:1" rel="noopener">LY (4689 JP)</a> are the primary shareholders.</li>
<li>The bull case rests on a large TAM, rising monthly active users, strong constant currency growth supported by monetisation initiatives, a shift to profitability, and cash generation.</li>
</ul>



Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US), a global storytelling platform, seeks to raise up to US$500 million through a Nasdaq IPO.
Webtoon is the leading web-comic player in all its major geographies, including Korea, the US and Japan. Naver Corp (035420 KS) and LY (4689 JP) are the primary shareholders.
The bull case rests on a large TAM, rising monthly active users, strong constant currency growth supported by monetisation initiatives, a shift to profitability, and cash generation.


Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyzed the changes in short interest of KRX Stocks as of Jun 7th which has an aggregated short interest worth USD6.1bn.</li>
<li>We tabulate league table for top short by value and short as multiple of ADT, as well as weekly increases &amp; decreases in short value, short as multiple of ADT.</li>
<li>We estimate short interest increased by 4.0% WoW and highlight short interest changes in Samsung Electronics.</li>
</ul>


We analyzed the changes in short interest of KRX Stocks as of Jun 7th which has an aggregated short interest worth USD6.1bn.
We tabulate league table for top short by value and short as multiple of ADT, as well as weekly increases &amp; decreases in short value, short as multiple of ADT.
We estimate short interest increased by 4.0% WoW and highlight short interest changes in Samsung Electronics.


KRX Short Interest Weekly (Jun 7th): Samsung Electronics

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

<ul>
<li>Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.</li>
<li>On the IPO front, we looked at <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/guzman-y-gomez" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:43656:1" rel="noopener">Guzman Y Gomez (0817833D AU),</a> <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/quantumpharm-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:40369:1" rel="noopener">QuantumPharm (QUP HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/webtoon-entertainment-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:43652:1" rel="noopener">Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US)</a> this week.</li>
<li>On the placement front, there were a few deals across Hong Kong, Australia and Japan.</li>
</ul>


Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.
On the IPO front, we looked at Guzman Y Gomez (0817833D AU), QuantumPharm (QUP HK) and Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) this week.
On the placement front, there were a few deals across Hong Kong, Australia and Japan.


ECM Weekly (10th June 2024) - Webtoon, Shift Up, QuantumPharm, Guzman, Kakaopay, Telix, Yankuang

South Korea

Naver Corp. provides Internet site with web portal services, such as search engine, online game and content development.  The Company also offers marketing service through text and banner advertisement.

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Naver Corp (035420 KS)

Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) IPO: The Bear Case

The bear case rests on declining organic revenue, declining Korean paying ratio, a peaking Japan growth driver, optimistic market sizing, and...

Arun George

Webtoon Entertainment Pre-IPO - Peer Comparison - Relatively Small in Operating Scale as a Platform

Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) is looking to raise up to US$500m in its US IPO. In this note, we undertake a peer comparison.

Ethan Aw

Webtoon Entertainment IPO: The Bull Case

The bull case rests on a large TAM, rising monthly active users, strong constant currency growth supported by monetisation initiatives, a shift to...

Arun George

KRX Short Interest Weekly (Jun 7th): Samsung Electronics

We analyzed KRX short interest report for the past week. We estimate the short interests were USD 6.1bn last week and highlighted short interest...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

ECM Weekly (10th June 2024) - Webtoon, Shift Up, QuantumPharm, Guzman, Kakaopay, Telix, Yankuang

Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.

Sumeet Singh

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52-week Range

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