TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst, Obex Capital Research

Aaron Gabin

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research

Obex Capital Research

“Obex” is Latin for Barriers to Entry. Obex Capital Management’s investment philosophy is driven by an intense focus on which business model’s Barriers to Entry are able to withstand the ever increasing competitive disruption in the TMT and Consumer Sectors.

Equity Bottom-Up

Apple's quasi loss in the Epic lawsuit regarding app store take rates makes us all the more bullish on one of our favorite longs...Match Group. And also more bullish on Roblox (another long recommendation) and ATVI (less a beneficiary, but still a good entry point. We think Spotify and Netflix's benefits are overstated. Spotify has run too much on the news, and we think its potentially another good short entry point.

Apple's quasi loss in the Epic lawsuit regarding app store take rates makes us all the more bullish on one of our favorite longs...Match Group. And also more bullish on Roblox (another long recommendation) and ATVI (less a beneficiary, but still a good entry point. We think Spotify and Netflix's benefits are overstated. Spotify has run too much on the news, and we think its potentially another good short entry point.

Apple's App Store Price Cut Beneficiaries

The headline for Amazon’s quarter was that its revenue growth decelerated 1700bps to 24% YoY , and appears set to decelerate another 1000bps in 3Q. Tough comps people. Tough comps.The company has to invest more and more money to keep up with demand…historically, these are the times you invest in Amazon, when its going through capacity buildouts…its just never happened before that Amazon has had ongoing investment cycles for multiple years. In the end…the absolute size and profitability of the business will be larger. It might just take 2-3 quarters to prove out.In the meantime, its higher margin AWS and Advertising businesses are ACCELERATING. AWS on a $59B runrate, growing 37% (500bps acceleration QoQ), Advertising on a $32B runrate, growing 87% (1400bps acceleration). We value these two businesses at ~2T….which is 30% ahead of the current market cap. We think retail is also worth ~$1T, which is what get us to our $3T valuation, which equates to $6,000 a share. <div class="content-highlight">Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.</div>

The headline for Amazon’s quarter was that its revenue growth decelerated 1700bps to 24% YoY , and appears set to decelerate another 1000bps in 3Q. Tough comps people. Tough comps.The company has to invest more and more money to keep up with demand…historically, these are the times you invest in Amazon, when its going through capacity buildouts…its just never happened before that Amazon has had ongoing investment cycles for multiple years. In the end…the absolute size and profitability of the business will be larger. It might just take 2-3 quarters to prove out.In the meantime, its higher margin AWS and Advertising businesses are ACCELERATING. AWS on a $59B runrate, growing 37% (500bps acceleration QoQ), Advertising on a $32B runrate, growing 87% (1400bps acceleration). We value these two businesses at ~2T….which is 30% ahead of the current market cap. We think retail is also worth ~$1T, which is what get us to our $3T valuation, which equates to $6,000 a share. Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.

Amazon 2Q21: Pay Attention to AWS and Advertising

Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Research from Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Equity Research Firm

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>We expect e-commerce to have a strong 2H24, allowing the sector to meet or exceed 11% growth expectations 2024 as Amazon’s same-day/one-day initiatives appear to be reviving the secular shift from brick-and-mortar retailers.</li><li>We continue to watch other secular adoption trends, including mobile commerce (m- commerce) and buy now, pay later (BNPL), which should also help drive growth.</li><li>Despite some signs of a slowing economy/consumer, digital advertising should have a solid 2H24 and meet/slightly exceed 9% growth expectations for the year.</li></ul>

We expect e-commerce to have a strong 2H24, allowing the sector to meet or exceed 11% growth expectations 2024 as Amazon’s same-day/one-day initiatives appear to be reviving the secular shift from brick-and-mortar retailers.We continue to watch other secular adoption trends, including mobile commerce (m- commerce) and buy now, pay later (BNPL), which should also help drive growth.Despite some signs of a slowing economy/consumer, digital advertising should have a solid 2H24 and meet/slightly exceed 9% growth expectations for the year.

Five Trends in 2H24 - Tweaking Growth Expectations for Key Markets in 2024

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.

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cirrus-aircraft" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:39858:1" rel="noopener">Cirrus Aircraft (0153126D US)</a> seeks to raise up to US$197m in its Hong Kong IPO.</li>
<li>Cirrus Aircraft designs, develops, manufactures, and sells premium aircrafts. Its two aircraft product lines, the SR2X Series and the Vision Jet, are currently certified and validated in over 60 countries.</li>
<li>In our previous notes, we talked about the company’s historical performance and PHIP updates. In this note, we undertake a quick peer comparison and share our thoughts on valuation.</li>
</ul>



Cirrus Aircraft (0153126D US) seeks to raise up to US$197m in its Hong Kong IPO.
Cirrus Aircraft designs, develops, manufactures, and sells premium aircrafts. Its two aircraft product lines, the SR2X Series and the Vision Jet, are currently certified and validated in over 60 countries.
In our previous notes, we talked about the company’s historical performance and PHIP updates. In this note, we undertake a quick peer comparison and share our thoughts on valuation.


Cirrus Aircraft IPO - Fundamentally Sound but Parent Still Under Sanction

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> raised around US$315m in its US IPO, after pricing the deal at the top of the range at US$21/share.</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 notes, we talked about the company’s historical performance, undertook a peer comparison and shared our thoughts on valuation. In this note, we talk about the trading dynamics.</li>
</ul>



Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) raised around US$315m in its US IPO, after pricing the deal at the top of the range at US$21/share.
Webtoon Entertainment is a global storytelling platform where a community of creators and users discover, create and share new content.
In our previous notes, we talked about the company’s historical performance, undertook a peer comparison and shared our thoughts on valuation. In this note, we talk about the trading dynamics.


Webtoon Entertainment IPO Trading - Not Cheap Given the Lack of Growth

United States

Expedia Group, Inc. provides branded online travel services for leisure and small business travelers. The Company offers a wide range of travel shopping and reservation services, providing real-time access to schedule, pricing and availability information for airlines, hotels, and car rental companies.

Booking Holdings Inc. operates as an online travel company. The Company offers a platform that allows to make travel reservations with providers of travel services, as well as provides accommodation reservations, rentals cars, airline tickets, and vacation packages. Booking Holdings serves customers worldwide.

Etsy, Inc. provides e-commerce services. The Company offers handmade and vintage items, art, and supplies, as well as regular items such as clothing, housewares, paper goods, candles, bags and purses, music, and wood working items. Etsy serves users throughout the United States.

Wayfair Inc. retails household goods online. The Company offers bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining, home entertainment, home office, game room and bar, patio, hallway and entryway, and bathroom furniture. Wayfair offers products and services in the United States.

TripAdvisor Inc. is an online travel research company. The Company's travel research platform aggregates reviews and opinions of members about destinations, accommodations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts ("B&Bs"), specialty lodging and vacation rentals), restaurants and activities throughout the world.

1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. is an e-commerce provider of floral products and gifts. The Company's product offerings, including fresh-cut and seasonal flowers, plants, floral arrangements, and home and garden merchandise, can be purchased online or by calling its toll-free telephone number.

Lands' End, Inc. manufactures men's, women's and children's apparel and accessories. The Company produces and distributes swimwear, clothing, bedding, totes, furniture, bath accessories, uniforms, outter wear and various related products. Lands' End offers its products through its catalog and website around the world.

Overstock.com, Inc. offers discounted brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet. Products include bed-and-bath goods, kitchenware, jewelry, sporting goods, electronics, and designer accessories.

Stitch Fix, Inc. operates as an online subscription and personal shopping platform. The Company offers shirts, jackets, sweaters, blazers, leggings, vests, scarfs, jeans, loafers, and boots for men and women. Stitch Fix serves customers in the United States.

Porter Holding International, Inc. operates online to offline (O2O) business platforms for consumer manufacturing enterprises. The Company operates cloud platforms that provide Internet-based intelligent e-commerce information services.

Trip.com Group Ltd. provides online travel agency services. The Company offers mobile applications, hotel reservations, flight ticketing, package tours, corporate travel management, and train ticketing services.

JD.com Inc is an online direct sales company in China.  The Company offers a wide selection of products through its website and mobile applications.  JD.com sells appliances, computers, digital products, communication products, garments, books, and household items to consumers and vendors.

Zomato Limited is an online restaurant guide and food ordering platform. The Company offers platform connects customers, restaurant partners and delivery partners to search and discover restaurants, read and write customer generated reviews, order food delivery, book a table, and make payments while dining-out at restaurants. Zomato serves customers worldwide.

Vipshop Holdings Ltd. retails branded products at discount over the Internet. The Company retails through flash sales, in which limited quantities of an item are sold at deep discount for a specified period of time.

ZOZO Inc operates internet shopping sites for apparel.  The Company also provides communication services relating to apparel such as blogs by fashion moguls and internet chat room for users.

Mango Excellent Media Co.,Ltd. offers television based services. The Company provides television shopping, online shopping, outbound shopping, and other services. Mango Excellent Media also operates new media platform operation.

Momo.com Inc is an e-commerce services company. The Company offers TV shopping and Internet shopping services, including beauty products, clothing, leather goods and food shops.

Webjet Limited provides branded online travel services for travelers.  The Company offers one-stop travel shopping and reservation services, providing real-time access to schedule, pricing, and availability information for airlines hotels, and major car rental companies.

Ocado Group PLC distributes a wide range of retail consumer products.  The Company provides home delivery of a wide range of products including food and drink, toiletries and baby, household, pet care, and holiday products.

zooplus AG retails pet supplies over the Internet.

Netflix Inc. is an Internet subscription service for watching tv shows and movies. Subscribers can instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies streamed over the Internet to their TVs, computers and mobile devices and in the United States, subscribers can receive standard definition DVDs and Blu-ray Discs delivered to their homes.

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Netflix Inc (NFLX US)

Apple's App Store Price Cut Beneficiaries

Apple's quasi loss in the Epic lawsuit regarding app store take rates makes us all the more bullish on one of our favorite longs...Match Group.

Aaron Gabin

Amazon 2Q21: Pay Attention to AWS and Advertising

Retail decelerated ALOT. In the meantime, its higher margin AWS and Advertising businesses are ACCELERATING. We value these two businesses at...

Aaron Gabin

Five Trends in 2H24 - Tweaking Growth Expectations for Key Markets in 2024

We continue to watch other secular adoption trends, including mobile commerce (m- commerce) and buy now, pay later (BNPL), which should also help...

Water Tower Research

Cirrus Aircraft IPO - Fundamentally Sound but Parent Still Under Sanction

Cirrus Aircraft (0153126D US) seeks to raise up to US$197m in its Hong Kong IPO. In this note, we undertake a quick peer comparison and share our...

Ethan Aw

Webtoon Entertainment IPO Trading - Not Cheap Given the Lack of Growth

Webtoon Entertainment (WBTN US) raised around US$315m in its US IPO, after pricing the deal at the top of the range at US$21/share.

Ethan Aw

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