Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives, MBI Deep Dives

MBI Deep Dives

Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives

MBI is the abbreviation for “Mostly Borrowed Ideas”. Why “Mostly Borrowed Ideas?” As a generalist, I do not have a background in any particular sector. I enjoy navigating across industries, businesses, and countries to learn, understand, and connect the dots. In any case, most ideas and innovations are incremental in nature. Very few of us are smart enough to come up with truly original or groundbreaking ideas. I am Abdullah Al-Rezwan. I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. I went to University of Dhaka for my undergrad and majored in Finance. After working three and half years in Equity Research (Sell-side) covering Financial Sector in Bangladesh, I left Bangladesh to pursue my MBA in the US. I graduated within top 10% of the class from Cornell University's two-year MBA program and worked on the buy-side following my graduation. During my time at Cornell, I won two stock pitch competitions and also became finalists in four other competitions. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a generalist in the US large cap team at Madison Investments and covered a wide range of companies from UnitedHealth to Amazon and Boeing before US immigration reality paused my career in investment management. As my work authorization expired, I moved to Canada in January, 2021. Then in early 2022, I was able to return to the US.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>While not exactly Meta-like twists and turns, Spotify’s rise from the ashes of late 2022 perhaps slipped through many investors’ mind.</li><li>The stock was at ~$70 in December, 2022. Today, it closed at $232.</li><li>Before I get to my highlights from today’s call, let me first mention that I am no longer a shareholder of Spotify as I sold my shares today at $243</li></ul>

While not exactly Meta-like twists and turns, Spotify’s rise from the ashes of late 2022 perhaps slipped through many investors’ mind.The stock was at ~$70 in December, 2022. Today, it closed at $232.Before I get to my highlights from today’s call, let me first mention that I am no longer a shareholder of Spotify as I sold my shares today at $243

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>SK Square announced it will not exercise the call option to repurchase minority stake in 11 Street. This is likely to have a positive impact on the company. </li>
<li>SK Square does not need to pay 500 billion won plus 3.5% annualized interest to the financial investors of 11 Street. This will also accelerate sale of 11 Street.</li>
<li>In addition, SK Square announced the merger of TVing and Wavve OTT services. </li>
</ul>


SK Square announced it will not exercise the call option to repurchase minority stake in 11 Street. This is likely to have a positive impact on the company. 
SK Square does not need to pay 500 billion won plus 3.5% annualized interest to the financial investors of 11 Street. This will also accelerate sale of 11 Street.
In addition, SK Square announced the merger of TVing and Wavve OTT services. 


SK Square: Drag Along Rights To Be Exercised to Sell 11 Street + Merger of TVing and Wavve

Independent Research, US Dominant Players, Investment Talk

Investment Talk

Independent Research, US Dominant Players

Investment Talk is for readers who wish to learn about companies that are potentially outside of their own circle of research, as well as those who are longing to become part of a community of like-minded investors and learn more about investment research. I would describe myself as a long-term investor who typically takes a 3Y to 5Y outlook, before reassessing once that period matures. I follow the adage that one should research, reach a conclusion, and then verify and continue to hold so long as the thesis remains intact. My own investing style is one that seeks to find dominant players within their respective market who have shown signs of monopoly or oligopolistic behaviour, unlikely to be disrupted, in tandem with discovering market disruptors who have a high likelihood of disrupting their respective market. Equally (and weighted accordingly) I seek to discover more nuanced, misunderstood, situations with a shorter time frame.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, fidget spinners, heelys, silly bandz, pogs, pet rocks, mood rings, cabbage patch kids…</li><li>Every generation has its share of fad products, fashion statements, and hairstyles.</li><li>But what separates a fad from a sustainable trend? Understanding the difference between the two can be challenging.</li></ul>

Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, fidget spinners, heelys, silly bandz, pogs, pet rocks, mood rings, cabbage patch kids…Every generation has its share of fad products, fashion statements, and hairstyles.But what separates a fad from a sustainable trend? Understanding the difference between the two can be challenging.

Covering IPOs, Healthcare and Technology Stocks

Andrei Zakharov

<ul>
<li>I remain bullish on the stock and reiterate a $37 PT. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/confluent-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33443:1" rel="noopener">Confluent (CFLT US)</a> delivered upside to total revenue, gross margin, and non-GAAP operating margin estimates.</li>
<li>The company raised guidance for CY23 total revenue and profitability. There were plenty of positives, including cloud momentum and customer demand.</li>
<li>The US-based data streaming pioneer appears well positioned to outperform my estimates, and I see a path to profitability (non-GAAP) in CY24 at the earliest.</li>
</ul>


I remain bullish on the stock and reiterate a $37 PT. Confluent (CFLT US) delivered upside to total revenue, gross margin, and non-GAAP operating margin estimates.
The company raised guidance for CY23 total revenue and profitability. There were plenty of positives, including cloud momentum and customer demand.
The US-based data streaming pioneer appears well positioned to outperform my estimates, and I see a path to profitability (non-GAAP) in CY24 at the earliest.


Confluent. 2Q Wrap: Solid Results and Leadership Position In a $60B+ TAM

Value Investing

Vladimir Dimitrov, CFA

<ul>
<li>The main focus will remain on Direct-to-Consumer profitability, but areas such as the recently announced restructuring plan and pricing power in parks &amp; experiences also deserve attention.</li>
<li>The main focus is on the company's Direct- to- consumer profitability.</li>
<li>It has been three months since my latest update on <strong>The Walt Disney Company (<span class="ticker-hover-wrapper">NYSE:DIS</span>)</strong> when I highlighted a number of reasons why the company is finally in a good position to deliver on its bottom line figures.</li>
</ul>


The main focus will remain on Direct-to-Consumer profitability, but areas such as the recently announced restructuring plan and pricing power in parks &amp; experiences also deserve attention.
The main focus is on the company's Direct- to- consumer profitability.
It has been three months since my latest update on The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) when I highlighted a number of reasons why the company is finally in a good position to deliver on its bottom line figures.


Disney's Q3 2023 Earnings: A Pivotal Quarter To Appease Investors And Analysts

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)

Spotify 4Q'23 Update

While not exactly Meta-like twists and turns, Spotify’s rise from the ashes of late 2022 perhaps slipped through many investors’ mind.

MBI Deep Dives

SK Square: Drag Along Rights To Be Exercised to Sell 11 Street + Merger of TVing and Wavve

According to Chosun Business Daily, the financial investors (Nile Holdings Consortium) want to sell 11st at about 600 billion won (100% stake),...

Douglas Kim

Fads and Second Acts

Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, fidget spinners, heelys, silly bandz, pogs, pet rocks, mood rings, cabbage patch kids… Every generation has its share...

Investment Talk

Confluent. 2Q Wrap: Solid Results and Leadership Position In a $60B+ TAM

Confluent reported solid results and achieved sustained high growth despite a choppy macro environment and smaller average deal sizes. The company...

Andrei Zakharov

Disney's Q3 2023 Earnings: A Pivotal Quarter To Appease Investors And Analysts

The main focus will remain on Direct-to-Consumer profitability, but areas such as the recently announced restructuring plan and pricing power in...

Vladimir Dimitrov, CFA

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