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>Broad global MSCI equity indexes (ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EAFE, and EM) remain bearish, as do indexes in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Europe, and Germany.</li>
<li>Until we see these indexes break above downtrends and key resistance levels, we cannot be bullish.</li>
<li>Remain overweight Energy and Materials with the secular commodity bull market intact. Defensive Sectors are also hitting 1-2-year RS highs; we recommend overweights to Health Care, Utilities, and Consumer Staples.</li>
</ul>


Broad global MSCI equity indexes (ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EAFE, and EM) remain bearish, as do indexes in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Europe, and Germany.
Until we see these indexes break above downtrends and key resistance levels, we cannot be bullish.
Remain overweight Energy and Materials with the secular commodity bull market intact. Defensive Sectors are also hitting 1-2-year RS highs; we recommend overweights to Health Care, Utilities, and Consumer Staples.


Opportunities Within Energy and Materials

Insight Provider, CrossASEAN Research

Nicolas Van Broekhoven

Insight Provider

CrossASEAN Research

At CrossASEAN Research we strive to produce unbiased and differentiated on the ground insights on companies across South East Asia. Our Research is produced for the most part after face to face meetings and conversations with company management to dig deep into the long term vision and strategy of the companies we cover. We seek to deliver investable and actionable themes on sectors and markets across SE Asia, often in collaboration with other Insight Providers across the region, pooling the vast experience of the analysts within the Smartkarma Ecosystem. We also offer bespoke work and tailor made trips for our clients. 

Insights across South East Asia

Equity Bottom-Up

Rex International Holding / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rex-international-holding" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17074:1" rel="noopener">Rex International Holding (REXI SP)</a> reported FY21 results in late February which showed a dramatic improvement over FY20 due to rising oil prices and increased production</li>
<li>Accounting wise the picture was muddied by auditor fantasy valuation exercises which understated FY21 results. FY22 to be a "clean" year where positive cash flow impact becomes clearer to market.</li>
<li>Since 08/03/22 Rex trades on the SGX mainboard and remains the best pure-play oil bet in the Singapore market. Current oil prices indicate an FY22 cash flow bonanza.</li>
</ul>



Rex International Holding (REXI SP) reported FY21 results in late February which showed a dramatic improvement over FY20 due to rising oil prices and increased production
Accounting wise the picture was muddied by auditor fantasy valuation exercises which understated FY21 results. FY22 to be a "clean" year where positive cash flow impact becomes clearer to market.
Since 08/03/22 Rex trades on the SGX mainboard and remains the best pure-play oil bet in the Singapore market. Current oil prices indicate an FY22 cash flow bonanza.


Rex: Bargain Purchase and Auditor Fantasy Valuations

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>A record 42% of active Global managers have zero exposure to the Energy sector</li>
<li>It is the largest sector underweight and a minor allocation among active Global managers, held by fewer funds than the fringe Utilities and Real Estate sectors. </li>
<li>Value managers hold the larger allocations, whilst Aggressive Growth managers have all but abandoned the sector.</li>
</ul>


A record 42% of active Global managers have zero exposure to the Energy sector
It is the largest sector underweight and a minor allocation among active Global managers, held by fewer funds than the fringe Utilities and Real Estate sectors. 
Value managers hold the larger allocations, whilst Aggressive Growth managers have all but abandoned the sector.


Global Energy:  Conviction Underweight or Complacency?

Earlier this week <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rex-international-holding" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17074:1" rel="noopener">Rex International Holding (REXI SP)</a><a href="https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/20210616_RIH_PressRelease_LimeAcquiresProducingBrageField_Final.ashx?App=Announcement&amp;FileID=671402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that its 90% subsidiary Lime Petroleum would be acquiring a minority stake from <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/repsol-sa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21292:1" rel="noopener">Repsol SA (REP SM)</a> in the Norwegian Brage oil field. In contrast to the rest of Rex's Norwegian assets which are mainly exploration targets, the Brage oil field has been producing oil since 1993 and reached its peak production in 1998. Lime paid 42.6 million USD for a 33.84% stake in Brage (please note it has significant amount of deferred tax assets included here). Interestingly, the transaction has been backdated to start 1 January 2021 so accounting wise Rex will book the cash flows associated with Brage in its full year 2021 report. The 1H21 report was already going to show great cash flow production from its Yumna field in Oman. The just announced acquisition in Norway just adds to this for 2H21 once the deal closes in September. Risks to closing of the transaction is the successful placement of a 2.5 year 60M USD bond in Norway (expected interest rate 10%). Norwegian investors are very familiar with oil companies so we expect no issues in placing the debt.
Why was Rex able to buy such an asset from Repsol? The Spanish oil giant is clearly divesting marginal oil investments as earlier this month <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hibiscus-petroleum-bhd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20775:1" rel="noopener">Hibiscus Petroleum (HIBI MK)</a> announced it bought Repsol's Vietnam and Malaysian assets for 212.5 million USD. We see this as a typical board room decision by Repsol to get rid of marginal fields and the price the assets are acquired for is less important.
Oil = The New Tobacco? While oil companies have been put in a bad light (see recent Shell and Exxon Mobil news) the reality is that oil consumption will be with us for decades to come and cuts in capex by the majors are likely to lead to higher oil prices. For non-ESG obsessed investors the oil industry reminds us of the tobacco industry 20 years ago. ESG agnostic investors could potentially make significant returns in the oil &amp; gas sector just like tobacco investors did between 1998 to 2018.
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/213/888/original/image?1624003554" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="213888"></figure>
Rex remains a great risk/reward story as cash flow from Oman ramps up in 1H21 and cash flow from Norway gets added in 2H21. As highlighted in our previous insight we think Rex currently trades anywhere between 1x to 2x pre-tax cash flows (depending on input variables such as oil price, days production, etc). The 1H21 results in mid-August 2021 should be a wake-up call to investors. Given the age of its principle shareholders Rex remains a prime M&amp;A candidate at some point.

Earlier this week Rex International Holding (REXI SP)announced that its 90% subsidiary Lime Petroleum would be acquiring a minority stake from Repsol SA (REP SM) in the Norwegian Brage oil field. In contrast to the rest of Rex's Norwegian assets which are mainly exploration targets, the Brage oil field has been producing oil since 1993 and reached its peak production in 1998. Lime paid 42.6 million USD for a 33.84% stake in Brage (please note it has significant amount of deferred tax assets included here). Interestingly, the transaction has been backdated to start 1 January 2021 so accounting wise Rex will book the cash flows associated with Brage in its full year 2021 report. The 1H21 report was already going to show great cash flow production from its Yumna field in Oman. The just announced acquisition in Norway just adds to this for 2H21 once the deal closes in September. Risks to closing of the transaction is the successful placement of a 2.5 year 60M USD bond in Norway (expected interest rate 10%). Norwegian investors are very familiar with oil companies so we expect no issues in placing the debt.
Why was Rex able to buy such an asset from Repsol? The Spanish oil giant is clearly divesting marginal oil investments as earlier this month Hibiscus Petroleum (HIBI MK) announced it bought Repsol's Vietnam and Malaysian assets for 212.5 million USD. We see this as a typical board room decision by Repsol to get rid of marginal fields and the price the assets are acquired for is less important.
Oil = The New Tobacco? While oil companies have been put in a bad light (see recent Shell and Exxon Mobil news) the reality is that oil consumption will be with us for decades to come and cuts in capex by the majors are likely to lead to higher oil prices. For non-ESG obsessed investors the oil industry reminds us of the tobacco industry 20 years ago. ESG agnostic investors could potentially make significant returns in the oil &amp; gas sector just like tobacco investors did between 1998 to 2018.

Rex remains a great risk/reward story as cash flow from Oman ramps up in 1H21 and cash flow from Norway gets added in 2H21. As highlighted in our previous insight we think Rex currently trades anywhere between 1x to 2x pre-tax cash flows (depending on input variables such as oil price, days production, etc). The 1H21 results in mid-August 2021 should be a wake-up call to investors. Given the age of its principle shareholders Rex remains a prime M&amp;A candidate at some point. 

Rex: Buying More Producing Assets in Norway, 1H21 Cash Flow Report to Be Transformational

Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

Shortly after publishing <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/engine-versus-exxon-activist-hedge-fund-s-proxy-fight-win-reverberates-through-big-oil-boardrooms" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:52318" rel="noopener">Engine Versus Exxon: Activist Hedge Fund's Proxy Fight Win Reverberates Through "Big Oil" Boardrooms</a>, I decided that a follow-up report (such as this one) would be a good supplement. So, consider this an addendum of sorts to that first Insight.Whereas "Engine Versus Exxon" was a mostly qualitative discussion of recent events for Exxon and six other supermajors, this is a more data-driven look of a much larger universe of oil stocks; 50 in total, representing 24 countries (mainly in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe).Together, they are a good proxy for the broader Energy sector – an aggregate market capitalisation of US$4.6 trillion, and responsible for an astounding 20.5 billion MtCO2e in emissions, about 65% of all energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.This is a relatively focused Insight, covering four related areas:<ol>
<li>
Carbon Footprints: Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions for each (ranked and sorted).</li>
<li>
Climate Policies: Where each stands vis-à-vis implementation of climate-related policies.</li>
<li>
Emissions Targets: Which companies are claiming to go net-zero emissions, and by when.</li>
<li>
Capital Investment: How future CapEx is (or is not) aligned with global warming targets.</li>
</ol>

Shortly after publishing Engine Versus Exxon: Activist Hedge Fund's Proxy Fight Win Reverberates Through "Big Oil" Boardrooms, I decided that a follow-up report (such as this one) would be a good supplement. So, consider this an addendum of sorts to that first Insight.Whereas "Engine Versus Exxon" was a mostly qualitative discussion of recent events for Exxon and six other supermajors, this is a more data-driven look of a much larger universe of oil stocks; 50 in total, representing 24 countries (mainly in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe).Together, they are a good proxy for the broader Energy sector – an aggregate market capitalisation of US$4.6 trillion, and responsible for an astounding 20.5 billion MtCO2e in emissions, about 65% of all energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.This is a relatively focused Insight, covering four related areas:

Carbon Footprints: Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions for each (ranked and sorted).

Climate Policies: Where each stands vis-à-vis implementation of climate-related policies.

Emissions Targets: Which companies are claiming to go net-zero emissions, and by when.

Capital Investment: How future CapEx is (or is not) aligned with global warming targets.


Greenhouse Gas Emissions Profiles of 50 of the World's Largest Oil Companies

Spain

Repsol S.A., through subsidiaries, explores for and produces crude oil and natural gas, refines petroleum, and transports petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).  The Company retails gasoline and other products through its chain of gasoline filling stations.  Repsol's petroleum reserves are in Spain, Latin America, Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East and United States.

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Repsol SA (REP SM)

Opportunities Within Energy and Materials

Global indexes remain below our key lines in the sand of $54 on $ACWX, $75.25 on $EFA, and the 200-day MA on $ACWI. As long as prices are below...

Vermilion Research

Rex: Bargain Purchase and Auditor Fantasy Valuations

Rex reported stellar FY21 results. Accounting fantasy valuations suppressed the true cash flow impact but this noise should disappear in FY22....

Nicolas Van Broekhoven

Global Energy: Conviction Underweight or Complacency?

Ownership in the Global Energy sectors is at record lows. Despite rising oil prices, it is the largest sector underweight and a minor allocation...

Steven Holden

Rex: Buying More Producing Assets in Norway, 1H21 Cash Flow Report to Be Transformational

Rex acquired Norwegian assets from Spanish oil giant Repsol. This adds to its production profile. The 1H21 results report mid-August should be a...

Nicolas Van Broekhoven

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Profiles of 50 of the World's Largest Oil Companies

A quick overview of the carbon footprints and climate policies of 50 of the world's largest oil stocks (mainly Asia Pacific, Americas, and Europe...

Kyle Rudden

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