Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Spotify's first-quarter 2024 earnings were marked by strong growth and a shift towards monetization and efficiency in operations.</li><li>The company demonstrated solid performance with robust revenue growth, ongoing expansion in gross margin, and the most significant operating income to date.</li><li>Spotify’s continued focus on increasing revenue while improving the bottom line resulted in an encouraging quarterly performance that exceeded expectations.</li></ul>

Spotify's first-quarter 2024 earnings were marked by strong growth and a shift towards monetization and efficiency in operations.The company demonstrated solid performance with robust revenue growth, ongoing expansion in gross margin, and the most significant operating income to date.Spotify’s continued focus on increasing revenue while improving the bottom line resulted in an encouraging quarterly performance that exceeded expectations.

Spotify Technologies: Is It Able To Achieve The Necessary Growth through Audiobooks & Flexible Pricing Structures? - Major Drivers

<ul><li>Spotify Technology SA posted an impressive financial performance, notching its most significant milestones and setting numerous records in the year 2023.</li><li>The company recorded 113 million net additions on the Monthly Active User (MAU) side and premium net additions of 31 million, marking the largest full-year additions in its history.</li><li>The engagement also surpassed 2022 numbers within the first 31 hours of the campaign.</li></ul>

Spotify Technology SA posted an impressive financial performance, notching its most significant milestones and setting numerous records in the year 2023.The company recorded 113 million net additions on the Monthly Active User (MAU) side and premium net additions of 31 million, marking the largest full-year additions in its history.The engagement also surpassed 2022 numbers within the first 31 hours of the campaign.

Spotify Inc.: Initiation Of Coverage - From Music to Audio Books - The Surprising Move That's Capturing New Audiences! - Major Drivers

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.

<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

Asian Hedge Fund Manager, Long Short Equity, Macro

David Mudd

Tencent Music Entertainment Group / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Hong Kong market sectors outperforming since the stimulus in September are Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare as Utilities, Telecom and Energy lag.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/crrc-corp-ltd-461535b2-37ac-4589-b4d9-8b71c06c43b8" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:124:1" rel="noopener">CRRC Corp Ltd H (1766 HK)</a> gets BUY recommendations as its results point to continued strength in the rail equipment sector with passenger volume surging.
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-music-entertainment-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36601:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698 HK)</a> reported solid results as it shifts to a pay-to-stream subscription model. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xiaomi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24409:1" rel="noopener">Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK)</a> had a blowout quarter with EV sales surging.
</li>
</ul>


Hong Kong market sectors outperforming since the stimulus in September are Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare as Utilities, Telecom and Energy lag.

CRRC Corp Ltd H (1766 HK) gets BUY recommendations as its results point to continued strength in the rail equipment sector with passenger volume surging.


Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698 HK) reported solid results as it shifts to a pay-to-stream subscription model. Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK) had a blowout quarter with EV sales surging.



BUY/SELL/HOLD: Hong Kong Stock Updates (NOVEMBER 18)

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, 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.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Tencent has been busy distributing shares in some of its investments over the past two years, with JD.com’s distribution announced in 2021 and Meituan’s in 2022.</li>
<li>In our earlier note in 2022, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tencent-investee-selldown-the-us-120bn-global-overhang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:81153" rel="noopener">Tencent Investee Selldown - The US$120bn Global Overhang</a>, we had looked at its overall investment portfolio.</li>
<li>With two of its large investments spun-out, we now re-look at Tencent’s shareholding in various companies to try and gauge which ones it could sell out of and how. </li>
</ul>


Tencent has been busy distributing shares in some of its investments over the past two years, with JD.com’s distribution announced in 2021 and Meituan’s in 2022.
In our earlier note in 2022, Tencent Investee Selldown - The US$120bn Global Overhang, we had looked at its overall investment portfolio.
With two of its large investments spun-out, we now re-look at Tencent’s shareholding in various companies to try and gauge which ones it could sell out of and how. 


Tencent Investee Selldown - JD.com Done, Meituan Done, Two More Still Left

Luxembourg

Spotify Technology S.A. provides music streaming services. The Company offers commercial free music and ad-supported services to subscribers. Spotify Technology serves clients worldwide.

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Spotify (SPOT US)

Spotify Technologies: Is It Able To Achieve The Necessary Growth through Audiobooks & Flexible Pricing Structures? - Major Drivers

Spotify's first-quarter 2024 earnings were marked by strong growth and a shift towards monetization and efficiency in operations. The company...

Baptista Research

Spotify Inc.: Initiation Of Coverage - From Music to Audio Books - The Surprising Move That's Capturing New Audiences! - Major Drivers

Spotify Technology SA posted an impressive financial performance, notching its most significant milestones and setting numerous records in the...

Baptista Research

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

BUY/SELL/HOLD: Hong Kong Stock Updates (NOVEMBER 18)

Hong Kong has seen its Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors perform well since the stimulus in September. CRCC has had several buy...

David Mudd

Tencent Investee Selldown - JD.com Done, Meituan Done, Two More Still Left

Tencent has been distributing shares in some of its investments over the past two years. In this note, we look at which of its remaining investee...

Sumeet Singh

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