Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport, Tracking Traffic

Daniel Hellberg

Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport

Tracking Traffic

Focusing on Asian logistics, transportation, and travel companies

Equity Bottom-Up

Meta Platforms (Facebook) / Equity Bottom-Up

<p>The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and almost four dozen US states and territories have filed antitrust suits against <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/facebook-inc-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:665:1" rel="noopener">Facebook Inc A (FB US)</a>, seeking to force the social giant to divest its Instagram and Whatsapp functions. </p><p>For the suits against FB to succeed, the plaintiffs must establish that FB a) enjoys monopoly power that it has used to stifle smaller rivals <em>and</em> that b) consumers have been harmed as a result. Proving that consumers have been harmed will likely prove especially, in our opinion. For its part, FB executives have made it clear they view efforts to break up the company as an "existential threat".</p><p>So how will the suits play out? </p><p>The US government's case appears to have bi-partisan and popular support, and FB has made it clear they intend to fight. We expect this case to move slowly, perhaps requiring years to resolve. A clear win for the US government is unlikely; a more likely outcome would be a settlement in which FB agrees to limit its expansion in certain areas and/or its commercial use of user data. </p><p>Increased scrutiny of FB's practices and a potential settlement could slow FB's growth, but is this really a growth stock? In Q320, OP increased by just 12% on 22% revenue growth, and consensus estimates for 2021e call for similar growth. In our view, the suits represent a likely headache for FB, but not much more, and are thus unlikely to have much impact beyond the company, either. </p>

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and almost four dozen US states and territories have filed antitrust suits against Facebook Inc A (FB US), seeking to force the social giant to divest its Instagram and Whatsapp functions. For the suits against FB to succeed, the plaintiffs must establish that FB a) enjoys monopoly power that it has used to stifle smaller rivals and that b) consumers have been harmed as a result. Proving that consumers have been harmed will likely prove especially, in our opinion. For its part, FB executives have made it clear they view efforts to break up the company as an "existential threat".So how will the suits play out? The US government's case appears to have bi-partisan and popular support, and FB has made it clear they intend to fight. We expect this case to move slowly, perhaps requiring years to resolve. A clear win for the US government is unlikely; a more likely outcome would be a settlement in which FB agrees to limit its expansion in certain areas and/or its commercial use of user data. Increased scrutiny of FB's practices and a potential settlement could slow FB's growth, but is this really a growth stock? In Q320, OP increased by just 12% on 22% revenue growth, and consensus estimates for 2021e call for similar growth. In our view, the suits represent a likely headache for FB, but not much more, and are thus unlikely to have much impact beyond the company, either. 

US FTC & States' Suits Against Facebook Unlikely to Result in Breakup, but Could Slow Expansion

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.

Equity Capital Markets

Kuaishou Technology / Equity Capital Markets

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/beijing-kuaishou-technology-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29725:1" rel="noopener">Beijing Kuaishou Technology Co Ltd (1496219D CH)</a> (KT) is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a>, Sequoia China, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baidu-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:179:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (BIDU US)</a>, DST Global, Boyu Capital, Temasek and others.</p><p> As of six months ended Jun 2020, it had 302m daily active users (DAUs), who spent 85 mins on average on the app every day. It also had 776m monthly active users (MAUs) and total e-commerce GMV of RMB109.6bn. On an average 1.1bn short videos were uploaded on its app during 1H20.</p><p> As per iResearch, Kuaishou was globally the largest live streaming platform by gross billings from virtual gifting and average live streaming MPUs, the second largest short video platform by average DAUs, and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by GMV, over six months ended June 30, 2020.</p><p>In my earlier note, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/kuaishou-technology-pre-ipo-the-positives-hot-segment-fast-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, fast growth</a>, I spoke about the positive aspects of the deal. In this note, I'll talk about the not so flattering aspects.</p>

Beijing Kuaishou Technology Co Ltd (1496219D CH) (KT) is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sequoia China, Baidu (BIDU US), DST Global, Boyu Capital, Temasek and others. As of six months ended Jun 2020, it had 302m daily active users (DAUs), who spent 85 mins on average on the app every day. It also had 776m monthly active users (MAUs) and total e-commerce GMV of RMB109.6bn. On an average 1.1bn short videos were uploaded on its app during 1H20. As per iResearch, Kuaishou was globally the largest live streaming platform by gross billings from virtual gifting and average live streaming MPUs, the second largest short video platform by average DAUs, and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by GMV, over six months ended June 30, 2020.In my earlier note, Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, fast growth, I spoke about the positive aspects of the deal. In this note, I'll talk about the not so flattering aspects.

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Ample Doubts Remain

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/beijing-kuaishou-technology-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29725:1" rel="noopener">Beijing Kuaishou Technology Co Ltd (1496219D CH)</a> (KT) is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Holdings (700 HK)</a>, Sequoia China, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baidu-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:179:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (BIDU US)</a>, DST Global, Boyu Capital, Temasek and others.</p><p> As of six months ended Jun 2020, it had 302m daily active users (DAUs), who spent 85 mins on average on the app every day. It also had 776m monthly active users (MAUs) and total e-commerce GMV of RMB109.6bn. On an average 1.1bn short videos were uploaded on its app during 1H20.</p><p> As per iResearch, Kuaishou was globally the largest live streaming platform by gross billings from virtual gifting and average live streaming MPUs, the second largest short video platform by average DAUs, and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by GMV, over six months ended June 30, 2020.</p><p>In this note, I'll talk about the positive aspects of the deal.</p>

Beijing Kuaishou Technology Co Ltd (1496219D CH) (KT) is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sequoia China, Baidu (BIDU US), DST Global, Boyu Capital, Temasek and others. As of six months ended Jun 2020, it had 302m daily active users (DAUs), who spent 85 mins on average on the app every day. It also had 776m monthly active users (MAUs) and total e-commerce GMV of RMB109.6bn. On an average 1.1bn short videos were uploaded on its app during 1H20. As per iResearch, Kuaishou was globally the largest live streaming platform by gross billings from virtual gifting and average live streaming MPUs, the second largest short video platform by average DAUs, and the second largest live streaming e-commerce platform by GMV, over six months ended June 30, 2020.In this note, I'll talk about the positive aspects of the deal.

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, Fast Growth

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.

<p>As we approach the meat of earnings season this week, we give our take on which tech stocks its worth taking earnings risk on. Yea, we still like Amazon. But Google may be poised for the most explosive earnings reaction. </p>

As we approach the meat of earnings season this week, we give our take on which tech stocks its worth taking earnings risk on. Yea, we still like Amazon. But Google may be poised for the most explosive earnings reaction. 

<div>
<p>As we head into earnings next week, we note attractive setups for Snap and Microsoft from data that came out this week, along with a very bullish presentation at Crowdstrike's user conference.</p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div class="content-highlight">
<p>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.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>


As we head into earnings next week, we note attractive setups for Snap and Microsoft from data that came out this week, along with a very bullish presentation at Crowdstrike's user conference.




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.




TMT Weekly:  3 Things that Stood Out The Week of 10/16/​​​​2020

United States

Twitter, Inc. provides online social networking and microblogging service. The Company offers users the ability to follow other users activity, read, and post tweets. Twitter serves customers worldwide.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Twitter Inc (TWTR US)

US FTC & States' Suits Against Facebook Unlikely to Result in Breakup, but Could Slow Expansion

We believe the US government is unlikely to get a clear win against FB. A drawn-out trial may end in a settlement, but this could take two+ years....

Tracking Traffic

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Ample Doubts Remain

Kuaishou Technology is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sequoia China, Baidu (BIDU US),...

Sumeet Singh

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, Fast Growth

Kuaishou Technology is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sequoia China, Baidu (BIDU US),...

Sumeet Singh

3Q20 Best Bets: Mega Cap Wins

Some top of mind thinking about large cap TMT earnings heading into the thick of the meat grinder which is earnings season. We like secular...

Aaron Gabin

TMT Weekly: 3 Things that Stood Out The Week of 10/16/2020

Datapoints supportive of upside to earnings for Microsoft and Snapchat this past week, plus an ever expanding TAM justifies Crowdstrike's valuation.

Aaron Gabin

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

US FTC & States' Suits Against Facebook Unlikely to Result in Breakup, but Could Slow Expansion

We believe the US government is unlikely to get a clear win against FB. A drawn-out trial may end in a settlement, but this could take two+ years....

Tracking Traffic

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Ample Doubts Remain

Kuaishou Technology is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sequoia China, Baidu (BIDU US),...

Sumeet Singh

Kuaishou Technology Pre-IPO - The Positives - Hot Segment, Fast Growth

Kuaishou Technology is a content community and social platform. The company is backed by Tencent Holdings (700 HK), Sequoia China, Baidu (BIDU US),...

Sumeet Singh

3Q20 Best Bets: Mega Cap Wins

Some top of mind thinking about large cap TMT earnings heading into the thick of the meat grinder which is earnings season. We like secular...

Aaron Gabin

TMT Weekly: 3 Things that Stood Out The Week of 10/16/​​​​2020

Datapoints supportive of upside to earnings for Microsoft and Snapchat this past week, plus an ever expanding TAM justifies Crowdstrike's valuation.

Aaron Gabin

TMT Weekly: 3 Things that Stood Out The Week of 10/16/2020