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>The latest financial disclosures from Unilever indicate a blend of strategic realignment and robust financial performance amidst challenges.</li><li>In the first half of the year, Unilever reported a solid underlying sales growth of 4.1%, driven by a volume increase of 2.6%.</li><li>This performance is underscored by significant contributions from Unilever's "Power Brands," which saw a 5.7% growth in underlying sales, propelled by a 4% rise in volumes.</li></ul>

The latest financial disclosures from Unilever indicate a blend of strategic realignment and robust financial performance amidst challenges.In the first half of the year, Unilever reported a solid underlying sales growth of 4.1%, driven by a volume increase of 2.6%.This performance is underscored by significant contributions from Unilever's "Power Brands," which saw a 5.7% growth in underlying sales, propelled by a 4% rise in volumes.

Unilever PLC: Global Economic Fluctuations & 3 Major Challenges Halting Their Growth! - Major Drivers

<ul><li>Unilever has presented its full-year results, reflecting a mix of positive advancements and areas requiring improvement.</li><li>Among the highlights, Unilever reported an underlying sales growth of 7%, driven by a significant contribution from price increases at 6.8% and a marginal recovery in volume at 0.2%.</li><li>Notably, the 30 Power Brands demonstrated robust performance, accruing an 8.6% growth in underlying sales and contributing notably to the company’s volume growth.</li></ul>

Unilever has presented its full-year results, reflecting a mix of positive advancements and areas requiring improvement.Among the highlights, Unilever reported an underlying sales growth of 7%, driven by a significant contribution from price increases at 6.8% and a marginal recovery in volume at 0.2%.Notably, the 30 Power Brands demonstrated robust performance, accruing an 8.6% growth in underlying sales and contributing notably to the company’s volume growth.

Unilever PLC: How Will The Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency Measures Translate Into EBITDA Margins! - Major Drivers

<ul><li>Unilever's latest earnings reveals that the company is on a positive trajectory, but acknowledges that there are still areas for improvement.</li><li>Unilever's new Chief Financial Officer, Fernando Fernandez, discussed the company's financial results, the details of their growth action plan, and shifts they have already made to improve performance.</li><li>Baptista Research looks to evaluate the different factors that could influence the company's price in the near future and attempts to carry out an independent valuation of the company using a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methodology.</li></ul>

Unilever's latest earnings reveals that the company is on a positive trajectory, but acknowledges that there are still areas for improvement.Unilever's new Chief Financial Officer, Fernando Fernandez, discussed the company's financial results, the details of their growth action plan, and shifts they have already made to improve performance.Baptista Research looks to evaluate the different factors that could influence the company's price in the near future and attempts to carry out an independent valuation of the company using a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methodology.

Unilever PLC: How The Management Is Scaling Power Brands And Has Increased Spending on Productivity! - Major Drivers

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>The latest recessionary signal we see: WTI and Brent crude oil prices violating 1.5-year supports, only adding to our prior concerns about a weakening labor market (Sahm rule, SRI triggered)</li>
<li>We also discussed last week (August 29) how we were expecting the S&amp;P 500, Japan's TOPIX, and Europe's EURO STOXX 50 to "roll over near current or marginally higher levels."</li>
<li>Ongoing belief (since July 25) is that $ACWI is going through a 1- to 4-month pullback/consolidation that could end up being a topping pattern. All have since reacted lower.</li>
</ul>


The latest recessionary signal we see: WTI and Brent crude oil prices violating 1.5-year supports, only adding to our prior concerns about a weakening labor market (Sahm rule, SRI triggered)
We also discussed last week (August 29) how we were expecting the S&amp;P 500, Japan's TOPIX, and Europe's EURO STOXX 50 to "roll over near current or marginally higher levels."
Ongoing belief (since July 25) is that $ACWI is going through a 1- to 4-month pullback/consolidation that could end up being a topping pattern. All have since reacted lower.


Crude Oil Breaking 1.5-Year Support, Failed Breakouts on $EFA $ACWX; Still Expecting More Downside

TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We continue to believe a 1-4-month pullback/consolidation is ongoing. Important supports have been violated, including $110 on MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US) and $41 on MSCI EM (EEM-US).</li>
<li>We're shifting our outlook to neutral on $ACWI after being bullish since early-November 2023. Major price breakdowns combined with deteriorating market dynamics have increased the odds of a topping pattern.</li>
<li>Also downgrading Japan to market weight. 7/25/24 we said "Japan's TOPIX breaking below 2800-2815 is near-term bearish, suggests it could pull back to its long-term uptrend, or worse."</li>
</ul>


We continue to believe a 1-4-month pullback/consolidation is ongoing. Important supports have been violated, including $110 on MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US) and $41 on MSCI EM (EEM-US).
We're shifting our outlook to neutral on $ACWI after being bullish since early-November 2023. Major price breakdowns combined with deteriorating market dynamics have increased the odds of a topping pattern.
Also downgrading Japan to market weight. 7/25/24 we said "Japan's TOPIX breaking below 2800-2815 is near-term bearish, suggests it could pull back to its long-term uptrend, or worse."


Downgrading Japan; Stay Defensive; Downgrading Outlook on Global Equities $ACWI to Neutral

United Kingdom

Unilever PLC manufactures personal care products. The Company offers consumer goods, food, detergents, fragrances, beauty, home, and personal care products. Unilever serves customers worldwide.

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Unilever (UL US)

Unilever PLC: Global Economic Fluctuations & 3 Major Challenges Halting Their Growth! - Major Drivers

The latest financial disclosures from Unilever indicate a blend of strategic realignment and robust financial performance amidst challenges. In...

Baptista Research

Unilever PLC: How Will The Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency Measures Translate Into EBITDA Margins! - Major Drivers

Unilever has presented its full-year results, reflecting a mix of positive advancements and areas requiring improvement. Among the highlights,...

Baptista Research

Unilever PLC: How The Management Is Scaling Power Brands And Has Increased Spending on Productivity! - Major Drivers

Unilever's latest earnings reveals that the company is on a positive trajectory, but acknowledges that there are still areas for...

Baptista Research

Crude Oil Breaking 1.5-Year Support, Failed Breakouts on $EFA $ACWX; Still Expecting More Downside

Crude Oil Breaking Below 1.5-Year Support, Yet Another Recessionary Signal; Bearish Failed Breakouts on $EFA $ACWX; Still Expecting More Downside;...

Vermilion Research

Downgrading Japan; Stay Defensive; Downgrading Outlook on Global Equities $ACWI to Neutral

Downgrading Japan TOPIX, Nikkei; Stay Defensive; Downgrading Outlook on Global Equities $ACWI $EEM to Neutral; Many Risk-Off Signals increase odds...

Vermilion Research

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