Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• Client-Driven innovation fosters R&D via proactive, marketable solutions and an SDE framework for excellence
• In-Depth understanding of sectors and data-driven innovation drives strategic growth
• Comprehensive data analytics solutions from start to finish for business success

• PT Metrodata Electronics (MTDL IJ) saw a strong rebound in 1Q2024 for its distribution business, especially for telco products, which partially offset the slower growth in solutions & consulting. 
• Solutions&consulting saw slow growth due to some delays over projects due to political uncertainty ahead of the election but it did have the support of recurrent income from software.
• PT Metrodata Electronics should see a recovery in solutions & consulting in 2H2024, with increasing demand from AI-related projects, which will further drive future growth. Valuations remain attractive.

• Polestar presented a mixed but broadly positive financial picture in the third quarter of 2023.
• The company, known for its focus on electric vehicles, reported record third-quarter deliveries of 13,976 units, marking a significant 51% increase from the previous year.
• This robust performance can be attributed to a positive product and channel mix and the initial rollout of the Polestar 2’s model year ’24, illustrating a strong consumer demand for Polestar’s offerings.

• Tencent Music Entertainment Group, a leading player in China’s music streaming industry, started the year 2024 with some substantial financial and operational achievements, reflecting its continued emphasis on a dual-engine strategy of content richness and platform optimization.
• However, not all indicators were uniformly positive, revealing certain challenges and strategic pivots.
• On the upside, Tencent Music reported a marked increase in its subscriber base, adding a record 6.8 million net subscribers during the quarter, which pushes the total count to 113.5 million music-paying users.

• Occidental Petroleum is a quality oil and gas operator focusing on the Permian Basin, available at a discounted price for investors
• The company has undergone strategic changes, selling off non-core operations and refocusing on core assets in the Permian Basin
• Occidental Petroleum has improved management and technological advancements in the Permian Basin, leading to a projected value of $100 per share by 2026

This content is sourced through publicly available sources and has been machine generated. Information displayed is for general informational purposes only. This article was originally published 3 months ago on Value Investors Club.

• We hosted a conference call with Global Unichip (GUC); GUC is 34.8% held by TSMC and a key provider of semiconductor design services to companies aiming to manufacture with TSMC.
• GUC’s Revenue Prospects are Linked to TSMC’s Growth, However the Success of Its Customers’ Chips Also a Factor — Lagged Strong Revenue Growth Likely
• Conclusion: GUC a Second-Derivative Play on TSMC’s Structural Drivers with Potential to Surprise the Market and Catch Up to TSMC’s Share Performance

• We visited some paint dealers representing Asian Paints (APNT IN) and Akzo Nobel India (AKZO IN)  to understand the current competitive intensity in the industry.
• While three months is too short of a time frame to observe a significant change in industry structure, current signals seem to favor the incumbent. 
• Opus may influence dealers and painters, but what if consumers simply prefer APNT?

Actinogen Medical announced that the prespecified biomarker subset analyses on stored plasma samples (n=72) from its previous Phase IIa XanADu study (n=185) in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (JAD). As reported in Q422, patients with elevated baseline phosphorylated Tau-181 (pTau-181) protein (at least 6.74pg/mL), representing 34 patients (16 on Xanamem 10mg daily, 18 on placebo), showed a 0.6 mean difference (effect size) on the CDR-SB scale at 12 weeks between the placebo and treatment arms, representing a 60% relative reduction in progression. This suggests that Xanamem’s potential cognitive or disease-slowing effects may be sensitively detected by the CDR-SB endpoint, which is one of the critical endpoints in the ongoing XanaMIA Phase IIb trial (planned n=220) enrolling participants with cognitive impairment (CI) in mild to moderate AD as confirmed through elevated baseline p-Tau181. Actinogen’s next milestone will be results, expected in early Q3 CY24, from its Phase IIa XanaCIDD study of Xanamem in patients with CI and major depressive disorder.

MoneyHero has made a promising start to FY24, with robust levels of revenue growth in Q124 across several core markets and all product verticals. Investment in the platform has resulted in improved application conversion rates, while several senior hires have been made, including the new CFO, Hao Qian, and a head of AI. Although the EBITDA loss widened in the quarter, management expects profitability to improve to a break-even run rate by end FY24. Our estimates are unchanged, anticipating sequential quarterly revenue growth as management accelerates investment in its user base and benefits from operational leverage.

• CAVA’s first quarter of 2024 financial results depict a mixed yet optimistic scenario for the Mediterranean cuisine leader.
• The company reported solid revenue growth of 30.3% year-over-year reaching $256.3 million and a notable addition of 14 new restaurants, indicating aggressive expansion strategies into both existing and new markets.
• The same-restaurant sales experienced a moderate increase of 2.3% or 30.7% on a 2-year basis which, while positive, might suggest a deceleration in same-restaurant sales growth momentum when compared to historical data.