Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• Today, NPS made the final decision to introduce a reference portfolio. The critical point is the increase in risky assets from 56% to 65%, also decided at today’s meeting.
• Initially, overseas equity was prioritized, but recent forecasts suggest significant potential in increasing local equity, aligning with the value-up policy.
• Monitoring NPS’s execution plan, including allocation and timing by asset class, is vital to gauge inflow size, especially for Value-up beneficiaries.

• As we step into the earnings season focus on highlighting key earnings and what catches our attention analyzing companies part of the same sector or industry.
• Companies highlighted include Bajaj Finance Ltd (BAF IN); Shriram Finance (SHFL IN); L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH IN) ; Poonawalla Fincorp (POONAWAL IN) & Aavas Financiers Ltd (AAVAS IN) .
• BAF’s negative commentary around rural B2C business is surprising and an area that warrants further investigation.

• In the Politburo meeting this week, China announced the intention to stabilize the property market and improve housing inventory.  Following the meeting, Beijing announced a relaxation of home purchase restrictions.
• Given the extreme pessimism on China property, good opportunities exist for select quality companies in the China property space, especially in property management.
• One name I would like to highlight is CIFI Ever Sunshine Services Gr (1995 HK), a non-SOE property management company with a good reputation in terms of execution.

• This month’s Deep Dive will be on TSMC which I’m hoping to publish sometime in the last week of this month.
• Following TSMC, I will spend some time out of semis for a few months and then come back to semis later in the year.
• I also wanted to share some brief notes on why I have started buying Aon today.

• Bank Negara stands out versus its peers for its value attributes, its attractive PEG ratio, and its improving pre- and post-provision returns with top NPL coverage relative to its peers
• Bank Mandiri remains a buy for its quality attributes, its premium returns, and its well-controlled CoR; Mandiri has a far better valuations-to-returns mix than mega-cap BCA 
• Bank Rakyat comes off the sell list; it registered improved pre-provision returns in 1Q24, and although cost of risk worsened, post-provision returns were maintained along with its NPL coverage ratio

• The crypto market has experienced a second-to-none year so far.
• Now, as summer begins, it may be a good time to unwind with a Gin & Tonic and enjoy the sunshine, given that the crypto market is unlikely to offer much excitement in the near future.
• According to the latest issue of ‘Crypto Crisp‘ published on Monday, we have adopted a bearish outlook for the short-term prospects of the crypto market.

Molten Ventures has recently completed the acquisition of Forward Partners, which allowed Molten to further broaden its portfolio, add a complementary strategy focused on earlier stage companies and potentially provide a pipeline of new core holdings. Furthermore, its recent equity raise gave Molten the funds to pursue new investments in what it currently considers a buyer’s market, with an emphasis on the venture capital (VC) secondary market. In FY24 (to end-March 2024), Molten’s gross portfolio value remained broadly stable on a like-for-like basis (ie excluding the Forward Partners deal and the Seedcamp Fund III secondary investment). Management sees good prospects for realisations in FY25.

• OneMain Financial is a high-quality and well-managed subprime consumer lender with strong financial performance
• The company is expanding its product offerings and market share in a growing market with limited competition
• Despite trading along with the consumer credit cycle, OneMain’s current share price does not fully reflect its potential for growth and profitability, making it an attractive long-term investment opportunity with significant upside potential

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.

Ahead of FY24 results to be published on 23 May, Picton Property Income has declared a Q424 DPS of 0.925p, a 5.7% increase on the previous quarter. The company intends to maintain fully covered dividends at the new level, an annualised run rate of 3.7p, well above the pre-pandemic DPS and the 3.5p paid in respect of FY24. The uplift reflects a continuing robust occupier market, supporting rental growth, as well as asset management activity, most notably the recent sale of Angel Gate. The sale was part of Picton’s strategy to accelerate the unlocking of value in its portfolio through the selective repurposing of office assets and accretively recycle the capital. Further repurposing asset management initiatives are being progressed.