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Smartkarma Daily Briefs

Daily Brief Financials: NIFTY Index and more

By | Daily Briefs, Financials

In today’s briefing:

  • EQD / NSE Vol Update / IVs Marked Higher & Vol Curve Inverts … Its All About the Budget


EQD / NSE Vol Update / IVs Marked Higher & Vol Curve Inverts … Its All About the Budget

By Sankalp Singh

  • Weekly IVs marked significantly higher. Options demand returns post holiday-shortened week. Market focuses on 23.07.2024 Budget & Corporate Earnings announcements. 
  • Put-Call Ratio compression + Rising IVs indicative of call-buying activity. Significant Open-Interest buildup seen in 25000 calls.
  • Vol Term-structure: Entire curve in Backwardation. Much of which can be attributed to the India Budget event. Curve expected to flatten out post event.

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Daily Brief Health Care: China Traditional Chinese Medicine, Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals and more

By | Daily Briefs, Healthcare

In today’s briefing:

  • Merger Arb Mondays (22 Jul) – China TCM, GA Pack, Huafa, Samson, CPMC, Fancl, Tatsuta, Capitol
  • Pre-IPO Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals – Will Investors Still Buy in These Stories?



Pre-IPO Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals – Will Investors Still Buy in These Stories?

By Xinyao (Criss) Wang

  • Elpiscience is incubated by LAV from the very beginning.The Company has strong capital operation capabilities, but the story of “founding team’s decent background + star cornerstone investors” doesn’t work anymore.
  • Elpiscience’s pipelines are still in early stage. However, investors are rational. They will no longer believe in those “good stories”, but focus more on cash flow and drug sales revenue.
  • Elpiscience’s business model has raised concerns about its future product sales scale and profits.The market may not recognize the post-investment valuation of US$599 million if check the valuation of peers.

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Daily Brief Consumer: Prosus NV, ASICS Corp, Toyota Motor, Blue Moon Group Holdings, Alimentation Couche-Tard , TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX and more

By | Consumer, Daily Briefs

In today’s briefing:

  • The Naspers/Tencent & Prosus/Tencent Stub: Entry Levels so Attractive It Looks Too Good to Be True
  • ASICS Placement Updates – Share Pop Done, Now Needs to Correct
  • ECM Weekly (22nd July 2024) – Kokusai, Honda, ASICS, ZIP, Invincible, Hyundai, Premier, Timee, Sanil
  • Blue Moon Group (6993) – Monday, Apr 22, 2024
  • Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc (ATD.) – Sunday, Apr 21, 2024
  • The Goal of 30% Female Board Members Is Somewhat Hard to Achieve Given the Current Situation


The Naspers/Tencent & Prosus/Tencent Stub: Entry Levels so Attractive It Looks Too Good to Be True

By Charlotte van Tiddens, CFA

  • Discounts likely set for a re-rating as market continues to overreact to appointment of CEO amid good set of results.
  • The discounts of both Naspers and Prosus have continued to widen since the appointment of Fabricio Bloisi to Group CEO was announced in May (effective 10 July).
  • At the end of June, the group released its strongest set of results in years, delivering on consolidated ecommerce profitability ahead of target.

ASICS Placement Updates – Share Pop Done, Now Needs to Correct

By Sumeet Singh

  • A group of shareholders aims to raise around US$1.3bn via selling around 11% of ASICS Corp (7936 JP).
  • In our earlier note, we talked about the placement and ran the deal through our ECM framework.
  • In this note, we talk about the updates and share price performance since then.

ECM Weekly (22nd July 2024) – Kokusai, Honda, ASICS, ZIP, Invincible, Hyundai, Premier, Timee, Sanil

By Sumeet Singh

  • Aequitas Research’s weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.
  • On the IPO front, the coming week  to see two more listing, with both likely to do well.
  • On the placement front, Japan continued to dominate the ECM flows, with India, Taiwan and Australia joining in.

Blue Moon Group (6993) – Monday, Apr 22, 2024

By Value Investors Club

  • Blue Moon started with a kitchen spray cleanser in 1994, but now focuses on liquid detergents in China
  • While they have strong marketing and scale, their competitive advantages are weak compared to domestic competitor Liby
  • Intensifying competition and various factors have led to a decline in Blue Moon’s market share, raising uncertainty about their future in the industry

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.


Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc (ATD.) – Sunday, Apr 21, 2024

By Value Investors Club

  • Alimentation Couche-Tard is a global leader in convenience stores and gas stations, with a stable and recession-resistant business model.
  • The company has a strong management team focused on consolidating the fragmented c-store industry and generating solid free cash flow.
  • ATD stock is trading at a reasonable multiple with potential for mid-teens FCF per share growth, making it an attractive long-term investment opportunity.

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.


The Goal of 30% Female Board Members Is Somewhat Hard to Achieve Given the Current Situation

By Aki Matsumoto

  • The fact that institutional investors consider whether a company has zero female board members when voting has led to decrease in the number of companies with zero female board members.
  • Since fewer companies have zero female board members but a minority of companies have at least two female board members, achieving 30% female board members seems somewhat of a hurdle.
  • While tenure and concurrent service of female board members are problematic, the starting point is to ensure that women have  a 30% voice on the board and to promote diversity.

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Daily Brief Thailand: Intouch Holdings and more

By | Daily Briefs, Thailand

In today’s briefing:

  • Weekly Deals Digest (21 Jul) – Intouch/Gulf, China TCM, Huafa, Samson, Zhihu, Asics, Kokusai, Timee


Weekly Deals Digest (21 Jul) – Intouch/Gulf, China TCM, Huafa, Samson, Zhihu, Asics, Kokusai, Timee

By Arun George


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Daily Brief Singapore: Thai Beverage and more

By | Daily Briefs, Singapore

In today’s briefing:

  • Consumer Tales & Trends #July 11-20: THBEV SP Swap Deal, Bad Debts in Thailand, AI in Beauty.


Consumer Tales & Trends #July 11-20: THBEV SP Swap Deal, Bad Debts in Thailand, AI in Beauty.

By Devi Subhakesan

  • Welcome to Consumer Tales & Trends, your weekly roundup of the latest corporate developments, investment reports and sector events in the consumer industry.
  • Thai Beverage (THBEV SP)‘s proposed swap deal with promoter company raises several questions for shareholders. Start with the back story about how Fraser And Neave (FNN SP) joined the group.
  • Bigger weddings could become a trend in India – Read why we like Kalyan Jewellers(KALYANKJ IN) . Also, household debt in Thailand as % of GDP is highest in ASEAN.

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Daily Brief South Korea: Samsung C&T and more

By | Daily Briefs, South Korea

In today’s briefing:

  • Examining Market Interest in the Potential Samsung C&T and SDS Restructuring


Examining Market Interest in the Potential Samsung C&T and SDS Restructuring

By Sanghyun Park

  • Maximizing Lee Jae-yong’s dividend income is crucial, making Samsung SDS’s ₩5.5T cash assets key, thus prompting the merger of Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS’s BPO division.
  • With no legal risks for Lee Jae-yong, Samsung C&T needs the merger to increase assets and avoid forced holding company conversion, making the acquisition of Samsung SDS’s BPO division necessary.
  • We should target a setup for likely appraisal rights for C&T. Monitor and capture the spread between the stock price and appraisal rights exercise price.

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Daily Brief Japan: Fancl Corp and more

By | Daily Briefs, Japan

In today’s briefing:

  • (Mostly) Asia-Pac M&A: AIS/Thaicom, Capitol Health, Alumina, Ansarada, TCM, CPMC, Fancl, Hollysys


(Mostly) Asia-Pac M&A: AIS/Thaicom, Capitol Health, Alumina, Ansarada, TCM, CPMC, Fancl, Hollysys

By David Blennerhassett


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Daily Brief United States: Hesai Group, Crowdstrike Holdings and more

By | Daily Briefs, United States

In today’s briefing:

  • Baidu Teams Up With Hesai Group For Its Robotaxi Platform Yichi 06: A Big Win For Hesai Group
  • CrowdStrike: A Once-Promising Cybersecurity Titan’s Fall From Grace


Baidu Teams Up With Hesai Group For Its Robotaxi Platform Yichi 06: A Big Win For Hesai Group

By Andrei Zakharov

  • Baidu, a Chinese multinational technology giant, chose Hesai Group to be the exclusive LiDAR supplier for its robotaxi fleet in China.  
  • Baidu is uniquely positioned for growth in a self-driving robotaxis and its autonomous ride-hailing platform, Apollo Go Robotaxi, gains real traction.   
  • Hesai Group may ship at least 300K LiDARs for Baidu’s sixth generation Apollo RT6 robotaxis that would translate into a revenue of up to $300M.

CrowdStrike: A Once-Promising Cybersecurity Titan’s Fall From Grace

By Baptista Research

  • CrowdStrike, once hailed as a beacon of innovation in the cybersecurity sector, now finds itself at a precarious crossroads.
  • Despite boasting a robust platform, impressive revenue growth, and high-profile clients, recent events have cast a long shadow over its future prospects.
  • The global IT outage linked to CrowdStrike’s software has brought its skyrocketing valuation down but is there a rock-bottom in sight?

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Daily Brief China: Zhihu Technology, Brilliance China Automotive, CK Infrastructure Holdings, InnoCare Pharma Ltd, Li Auto , Zhongsheng Group and more

By | China, Daily Briefs

In today’s briefing:

  • Zhihu (ZH US/2390 HK): Negative EV Play Launches a Share Buyback at HK$9.11/US$3.50
  • Over Capacity in Chinese Auto Market
  • Last Week in Event SPACE: Gulf Energy/Intouch, CK Infra, Zhongsheng, Thai Beverage, Fraser & Neave
  • Brilliance China Automotive (1114 HK, NEUTRAL, TP:HKD3.90): Go for the >15% Dividend Yields
  • China Healthcare Weekly (July.21)-Rumor About Akeso, Takeover Bid for Legend Bio, InnoCare’s Trouble
  • LiAuto (LI US, BUY, TP:USD25.0): High Growth + Deep Value Stock
  • Zhongsheng Group Holdings (881 HK, BUY, TP:HKD15.0): Challenging Outlook and Reflected in Valuation


Zhihu (ZH US/2390 HK): Negative EV Play Launches a Share Buyback at HK$9.11/US$3.50

By Arun George

  • Zhihu Technology (ZH US) has launched a conditional share buyback offer to acquire a maximum of 46.9m Class A ordinary shares (15.93% of outstanding shares) at HK$9.11 (US$3.50 per ADS).
  • The offer is conditional on shareholder approval by a majority of votes cast at the EGM. There is no minimum acceptance condition. The EGM vote is done due to irrevocables. 
  • Zhihu’s share buyback returns 19% of cash not subject to government controls, below Douyu International Holdings (DOYU US)’s comparable 34%. The minimum pro-ration is expected to be around 34%. 

Over Capacity in Chinese Auto Market

By Alex Ng

  • News show that European car makers such as BMW is moving out of China, leaving the Auto market to the local players
  • Stocks like Brilliance China will suffer losses as they lose some of the most famous co-brand.
  • Foreign firm exits may give relief to local auto makers as it resolves part of the over-capacity problems

Last Week in Event SPACE: Gulf Energy/Intouch, CK Infra, Zhongsheng, Thai Beverage, Fraser & Neave

By David Blennerhassett


Brilliance China Automotive (1114 HK, NEUTRAL, TP:HKD3.90): Go for the >15% Dividend Yields

By Mohshin Aziz

  • Business is struggling due to legacy luxury brands such as BMW losing its positioning in China. Local brands are eating into market share fast. 
  • Thankfully, the company is cash rich and its trading nature enables steady supply of dividends and have been known to pay special dividends.  
  • Share price has been under pressure, now trading at ~15% dividend yield based on 50% payout,  appealing to yield seekers. 

China Healthcare Weekly (July.21)-Rumor About Akeso, Takeover Bid for Legend Bio, InnoCare’s Trouble

By Xinyao (Criss) Wang

  • There’re rumor that Akeso’s AK112 and AK104 2024 revenue is RMB300 million and RMB1.5-1.6 billion respectively. Sales of AK104 may be below expectations, so Akeso decided to enter NRDL reimbursement.
  • Regardless of whether there is a takeover offer, reasonable valuation of Legend Bio is between US$12.5bn-US$15bn based on solid fundamentals. This deal is “a test” for the management of Genscript.
  • Current stock price of InnoCare just reflects its essence. If no new catalysts (e.g. breakthroughs in clinical data, new licensing agreement, etc.), we are not optimistic about the prospects of InnoCare.

LiAuto (LI US, BUY, TP:USD25.0): High Growth + Deep Value Stock

By Mohshin Aziz

  • Share price under pressure due to industry challenges and transition of new product line-ups.  
  • 2024 is a blip, things will normalise 2025 and deliver strong topline and bottomline growth. 
  • LiAuto is trading at bargain levels for a company delivering 3-year earnings CAGR of 38%, net cash balance sheet and churns high free cash flow. 

Zhongsheng Group Holdings (881 HK, BUY, TP:HKD15.0): Challenging Outlook and Reflected in Valuation

By Mohshin Aziz

  • Most brands under control (Mercedes, Lexus, Toyota) are undergoing popularity downtrend by consumers in China.  
  • There will remain a loyal niche supporter base, every legacy auto does, but it also means Zhongsheng will be a smaller and niche distributor going forward. 
  • Share price has plunged significantly YTD, trading at only ~5x, which we think is overdone. Yield hunters will like its ~8% DY. 

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Daily Brief Industrials: Samsung C&T, Hesai Group and more

By | Daily Briefs, Industrials

In today’s briefing:

  • Examining Market Interest in the Potential Samsung C&T and SDS Restructuring
  • Baidu Teams Up With Hesai Group For Its Robotaxi Platform Yichi 06: A Big Win For Hesai Group


Examining Market Interest in the Potential Samsung C&T and SDS Restructuring

By Sanghyun Park

  • Maximizing Lee Jae-yong’s dividend income is crucial, making Samsung SDS’s ₩5.5T cash assets key, thus prompting the merger of Samsung C&T and Samsung SDS’s BPO division.
  • With no legal risks for Lee Jae-yong, Samsung C&T needs the merger to increase assets and avoid forced holding company conversion, making the acquisition of Samsung SDS’s BPO division necessary.
  • We should target a setup for likely appraisal rights for C&T. Monitor and capture the spread between the stock price and appraisal rights exercise price.

Baidu Teams Up With Hesai Group For Its Robotaxi Platform Yichi 06: A Big Win For Hesai Group

By Andrei Zakharov

  • Baidu, a Chinese multinational technology giant, chose Hesai Group to be the exclusive LiDAR supplier for its robotaxi fleet in China.  
  • Baidu is uniquely positioned for growth in a self-driving robotaxis and its autonomous ride-hailing platform, Apollo Go Robotaxi, gains real traction.   
  • Hesai Group may ship at least 300K LiDARs for Baidu’s sixth generation Apollo RT6 robotaxis that would translate into a revenue of up to $300M.

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