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Smartkarma Daily Briefs

Daily Brief China: Taste Gourmet, People’s Insurance (PICC), BYD Electronics, Cloudbreak Pharma, SJM Holdings and more

By | China, Daily Briefs

In today’s briefing:

  • Taste Gourmet (8371 HK): Q3 FY24 Preview and Future Catalysts
  • PICC’s (1339 HK)’s Implied Stub Plumbs New Lows As Interest Rate Cuts Bite
  • Quiddity Leaderboard for Hang Seng Index Mar 24: More Room Being Created for IT Names?
  • Cloudbreak Pharma (拨康视云) Pre-IPO: Old Drug, New Formulation
  • Morning Views Asia: China Vanke , SJM Holdings


Taste Gourmet (8371 HK): Q3 FY24 Preview and Future Catalysts

By Sameer Taneja

  • We expect Q3 FY24 revenues/profits to be >40%/>70% YoY for Taste Gourmet (8371 HK) for their results in early February. 
  • Another catalyst we look forward to in CY24 is the main board listing on HKex. The timeline, we believe, should be in the second half of the year.
  • Trading at 6x PE with an 8.5% dividend yield and cash of 130 mn HKD, or about 21% of the market cap, is one of our top dividend gems.

PICC’s (1339 HK)’s Implied Stub Plumbs New Lows As Interest Rate Cuts Bite

By David Blennerhassett


Quiddity Leaderboard for Hang Seng Index Mar 24: More Room Being Created for IT Names?

By Janaghan Jeyakumar, CFA

  • In this insight, we take a look at a group of names with reasonably high likelihood of being involved in index changes for the Hang Seng Index in March 2024.
  • The index changes for the March 2024 index rebal will be announced on 16th February 2024.
  • While the Hang Seng Index selection process is highly subjective, we continue to believe that identifying eligible names and grouping them by conviction level could be a valuable exercise.

Cloudbreak Pharma (拨康视云) Pre-IPO: Old Drug, New Formulation

By Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

  • Cloudbreak Pharma, a China-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, plans to raise up to US$200m via a Hong Kong listing.
  • In this note, we examine the company’s core products, namely CBT-001 and CBT-009, for pterygium and juvenile myopia respectively.
  • We are seeing a lack of convincing sustainable innovation from the company. Pre-IPO investors and management are mediocre.

Morning Views Asia: China Vanke , SJM Holdings

By Charles Macgregor

Lucror Analytics Morning Views comprise our fundamental credit analysis, opinions and trade recommendations on high yield issuers in the region, based on key company-specific developments in the past 24 hours. Our Morning Views include a section with a brief market commentary, key market indicators and a macroeconomic and corporate event calendar.


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Daily Brief Credit: Morning Views Asia: China Vanke and more

By | Credit, Daily Briefs

In today’s briefing:

  • Morning Views Asia: China Vanke , SJM Holdings


Morning Views Asia: China Vanke , SJM Holdings

By Charles Macgregor

Lucror Analytics Morning Views comprise our fundamental credit analysis, opinions and trade recommendations on high yield issuers in the region, based on key company-specific developments in the past 24 hours. Our Morning Views include a section with a brief market commentary, key market indicators and a macroeconomic and corporate event calendar.


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Daily Brief Equity Bottom-Up: Taste Gourmet (8371 HK): Q3 FY24 Preview and Future Catalysts and more

By | Daily Briefs, Equity Bottom-Up

In today’s briefing:

  • Taste Gourmet (8371 HK): Q3 FY24 Preview and Future Catalysts
  • Fast Retailing: Earnings Preview
  • Top 20 Korean Construction Companies: Off-Balance Sheet Contingent Liabilities To Drive Lower Prices
  • Bajaj Finance: Q3FY24 Preview
  • Alteogen (196170 KS): First Proprietary Product Approval in Korea To Improve Revenue Visibility


Taste Gourmet (8371 HK): Q3 FY24 Preview and Future Catalysts

By Sameer Taneja

  • We expect Q3 FY24 revenues/profits to be >40%/>70% YoY for Taste Gourmet (8371 HK) for their results in early February. 
  • Another catalyst we look forward to in CY24 is the main board listing on HKex. The timeline, we believe, should be in the second half of the year.
  • Trading at 6x PE with an 8.5% dividend yield and cash of 130 mn HKD, or about 21% of the market cap, is one of our top dividend gems.

Fast Retailing: Earnings Preview

By Oshadhi Kumarasiri

  • While domestic revenues may have slowed, Uniqlo’s domestic OP shows upside potential driven by gross margin growth and a gradual reduction in SG&A costs.
  • Meanwhile, we expect Uniqlo’s International business OP to surpass ¥75bn, driven by a rebound in China demand  and strong momentum in South Korea, SE Asia & Ocenia.
  • Thus, we see the upcoming earnings as a compelling opportunity for trading Fast Retailing (9983 JP).

Top 20 Korean Construction Companies: Off-Balance Sheet Contingent Liabilities To Drive Lower Prices

By Douglas Kim

  • We argue that the top 20 listed construction companies in Korea are likely to underperform KOSPI in 2024 mainly due to the excessive risks in the housing/commercial real estate sectors.
  • We expect the share prices of these 20 domestic construction companies to fall by at least 15%-20%+ on average in the next 6-12 months. 
  • On 2 January 2024, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced that there will be new reporting requirements for PF loans of Korean construction companies starting 2023 annual reports.

Bajaj Finance: Q3FY24 Preview

By Ankit Agrawal, CFA

  • Bajaj Finance Ltd (“BAF”) reported key performance metrics for Q3FY24. It reported strong growth, particularly in AUM which grew 7%+ QoQ and 35% YoY to reach INR 311,000cr.
  • Customer franchise grew 5%+ QoQ to reach 80.41mm, surpassing the 80mm mark. New loans booked grew to 9.86mm, a growth of 26% YoY and 15%+ QoQ.
  • The liability book also did well with deposits growing at around 6% QoQ and 35% YoY to reach INR 58,000cr.

Alteogen (196170 KS): First Proprietary Product Approval in Korea To Improve Revenue Visibility

By Tina Banerjee

  • Alteogen Inc (196170 KS)‘s first proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase liquid product, Tergase (ALT-BB4) is currently under approval process in Korea and is expected to receive approval in early 2024.  
  • Tergase is a stand-alone hyaluronidase product that can be used for the treatment of various medical conditions, such as pain relief, edema treatment, and hyaluronic acid filler removal.
  • Compared to commercially available animal-derived hyaluronidase products in the market, Tergase is a highly purified product of high-quality with very few impurities and an excellent side effect profile.

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Daily Brief Japan: TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX, Fast Retailing and more

By | Daily Briefs, Japan

In today’s briefing:

  • New Year New NISA Accounts – It’s BIG, But Not so Big
  • Fast Retailing: Earnings Preview


New Year New NISA Accounts – It’s BIG, But Not so Big

By Travis Lundy

  • The Kishida administration put out a Doubling Asset-Based Income Plan in 2022. The goal? To get cash savings (corporate/individual) into growth assets and increase asset-based return contribution to income.
  • The goal included doubling the number of NISA accounts, and the amount invested in the next five years. On 1 January 2024, NEW NISA account contribution totals were trebled.
  • If accounts double, and contribution totals treble, and exemptions are now permanent, investment doubling is a quasi-certainty. The question is how it turns into income-producing assets. That’s MUCH tougher.

Fast Retailing: Earnings Preview

By Oshadhi Kumarasiri

  • While domestic revenues may have slowed, Uniqlo’s domestic OP shows upside potential driven by gross margin growth and a gradual reduction in SG&A costs.
  • Meanwhile, we expect Uniqlo’s International business OP to surpass ¥75bn, driven by a rebound in China demand  and strong momentum in South Korea, SE Asia & Ocenia.
  • Thus, we see the upcoming earnings as a compelling opportunity for trading Fast Retailing (9983 JP).

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Daily Brief Event-Driven: Korea’s Short Selling Ban to Stay and more

By | Daily Briefs, Event-Driven

In today’s briefing:

  • Korea’s Short Selling Ban to Stay, Likely Until EquiLend-Korean Version Launch
  • New Year New NISA Accounts – It’s BIG, But Not so Big
  • PICC’s (1339 HK)’s Implied Stub Plumbs New Lows As Interest Rate Cuts Bite
  • Quiddity Leaderboard for Hang Seng Index Mar 24: More Room Being Created for IT Names?


Korea’s Short Selling Ban to Stay, Likely Until EquiLend-Korean Version Launch

By Sanghyun Park

  • Local market information indicates potential collaboration between KRX, FSS, and KSD to create a Korean EquiLend, aiming to centralize the stock lending channel.
  • Unprecedented globally, President Yoon aims to centralize short selling. The challenge lies in mandating foreign investors to use Korea’s platform, necessitating a complex legal framework.
  • Despite the difficulty, local authorities are compelled to pursue this initiative, raising the likelihood of a Korean EquiLend. Developing strategic plans in response is imperative.

New Year New NISA Accounts – It’s BIG, But Not so Big

By Travis Lundy

  • The Kishida administration put out a Doubling Asset-Based Income Plan in 2022. The goal? To get cash savings (corporate/individual) into growth assets and increase asset-based return contribution to income.
  • The goal included doubling the number of NISA accounts, and the amount invested in the next five years. On 1 January 2024, NEW NISA account contribution totals were trebled.
  • If accounts double, and contribution totals treble, and exemptions are now permanent, investment doubling is a quasi-certainty. The question is how it turns into income-producing assets. That’s MUCH tougher.

PICC’s (1339 HK)’s Implied Stub Plumbs New Lows As Interest Rate Cuts Bite

By David Blennerhassett


Quiddity Leaderboard for Hang Seng Index Mar 24: More Room Being Created for IT Names?

By Janaghan Jeyakumar, CFA

  • In this insight, we take a look at a group of names with reasonably high likelihood of being involved in index changes for the Hang Seng Index in March 2024.
  • The index changes for the March 2024 index rebal will be announced on 16th February 2024.
  • While the Hang Seng Index selection process is highly subjective, we continue to believe that identifying eligible names and grouping them by conviction level could be a valuable exercise.

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Daily Brief Macro: Suez Watch: Massively Rising Container Freight Rates and more

By | Daily Briefs, Macro

In today’s briefing:

  • Suez Watch: Massively Rising Container Freight Rates, While Dry Bulk, LNG and Crude Rates More Muted
  • Macro Regime Indicator: Liquidity is everything in January
  • The Average Return Doesn’t Exist! – Most Professional Forecasters Will Be Wrong Again!


Suez Watch: Massively Rising Container Freight Rates, While Dry Bulk, LNG and Crude Rates More Muted

By Ulrik Simmelholt

  • Takeaways upfront: No container shipping through Suez towards Europe and price increases ahead; Energy and dry bulk shipping is still alive; Expect transportation and apparel to see price increases in Europe; Hedging 2024 portfolios with long Shipping bets and/or long Energy bets make increasing sense.
  • Happy New Year everyone! Things are escalating in the Red Sea as shipping giants such as Maersk and Hapaq-Lloyd haven’t been convinced by the military efforts in the Red Sea and have now completely avoided transporting goods from Asia to Europe through the Red Sea.
  • That can be seen in prices which have seen one-way traffic the last week. Freight rates are up >100% this week, and we hear from sources that Maersk is now suggesting an all-in rate of USD 6000 TEU.

Macro Regime Indicator: Liquidity is everything in January

By Andreas Steno

  • New month, new regime, which means a new asset allocation for the month ahead.
  • The turn of the calendar once again calls for us to assess our outlook for the 3 main variables of interest: Liquidity, inflation and growth and feed them into our Regime Model and Asset Allocation tool that spits out the Sharpe Ratio optimizing portfolio given the assumptions about the variables of interest.
  • Remember that you can feed the model with your own forecasts to see which baskets to put your eggs in.

The Average Return Doesn’t Exist! – Most Professional Forecasters Will Be Wrong Again!

By Jeroen Blokland

  • Professional forecasters, expecting a negative return of 2.5% on average for 2023, missed the S&P 500 Index by a whopping 26%.
  • And based on their 2024 forecasts, with none of them daring to expect a return of 20% or more, there is an 85% likelihood that they will be wrong again. 
  • Another 20% return on the S&P 500 Index should definitely not be ruled out. Not based on historical return data nor in a bold macro environment.

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Daily Brief Utilities: PNM Resources and more

By | Daily Briefs, Utilities Sector

In today’s briefing:

  • Avangrid (Iberdrola) Terminates Merger Agreement with PNM Resources


Avangrid (Iberdrola) Terminates Merger Agreement with PNM Resources

By Jesus Rodriguez Aguilar

  • Iberdrola SA (IBE SM)‘s U.S. subsidiary Avangrid (AGR US) terminated its $8.3 billion deal for PNM Resources (PNM US) as it could not New Mexico regulatory approval by 31 December 2023.
  • Iberdrola lost its patience but freed up €11.5 billion from that deal, together with €5.5 billion from assets sold to the Mexican Government. That’s a lot for inorganic growth. 
  • PNM, at 9.7x EV/Fwd EBITDA, is trading in line with comparables, thus on a multiples basis there should be limited downside to the share price.

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Daily Brief Energy/Materials: PetroChina, Pan American Silver and more

By | Daily Briefs, Energy & Materials Sector

In today’s briefing:

  • PetroChina (857 HK): An Interesting Contrarian View
  • Pan American Silver – Adjusting valuation on Skarn


PetroChina (857 HK): An Interesting Contrarian View

By Osbert Tang, CFA

  • We doubt if PetroChina (857 HK) can sustain good performance in 2024. On historical patterns, it has never sustained as one of HSI’s best-performing stocks for two consecutive years. 
  • Consensus growth forecasts of 4.4% and 4.3% for FY24-25 are likely wrong as this means FY25 will be the 5th straight year of growth. PetroChina does not behave like that. 
  • Crude oil price has got back to the end-2022 level, but PetroChina’s share price is still 50% higher. A return to their high correlation before 2023 will lead to underperformance. 

Pan American Silver – Adjusting valuation on Skarn

By Edison Investment Research

Following our short update on the La Colorada Skarn preliminary economic assessment (PEA), we are revising our valuation of Pan American Silver (PAAS) to incorporate the Skarn’s risked NPV. We have also reflected up-to-date commodity prices and lower WACC thanks to the reduction in bond yields. Overall, our valuation of PAAS increases from US$22.7 to US$23.5/share. While the stock has recently been propped up by the strong gold price, we see the upcoming publication of the FY24 outlook and FY23 results as potential additional catalysts for the shares.


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Daily Brief TMT/Internet: Douzone Bizon, Samsung Electronics Pref Shares, Ubiquiti Inc. and more

By | Daily Briefs, TMT/Internet

In today’s briefing:

  • KRX New Deal Index Rebalance Preview: Changes with Flow & Impact
  • Gap Trades in Korean Prefs Vs Common Share Pairs in 1Q 2024
  • UI: New Products Surging Interest


KRX New Deal Index Rebalance Preview: Changes with Flow & Impact

By Brian Freitas


Gap Trades in Korean Prefs Vs Common Share Pairs in 1Q 2024

By Douglas Kim

  • In this insight, we discuss numerous gap trades involving Korean preferred and common shares in 1Q 2024. 
  • The excessive gaps in the preferred and common shares of Kumho Petro Chemical, Amorepacific Corp, and Samsung Electronics could reverse in the next several months.
  • We see some attractive longer-term opportunities for Amorepacific, Doosan Fuel Cell, LG Electronics, and CJ Cheiljedang which have especially high discounts for the preferred shares versus their counterpart common shares.

UI: New Products Surging Interest

By Hamed Khorsand

  • New product introductions have historically resulted in revenue growth at Ubiquiti (UI) and fiscal second quarter 2024 (December 2023) had several of them
  • Ubiquiti has introduced a series of new products. The biggest change at Ubiquiti is the availability of paid for tech support
  • There are several products that have stood out this past quarter. Including, a new Dream Machine meant for the home, called UniFi Express. The device immediately sold out

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Daily Brief Health Care: Celltrion Pharm, I-Mab, QuantumPharm, Health Care Select Sector SPDR, Yichang HEC Changjiang Pharma and more

By | Daily Briefs, Healthcare

In today’s briefing:

  • Celltrion Pharm (068760 KS) Looks Frothy
  • Quick Ideas #6
  • Pre-IPO QuantumPharm – Good Stories May Not Be Backed up by Performance
  • Upgrading Staples and Health Care to Market Weight; Shift to Value; Failed Breakouts for ARKK, IPO
  • HEC Pharma (1558 HK): Strong Performance to Continue as Flu Activity Is On Rise In China


Celltrion Pharm (068760 KS) Looks Frothy

By David Blennerhassett


Quick Ideas #6

By Turtles all the way down

  • First of all, happy new year to all my readers! May 2024 bring market beating returns for everyone.
  • Again I managed to underperform my blog stock picks by concentrating in the wrong stocks.
  • Although I still ended up over 20% for the year, it was disappointing considering I was getting close to 30% in July.

Pre-IPO QuantumPharm – Good Stories May Not Be Backed up by Performance

By Xinyao (Criss) Wang

  • The essential difference between QuantumPharm and InSilico in terms of business models is that InSilico is an end-to-end generative AI-driven biotech but QuantumPharm is more of a platform-based service provider.
  • It’s difficult for QuantumPharm to achieve significant increase in revenue scale in short time,because the service fee amount is usually not large, and it takes time to accumulate order volume.
  • If there is no substantial performance contribution, these good stories would not bring about a sustained leap in valuation. QuantumPharm’s valuation in last funding round before IPO is too expensive. 

Upgrading Staples and Health Care to Market Weight; Shift to Value; Failed Breakouts for ARKK, IPO

By Joe Jasper

  • As the saying goes, “sector rotation is the lifeblood of a bull market.” That appears to be exactly what is going on as we kick off 2024.
  • Leadership areas that have significantly outperformed since the October 2023 lows are starting to pull back rather hard — and on above average volume (XLK, SMH, IGV, ARKK, IPO, BITQ)
  • Other Sectors are picking up the slack, namely Health Care (XLV), Staples (XLP), Utilities (XLU), Energy (XLE), Financials (XLF), and Real Estate (XLRE). Shift exposure toward value and defensives

HEC Pharma (1558 HK): Strong Performance to Continue as Flu Activity Is On Rise In China

By Tina Banerjee

  • Yichang HEC Changjiang Pharma (1558 HK) is set to benefit from the recent upsurge in respiratory illness in China. The company commands ~90% share of anti-flu drug market in China.
  • In 1H23, HEC Pharma’s revenue jumped 148% YoY to RMB3.2B, mainly due to spiking flu cases in China. A strong flu season in 4Q23, should boost H2 performance.
  • Despite a 43% rally in HEC Pharma share price over the last six months, the shares are trading at forward P/E of just 4.8x.

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