Equity Bottom-Up

• The drivers of bike demand are structural and have nothing to do with Covid. We expect the company to beat numbers this year.
• EU regulation will drive huge growth in the bike market over the next several years and Shimano is uniquely positioned to benefit.
• The stock price decline from over ¥35k to under ¥25k has brought valuations down to the bottom of the historical range. 

For our next Corporate Webinar we are glad to welcome UOB (UOB SP) Vice President, Investor Relations, Soh Yi Da.

In the upcoming webinar, Soh Yi Da will share a short company presentation, after which the IR team will engage in a fireside chat with Smartkarma Analyst Daniel Tabbush. A live Q&A session will follow.

The Corporate Webinar will be hosted on Tuesday, 10 May 2022, 17:00 SGT.

UOB is a leading bank in Asia with a global network of more than 500 branches and offices in 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America and has grown organically and through a series of strategic acquisitions. 

UOB is rated among the world’s top banks: Aa1 by Moody’s and AA- by both S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. UOB provides a wide range of financial services globally through its three core business segments – Group Retail, Group Wholesale Banking and Global Markets.

Corporate Webinars by Smartkarma Corporate Solutions feature discussions with IROs and Executives, discussing their companies, the challenges they face, and the opportunities in their sectors and markets. 

• Valorant’s Masters 1 Tournament concluded today in Iceland with North America’s Optic Gaming defeating Brazil’s Loud, leaving Japan’s Zeta Division in third place. 
• These are three key regions for viewership and Japan’s surprising performance bodes well for the esports scene in the country. 
• Gameplay for Valorant Mobile has also leaked and early indications are that Krafton could be cannibalised here.

• Bank Central Asia (BBCA IJ) released its 1Q2022 this week, reflecting an ongoing recovery and the bank’s strong positioning to take advantage, with new lending picking up strongly.
• The bank is seeing strong growth in CASA driven by its lead in transactional banking and digital initiatives, with its CASA ratio hitting 80% by the end of 2022. 
• Credit costs are also forecast to fall further this year, which will provide an additional boost to profitability. It trades at a premium to peers but generates consistent returns.

• Tencent (700 HK) will announce its first quarter 2021 results on 18th May 2022.
• Since 3Q2021, Tencent’s earnings have started to decelerate, and the previous quarter marked the slowest ever revenue growth for the company since 2004.
• We expect Tencent’s earnings weakness to continue well into 1H2022E due to slowdown in online games and online advertising businesses.  

• Maintain BUY with a new target price of Bt139 (from Bt149) due to a net profit downgrade. Our valuation is derived from the Gordon Growth Model (ROE 9%, growth 2%)
• Management had more cautious views on potential impacts from higher inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war.
• Net profit in 1Q22 came in line with our expectations at Bt10.2bn (+1% YoY, +29% QoQ).

• Maintain BUY rating with a TP of B23.00 based on 16xPE’22E, which is close to +1SD of its five-years average trading.Our rating is premised on positive pet food growth outlook
• We expect 1Q22E earnings to come in at Bt250m (+16%YoY,-6%QoQ), soften QoQ on the back of weak margin outlook from surging raw material costs. 
• We foresee earnings visibility to pick up in 2Q22 onwards, driven by stronger pet food revenue thanks to new capacity and margin improvement given easing cost pressures.

• InnoCare was approved to list in the SSE STAR Market, and the Company also released its improving financial performance in 2021. However, the outlook for InnoCare remains challenging and uncertain.
• Either orelabrutinib or the pipeline, they don’t have pricing power due to lack of sufficient competitiveness and slower development progress, which means that their commercialization performance is highly uncertain.
• There’s no definite commercialization outlook for InnoCare, with a far distance from becoming a biopharma. InnoCare was overvalued and could be attractive if the market value could be 50% off.

• Maintain our BUY call with a target price of Bt162.Our BUY call reflects steady earnings growth, resilient balance sheet,and undemanding valuation. Our valuation is derived from the Gordon Growth Model 
• Net profit in 1Q22 came in at Bt7.1bn, up 3% YoY(+13% QoQ)and 9% lower than expectations on lower gain from financial instruments designed at fair value through profit or loss.
• Asset quality was resilient. The NPL ratio minimally increased to 3.3% and the coverage ratio remained high at 229% against uncertainty.

• Upgrade BUY with a target price of Bt15.00. Our upgrade reflects an attractive upside gain,resilient asset quality,and potential credit costs reduction. Our valuation is derived from the Gordon growth model
• Net profit in 1Q22 came in at Bt8.8bn (+57% YoY, +78% QoQ) and 37% higher than our expectation on lower-than-expected provisions.
• Asset quality improved. The NPL ratio decreased to 3.3% in 1Q22 and the loan loss coverage ratio was higher to 173.6% to withstand uncertainty ahead.

• We have long been bullish on Nagacorp Ltd. on long term fundamentals. We are now seeing rising positivity as market sentiment begins to recognize ASEAN covid recovery coming.
• Stock is at midpoint of 52 week range at HKD$6.97. Our 1 year target is HKD$10.425 based on what we see trending from its 1Q22 unaudited results.
• All revenue segments up: Morgan Stanley report agrees with our view that shares present an immediate opportunity due to potential in cross border gamblers and ASEAN mass.

• Despite solid growth in 2021, if seen from prior years, the revenue YoY growth rate and net profit YoY growth rate showed a state of divergence, which is “interesting”.
• Since half of Tigermed’s net profits were from investment income,it’s not logical to apply the valuation methods of traditional CXO to Tigermed. Its CRO and investment should be valued separately.
• The poor IPO sentiment, risk of recession and the domestic healthcare rational return would make investors reconsider if Tigermed’s “CRO + PE/VC business model” would be a safe play.

• ASE Holding revenue was NTD$144.4bn in 1Q22, which was 20.9% YoY and -16.5% QoQ. We expect the GM is 19.5% in 1Q22.
• ASE Holding could target at NTD$148.1bn/20.5% GM in 2Q22. We expect the gross margin of IC ATM and EMS portions are around 26.8%/9.1% respectively.
• We think it should be picking up since 2Q22 because of the seasonality, and it’s likely to peak out until 4Q22.

• Cimc Enric Holdings (3899 HK) has an encouraging 1Q22 with 24.9% revenue growth. If not the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns in Mar, growth would even reach 35.2%.
• Total new orders increased 23.2% in the quarter even in a period disrupted by lockdowns. Backlog stands at Rmb15.5bn, enough to fully cover FY22 revenue with 7% growth.
• Hydrogen energy business, though still small, witnessed 80.5% revenue growth. Good demand drives new orders to Rmb105.4m; and its backlog of Rmb180m equals to 5x of 1Q22 revenue. 

• We maintain BUY rating for VGI with the new target price of Bt6.20 (Previous TP: Bt6.50), derived from SOTP method or 50% premium to Thai media peers.  
• We anticipate revenue streams from media and commercial space (recently started to manage by NINE),to retreat to 70% of the level we have seen during pre-pandemic by late 2QFY23 (July’22-September’22)
• The management revenue target in FY2023 at Bt6.5bn-7.0bn is fairly optimistic as we anticipate OOH media revenue to not recover that quickly.

• We expect PTTEP to post 1Q22 net profit of Bt9.4bn (-18% YoY, -11% QoQ). Despite significant growth in sales volume and product selling price
• Excluding the one-time items, the recurring profit is expected to be Bt16.6bn (+228% YoY,-3% QoQ). YoY surge will be underpinned  by a 11% growth in sales volume and a 25% 
• Bright 2022 outlook from crude oil & gas price surge. We see the volatility to continue considering continued Russia-Ukraine war tensions, Reserve oil release by IEA members and COVID-19 

• Maintain BUY rating with a TP of Bt445.00 based on 13.7xPE’22E which is close to its 10-years trailing average.
• We foresee 1Q22 core profit to be the bottom quarter at Bt7bn (-53%YoY,-2%QoQ), pressured by tighter chemical spreads after naphtha price soared from higher oil price.
• We expect earnings recovery from 2Q22 onwards, following improve chemical spreads driven by prices catching up with rising costs, plus better CBM and packaging unit.

• We reiterate our BUY rating with a target price of Bt1.60. Our BUY call reflects (1) steady growth ahead; (2) adequate reserves against new NPLs, and (3) compelling valuation.
• Net profit in 1Q22 came in at Bt3.2bn (+15% YoY, +14% QoQ) and was 13% higher than our expectation on lower-than-expected personal expenses.
• Asset quality was resilient. The NPL ratio decreased to 2.7% in 1Q22 and the loan loss coverage ratio was higher to 131.6% to cope with uncertainties ahead

• Founder and Chairman Nagamori has reappointed himself CEO, obscuring the reasons why Nidec’s share price has declined.
• Quarterly earnings should recover, but strategic investments look three years into the future while materials costs rise and the economic situation deteriorates.
• Rising interest rates and compression of valuation multiples are likely to dampen the share price. Look to the long term without expecting a return to the glory days. 

• E Mart Inc (139480 KS) is a very interesting turnaround story in Korea with a visible improvement in profit margins. 
• The end of the social distancing measures will likely lead to a gradual increase of the consumers back to the Emart stores.
• Emart is currently trading at attractive valuation multiples of EV/EBITDA of 5.3x and P/B of 0.3x, using 2022 consensus estimates, which are about 19% discount to the historical average. 

• HK F&B is set to have a reprieve as dine-in services at catering businesses can now remain open from 6 pm-10 pm ( max seating up to 4 people).
• We provide a list of 34 names that will benefit from the removal of restrictions ( some with further catalysts down the road as they are exposed to China)
• Our favorite pick remains Taste Gourmet Group (8371 HK) which we have written about in our insight Taste Gourmet: Multibagger Reopening Play.

• HDFCB’s stock has seen significant volatility over the past one month. The Street seems to have four major concerns, which we think are either unfounded or too myopic.
• A recent concern has been around the compression in NIMs, where the Street is missing the point that this is well offset by lower operating/credit costs per the shifting product-mix.
• HDFC Bank has been gaining market share and with its distribution expansion, the growth is only going to accelerate further. Overall, the current valuations offer an attractive entry point. 

• Jinxin announced in recent days that it further increases stake in Shenzhen Hospital, Jiuzhou Hospital and Hewanjia Hospital.
• In this note, we analyze the impact on the company. We think the acquisition is sensible when the market sentiment is weak. 
• We also summarize recent industry development and the company’s FY2021 results. We are turning relatively more bearish.

• Adi Sarana Armada (ASSA IJ) booked a strong set of FY2021 results with sales growing by +68% and net profit by +64%, driven by a strong performance from logistics business.
• Anteraja now makes up 54% of sales and broke even in FY2021, delivering an average of 650,000 parcels per day in 2021, expected to rise to 1.5m by December 2022.
• Adi Sarana Armada (ASSA IJ) is a proxy for mobility through car leasing, online and offline used car sales through Autopedia, and last-mile deliveries through Anteraja.

• Revenue of HK$5.27 billion (US$674.8 million), +21.5% YoY and -15.1% QoQ, was at the high end of revenue guidance issued in 1Q22.
• Revenue guidance was US$670 million to US$740 million, which was +5.8% YoY and +4.5% QoQ at mid-point in Q2 2022.
• Usually, the 1st quarter is the weakest of the year. The booking magnitude might be showing how is the industry customers’ confidence now. 

• CCB is our preferred pick, given its attractive valuations, strong capital adequacy, healthy ROE and sound credit quality; CCB’s real estate exposure is limited and it sector delinquency is low
• We also pick PSBC for its good value, its attractive PEG ratio and healthy credit quality and coverage; its real estate exposure, and its related delinquency, are both very low
• We are negative on China Minsheng due to its low ROE, poor delinquency and NPL coverage, its high exposures to real estate relative to its peers and fast rising delinquency

• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG US) Q1 revenue and EPS beat consensus. High-teens procedure volume growth is the brightest spot and management raised full-year 2022 procedure growth guidance to 12–16%.
• After a strong placement in last couple of quarters, Intuitive is seeing some near-term softening of its system placement pipeline in the U.S.
• In near-term, macro headwinds including regional waves of COVID, staffing pressure at hospitals, component and raw material availability, and logistic delays will remain biggest overhang for the company.

• Hong Kong’s hospitality industry has endured three years of upheaval, first with the democracy protestors in 2019, which slowed inbound, followed by the onset of Covid in early 2020.
• Beginning today, 21 April, the Government commenced the relaxation of most social distancing measures, to be eased over three phases.
• This evolving dynamic is welcome, yet the progress and recovery for many operators may be gradual.

• The strong dollar has boosted Softbank’s predominantly dollar-linked asset value by 9% in yen terms (although reported net debt will also increase)
• Also relevant is a decrease in the dollar cost of its ¥1,000bn share repurchase which was $8.8bn when announced but costs less than $8bn at the current exchange rate.
• This has kept the share price up YTD and QTD despite weakness in the investment portfolio but tech weakness probably has more legs than dollar appreciation

• Nidec earnings were worse than we feared as 4Q OP was just ¥36.9bn below even our ¥40bn estimate and far below consensus at ¥48.5bn. 
• This was despite a 4.9% top line beat and there were some signs of kitchen sinking in our view. 
• Nevertheless, guidance for ¥210bn in OP next year, while below consensus, still feels aggressive in our view.

• Mediatek revenue was NTD$142.7bn in 1Q22, which was 32.1% YoY and 10.9% QoQ. It was higher than the prior high-end guidance of $NTD141.5bn.
• The 2nd quarter outlook could be slight growth of NTD$148.9bn/49.1% GM, which could be not much growth expected.
• The expectation of the 5G deployment could be a bit slower because of COVID-19 impact and slow down in China handset shipment. 

• Several news media outlets report that ByteDance has launched a new music streaming service in China called Qishui Yinyue.
• Tencent Music (TME US) earnings have come under pressure with ending of exclusive music streaming licensing deals and increased regulatory pressure on its social entertainment biz.
• We expect TME’s 1Q2022E earnings to decline further with increased competition and drop in social entertainment.

• The market position of Japanese cosmetics in China is weakening with Japanese exports declining around 5.0% YoY in January and February 2022.
• With Shanghai under a strict lockdown and the recovery of inbound demand taking more time than expected, it is possible that Shiseido Company (4911 JP) could downgrade its 2022 guidance.
• These forces could take Shiseido’s valuation multiples to the pre-2013 level, resulting in a downside of close to 30%.

• Abbott Laboratories (ABT US) reported better-than-expected Q1 revenue and earnings, due to higher diagnostic revenue led by strong COVID-19 testing revenue. 2022 adjusted EPS guidance remains unchanged.
• In Q1, global COVID-19 testing-related sales reached to a record high of $3.3 billion, representing 28% of total revenue. COVID-19 testing revenue guidance was raised to $4.5 billion for 2022.
• Medical devices business reported double-digit organic revenue growth in the U.S. as well as international market, showing continued recovery in the elective procedures.

• Nidec is the best stock in Japan to play the rising adoption of EVs
• The company is already dominating the largest E-Axle market in the world and will benefit from growing economies of scale
• We think the company can hit its mid-term targets and see over 30% upside for the stock

• Fosun Tourism (1992 HK) (FTG) is not a China play and, instead, it has excellent exposure to the global travel industry recovery particularly through its ownership in Club Med.
• 1Q22 showcased a very solid 306.6% rebound in business volume of resorts and tourism destination operations and tourism and leisure services and solutions business, and the trend will continue.
• We think Club Med’s exposure to overseas recovery, Atlantis Sanya’s ride on domestic demand and new resorts’ good position to capture China’s travel recovery are key drivers for FTG.

• Netflix management came off as unprepared for its current circumstances. Ramping competition and TAM saturation have been known for 2 years.
• Competitive responses sounded half baked: increasing price to deter password sharing and launching advertising tiers…in 2 years?
• The viability of the longterm growth algorithm and 10 year DCFs that Netflix investors have leaned on for years has been rightfully vaporized. 

• Consensus expectations for Nidec have drifted towards more reasonable levels in the last few months and a guidance miss is now baked in. 
• However, our data analysis suggests that while revenue may exceed consensus expectations OP could miss. 
• Guidance on the other hand could be strong, but with multiples elevated that does not mean there is upside risk here.

• The stock has been hit by rising inflation and interest rates. Now is the time to buy
• Keyence is well placed to weather the storm given it has pricing power, high margins, and low capital intensity
• The P/B valuation of 6x is now back to a normalised range and the stock trades at a discount to global peers. 

• There are many simple domestic banks that can shine in a complex world
• Outside of the largest banks in many regions, there are uncovered gems
• This lessor known bank in Philippines has seen dramatic profit growth

• Efforts to normalize people’s lives to pre-COVID levels are likely to be a big negative on Kakao Bank as it could slow down the demand of its non-contact fintech services. 
• One of the near-term concerns on Kakao Bank is that there could be more than 1 million shares that could be sold by insiders that recently exercised their stock options. 
• We expect a further downside (20-25%) on Kakao Bank due to lofty valuations, ending social distancing measures, and potential selling by insiders that recently converted their stock options into equity.

• Roche Holding AG (ROG SW) is well-positioned for single-digit revenue growth, as strong uptake of new products is offsetting revenue loss from patent expired products due to biosimilar competition.
• New drugs, especially Hemlibra, Ocrevus, and Tecentriq are on a high growth trajectory, which is expected to continue, with no dependency on the COVID-19.
• Recently, Roche received FDA approvals for two new ophthalmology products. Both of them have potential blockbuster sales opportunity. Two more drugs are expected to be launched this year.

• IRDM is benefiting from continued need for satellite connectivity for a growing list of applications. IRDM reported first quarter results where the Company’s billable subscribers rose sequentially
• Commercial Internet of things (“IOT”) subscribers remains the growth catalyst for the business even though there are more voice and data customers activating service in the first quarter
• IRDM’s IOT service has an expanding use case. During the first quarter earnings call the topic of drones and unmanned aircraft was frequently mentioned

• With a limited upside to our target price and concern over decreasing people purchasing power following a rise in inflation, we downgrade our recommendation from BUY to HOLD 
• We expect HMPRO to report 1Q22 net profit at Bt1.49bn (+9%YoY, -16%QoQ),
• YoY growth will be supported by solid demand for WFH products, government stimulus scheme (Shop Dee Mee Khuen in Jan –15 Feb 2022), and solid revenue growth from Mega Home

• We reiterate BUY rating for EPG but trim down target price to Bt12.60, (Previous TP:14.30) derived from 21xPE’FY23E,  (5-year average) or 90% premium to materials sector. We reduce PE multiple 
• Expect the company to post 4QFY22 (Jan-Mar) core profit at Bt398m (+7%YoY -2%QoQ)
• Solid demand for automotive-parts in Thailand and Australian. Concern over rising raw material remain under control at least in the next two quarter

• TPL utilizing an unhedged strategy for its oil and gas royalties is set to announce first quarter results that should exceed expectations
• Higher energy prices and more production should result in TPL reporting oil and gas royalties materially higher than the fourth quarter.
• The increase in production benefits TPL’s water business. Oil producers need water during the fracking process. TPL’s water source is closer to producing oil wells

• Over the last year, we have highlighted some extremely damaging risks to Alibaba Group (9988 HK)’s cloud business.
• The exit of senior leadership, right before the data migration deadline and the cybersecurity deal reassessment, arouse suspicion.
• We suspect Alibaba could be using this “leadership reshuffle” to hide the reality of the Cloud business from investors.

• BYD (1211 HK) is the most vertically integrated with its own chip manufacturing facility (BYD Semiconductor) and battery production unlike the rest of the Chinese auto OEMs.
• The lockdown may not last that long as the Chinese authority is reportedly seeking to create a white list to resolve the supply chain issue.
• It announced that Q1 22 net profit will range between RMB 650 to 950 million, an increase between 174% to 300% YoY which will make its forward PE cheaper. 

• Hugel Inc (145020 KS) dominates South Korean botulinum toxin market, with ~50% share. The company already has presence in China and aims to launch its product in Europe this year.  
• Hugel’s ambitious target to enter into the world’s largest botulinum toxin market, U.S. is facing a big obstacle as Medy Tox Inc (086900 KS) filed a complaint against the company.
• Medytox’s U.S. business is uncertain after the ending of its exclusive licensing agreement with Abbvie Inc (ABBV US).   

• We believe strong orders and backlog, increase in installed capacity and development of new business initiatives are the key drivers for brighter outlook of China Energy Engineering (3996 HK). 
• Its new orders grew 51% YoY in FY21, with its backlog is enough to cover the revenue more than the next three years mean solid earnings security and visibility.
• Development of hydrogen energy and pumped storage businesses may take longer to contribute, but they also represent significant upside when enter into commercial launch. 

• There are doubts about the efficacy of Lianhua Qingwen to treat mild cases of COVID-19 in China, leading to the plunge of Yiling’s share price.
• Fully evaluating the efficacy of Lianhua Qingwen requires larger double-blind randomized clinical trials. Data from other than double-blind controlled clinical trials are hard to be conclusive and can be controversial.
• Even if Yiling could escape unscathed from the controversy, Yiling’s achievements since 2020 in capital market may not have sustainability.Together with the potential risks, investors are advised to remain cautious.

• On 19 April, the US CDC stated that the national mask requirement on public transportation is no longer in effect in the United States.
• The CDC lifting the mask mandate is a key catalyst and other major countries are likely to follow the US in the coming months.
• Will the world likely to become more like Shanghai and enforce even greater lockdown policies or will they become more like the US and drop social distancing and mask mandates? 

• Driven by the development mode of “organic growth + strategic acquisitions + cooperation with hospital partners”, Hygeia Healthcare Group (6078 HK) could rapidly expand nationwide, with solid business logic. 
• Hygeia’s delicacy management and the strength in operation help the Company to break the limits of the expansion of private hospitals, helping shorten the time it takes to break even.
• However, the high uncertainties on policy and State’s attitude towards private hospitals cast shadow on Hygeia’s long-term prospects, but investors could still trade this stock in short term.

• We reiterate BUY rating for GLOBAL with a target price of Bt25.0 based on 35xPE’22E, close to the average of the Thailand home-improvement subsector.
• We expect GLOBAL to report 1Q22 net profit at Bt967m (flat YoY, +30%QoQ).
• QoQ growth will be supported by high season quarter with a solid SSSG at+7.5%YoY in 1Q22 together with economic recovery as shown by Farm income Index was at Bt215 (+9%YoY)

• We expect the company to report net profit of Bt400m in 1Q22. (+1%QoQ+31%YoY), the highest level in the past five quarters.YoY expansion will be due to effective operating cost management
• Expect daily ridership to reach 70% of pre-COVID19 level by 3Q22, under assumption that there will be no major restriction measures induced by the virus outbreak. Furthermore, we expect ridership 
• Earlier-Than-Expected bidding for Orange line will be the re-rating catalyst (previously expected to take place within 1H22). We estimate upsides from this project at Bt1.90 per share.

• Maintain BUY rating with a new TP of B66.00 (down 8% from previous TP),based on 30.8xPE’22E which is close to its -1SD of 3-years trailing average. We believe, SCGP’s 24%
• We expect 1Q22E core profit to be the bottom quarter at Bt1.7bn (-21%YoY,-21%QoQ). Excluding one-time gain from the acquisition of Go-Pak adjustment, its recurring profit should rise 23%QoQ.
• We believe earnings momentum to recover in  2Q22 onwards by raising product prices in wake of costs turbulence, but would drop YoY due to fall from high base. 

• Euglena could be the most important sustainable aviation fuel company in Japan and a world leader in using micro algae as a feedstock
• The company looks set to become the largest provider of SAF in Japan by 2025
• Assuming the company can hit its commercial SAF production target, we think the stock could easily double

• Nikkei reported that Meituan intends to pay better compensation to small-and-medium restaurants and to delivery workers to prove that the company is in line with Beijing’s common prosperity measures.
• As Shanghai is under strict Covid lockdown, Meituan has seen a sharp rise in demand for grocery deliveries, however, margins are expected to be thin due to additional costs.
• The company has been under tremendous pressure to improve its cost structure and is undertaking 10-20% job cuts across all its business units.

• Tencent’s increase in investment acquisition activity has coincided with a general weakness in equity prices and valuation levels.
• Tencent management’s assessment of the fair value of its listed investee holdings, of RMB982.8bn on 31 December 2021, equates to roughly 27.4% of its market cap.
• The market value of Tencent’s investee holdings in more-mature, Chinese-listed, internet-orientated holdings equates to roughly 9% of its current market cap.

• Air China Ltd (H) (753 HK) has weaker passenger traffic in Mar and 1Q22 when compared with China Southern Airlines (1055 HK), and this is mostly due to the Olympics.
• We expect one-off factors to remove starting Apr and traffic gap against CSA will narrow going forward. Its associate Cathay Pacific (293 HK) has also seen good pick-up in Mar. 
• Air China outperformed CSA by 8pp YTD. There are signs of quarantine requirement relaxation for incoming passengers, and we anticipate gradual international traffic recovery to bode well for Air China.

• We initiate coverage of INTUCH with a BUY rating, based on our TP of Bt82 derived from 18.9% discount from SOTP valuation, implying 22.3xPE’22E.Despite ADVANC’s strong earnings growth in 2022-24
• Benefit from ADVANC’s top-of-industry performance. ADVANC to gain from better 5G infrastructure and ARPU reversal.
• ADVANC’s enterprise business will grow rapidly between 2022-24. THCOM has negligible impact on overall performance.

• As the “the king of generics”, Sino Biopharmaceutical (1177 HK) is lucky to have three “golden eggs”(Entecavir, Anlotinib, CoronaVac) to contribute huge performance over the years.
• The promotion of VBP and fierce competition make Sino Biopharmaceutical’s products lose pricing power. Due to little revolutionary technology/slow product iteration/weak R&D, it’s unlikely to have another Anlotinib level asset.
• The Company’s development mode, the mindset of management, and other concerns could be more serious problems, causing investors to distrust the management level and preventing it from getting high valuation.

• We have a non-consensus Bullish call on Rakuten and see over 60% upside to the share price
• The key driver will be a recovery in the Mobile Business
• We expect losses to gradually improve as roaming fees and customer acquisition costs start to decline

• NTGR spent the Q12022 reducing channel inventory of lower priced wireless routers, but there is still a lack of catalyst for consumers to upgrade after buying a router in 2020
• NTGR’s balance sheet makes the stock look attractive at current levels, but the first quarter has too many variables to push us off the sidelines
• During the first quarter of 2022 it was visible the degree of discounting NTGR had undertaken in the channel to remove lower priced wireless routers, or sub $299 price point

• Giant Manufacturing (9921 TT) , one of Shimano’s top customers, is reportedly having a production issue and can only sort it out by the end of this year. 
• Shimano Inc (7309 JP) is no longer Japan-centric but a global company with customers all over the world. 
• Low valuation gives an illusion that it is cheap historically but expects a bumpy road ahead.

• Post announcement of the acquisition of Citibank India’s consumer finance unit, Axis Bank has outperformed the market
• However, Axis Bank shareholders need to be more cautious about whether the acquisition will deliver the returns that the market is expecting.
• Competitors who either did not bid or lost out in the acquisition are focusing on poaching Citibank’s premier customers.

• Under the current policy in China, any minor changes to vaccine doses require a series of clinical data support and registration changes. So, WHO’s recommendation won’t affect Zhifei’s short-term performance.
• The increasing domestic competing HPV vaccines in the future would be a big threat to Zhifei’s agency business. Its self-developed products may not be strong enough to compensate. 
• The performance in 2022 is expected to be solid before real challenge comes in 2024. The valuation logic and outlook won’t be brighten unless there’s new breakthrough in agency business.

• Legend Biotech Corp (LEGN US) received FDA approval for its first product Carvykti in February as a fifth-line treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
• Label expansion of Carvykti for earlier line of multiple myeloma treatments should expand addressable market, thereby increasing peak sales opportunity to $5 billion from initial expectation of $1.5 billion.
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added Legend to their delisting watchlist last week. The company needs to release required evidence by May 3 to stay listed.

• Many automakers said they suspended their productions due to the lockdown of Shanghai.
• A vice minister of Industry and Information Technology announced that 666 companies will resume production in Shanghai.
• We believe it is hard to resume the automobile soon because of the complication of a vehicle and the traffic jams around Shanghai.

• Legal casino gaming is limited to only three of India’s states, including Goa, Sikkim and Daman. But nationally US$60b is wagered legally and in grey area sites.
• Delta’s gambling ships and casinos lie within a roughly 2.5 hour flight from population centers like Mumbai and Delhi.
• Latest operating results indicate strong gains despite lingering Omicron spurts positioning the stock for a strong upside ahead.