Consumer

• Yamada Denki (9831 JP) has bought back nearly 16% of shares out ex-Treasury in the 7.5 months since last fiscal year earnings were announced. It went limit up on Day1.
• Then it stopped – despite the buyback being 15% of expected volume every day for a year and a HUGE piece of Real World Float.
• There is 8% left to buy at current prices – 16-18% of volume the next 4.5mos. And it is still a dirt cheap capital structure and somewhat sticky shareholder structure.

• A state-owned company invested in Ant Group, which boosted Alibaba’s stock price.
• Tencent obtained five new game licenses in December, three of which are imported games.
• China Literature’s daily active users increased by 80% in 2022 and reached the historical high.

• CBIRC approved the capital replenishment plan of RMB10.5bn of Ant CFC on Dec 30, 2022
• Under the regulatory guidance, Ant Group needs to complete a multifaceted rectification plan
• After the fund raising, Ant Group’s next step is to obtain FHC license and credit bureau license

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning Applications are all the rage, primarily thanks to the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT being used for text and Dall-E being used to generate digital images.
• ChatGPT’s popularity has soared, reaching a user base of 1 million users in 5 days, and OpenAI itself is benefiting from the surge in users, now valued at $29 Billion.
• Investors are already looking for the next wave of AI products that can make a big splash and potentially disrupt legacy industries. 

• End December was the end of the review cutoff for a lot of indices that will rebalance within the next couple of months.
• PEXA Group (PXA AU) replaces Pendal Group (PDL AU) in the S&P/ASX 200 (AS51 INDEX) at the close on 12 January.
• There were big outflows from Hong Kong and China focused ETFs led by Hang Seng H Share Index ETF (2828 HK) and Tracker Fund of Hong Kong Ltd (2800 HK).

• We expect PDD’s total revenue in C4Q22 to be in line with cons., and non-GAAP net income to beat cons. by 9%.
• Faster-Than-Peers user growth, increase in brand product contribution and newly launched marketing program support PDD’s strong GMV trend and high take rate in the near term.
• Temu is moving to increase order volume and ASP to improve scale and save logistics cost.

• This fiscal year, total dividends paid haven’t increased compared to recovering total net profit. Consequently, the dividend payout ratio has fallen to the low 30% level, normal level for FY2020.
• The correlations of market capitalization to net profit and to dividends paid both declined from those of the past 10 years, indicating lack of confidence in profits in year ahead.
• Simply raising the dividend has limited effect on stock price increases. Given that the dividend payout ratio has declined, companies are required to explain how they are using their cash.

• The Korean Department of Education announced on 5 January that Korea will start to adopt customized digital school textbooks starting 2025.
• These 11 Korean stocks that are well positioned to capitalize on the digital textbooks are up on average 5.3% YTD, strongly outperforming KOSPI which is up 2.4% YTD.
• Japan is implementing the adoption of digital textbooks in elementary, junior, and high schools starting in 2024, ahead of Korea.

• The company’s year-over-year revenue has surged by more than 1.98x.
• Carnival remains far adrift from its midpoint profit margins and has a sizeable corporate bond to service.
• A residual income valuation model places a fair value of $9.91 on the stock, placing it in fair value territory.

• We remain neutral on global equities (MSCI ACWI), we believe upside remains limited with the MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US), S&P 500, and several European indexes still below major resistance.
• We continue to expect rangebound price action in the months ahead on the MSCI ACWI.
• And, rangebound price action could very well be the theme for all of 2023 (with resistance at $93 and support at $75-77 on ACWI-US)

• Are you interested in consumer cyclical and industrial stocks while being worried about the macroeconomic outlook? Well, if you are, then MasterCraft (NASDAQ:MCFT) should be on your watchlist.
• MasterCraft could part itself from the rest of the consumer cyclical segment during a trying macroeconomic environment.
• The company’s Veblen good status and low debt burden could protect one’s portfolio against macro headwinds.

• Taste Gourmet Group (8371 HK) is an excellent play on China/HK reopening with a 5.7x/4.2x FY23/24 PE and 10+% dividend yield, with 25% of the mkt cap in net cash.
• Reopening of China and HK borders after Jan 8th will provide a boost to the revenue and margins. The company will also resume its expansions in China (3 restaurants). 
• Channel checks suggest a solid Q3 2023, with the company expanding to 38 restaurants in HK (34 in Q2 2023), with a surge in revenue likely due to seasonality. 

• China MeiDong Auto (1268 HK) raised 800mn HKD in a top placement (px~15 HKD/share), resulting in a ~4% dilution, citing an opportunistic raise for M&A.
• While the company asserts there is a well-defined pipeline, it was not very specific on the size and scope of its targets which was not taken well by the market.
• We continue to like the company, trading at a 15x/9x PE FY22e/23e, with a 5.2%/8.8% dividend yield (assuming an 80% payout ratio), with the optionality of M&A potential. 

• Last year, NPS raised the weighting of defense, renewables, and reopening (entertainment and leisure) stocks. In contrast, NPS mainly reduced exposure to construction, banking, and semiconductors.
• In December, NPS is building a fairly aggressive long position in China Reopening. In addition, trading assumed to be portfolio rebalancing for the local chemical sector was detected.
• NPS’ stake in most major holdings exceeds 5%. This allows us to monitor NPS’ trading history almost in real time through KRX FAIR.

• Alterpacks, a Singapore-based provider of biodegradable food containers, has closed its US$1 million pre-seed funding round.
• The company provides new economic value to spent grains, a by-product of the food manufacturing process, after producing malted drinks, such as milo or beer.

• Alterpacks is also creating bio-pellets to replace petroleum-based resins used in standard manufacturing machines today.

• Oriental Watch (398 HK) went ex-dividend on the 30th of December, post which there was a slight correction, and now the stock is 7x PE FY23 (~15% dividend yield).
• There is a substantial margin of safety with assets worth 4+ HKD/share ( 2 HKD/share of net cash + 1 HKD/share of inventory and >1 HKD of real estate).
• Trends point to a year of decent profitability as SSSG continues remain stable in China in November/December 2022. HK sales trended lower due to outbound travel.

• China MeiDong Auto (1268 HK) is looking to raise US$100m via a top-up placement.
• Proceeds from the offering will be geared towards potential M&A and general working capital purposes.
• In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the recent updates.

• Agri-Food play Japfa Ltd (JAP SP) recently distributed in-specie its 62.5% stake in AustAsia Group (2425 HK).
• Japfa continues to hold a 55.4% stake in Japfa Comfeed Indonesia (JPFA IJ), together with unlisted ops focused on animal proteins in Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
• Japfa is estimated to be trading at around a 41% discount to NAV and ~4x EV/EBITDA. 

• There are currently 76 index constituents and we can (maybe? finally! hopefully 🤞) get to 80 members in March before commencing the next leg up to 100 index constituents.
• We list 10 potential inclusions to the index in March. Adding all 10 stocks will lead to over 6% one-way turnover, so there will be fewer inclusions.
• All stocks will have over 1 day of ADV to buy from passive trackers. Some stocks have short interest of over 7% of float.

• Minor International (MINT TB) represents a unique combination of exposure to a diverse set of hotel and restaurant brands both in Thailand and globally making it a true recovery proxy.
• The company’s hotel portfolio is well-diversified geographically and across different segments giving it exposure to both tourism in Thailand and globally and to the recovery in business travel. 
• Minor Food has also seen a strong recovery as revenge dining draws consumers to dine out. Overall valuations look attractive given expected growth rates over the next two years. 

• Shareholder returns, including dividend policy and treasury stock retirement/buyback and growth policies improved slightly. Still, cash allocations are weak in both shareholder returns and growth, so cash is piling up.
• The policy shareholdings is decreasing year by year, but the holdings is so large that they still account for a large % of total assets, so cash is piling up.
• Companies with ROEs above 12% achieved even higher returns, and Tobin’s Q1.2-1.4 companies (with higher valuations than average) increased slightly. Investors may have valued companies that exhibit higher returns.

• Hisense announced the long-awaited equity incentive scheme on Jan 2. 
• For 100% vetting, Hisense net profit needs to grow by 62%/86%/109% from 2023 to 2025, compared with its 2021 net profit level. 
• We have seen Hisense Home Appliance (Hisense HA) transforming itself into a more market-oriented company. 

• Amid sharply rising interest rates and greater economic uncertainty, the subject of loan guarantees to affiliates among Korean companies has become more important. 
• In this insight, we discuss a pair trade between Shinsegae (long) and Hyundai Dept Store Co (short).
• Four major reasons why we prefer Shinsegae vs Hyundai Dept Store include negative impact from equity spin-off, increasing leverage (including loan guarantees), valuations, and economies of scale. 

• We see 44 potential adds (including plenty of new listings) and 19 potential deletes (on market cap, liquidity and suspension) for the Hang Seng Composite Index in March.
• We expect 37 stocks to be added to Southbound Stock Connect following the rebalance while 37 stocks could be deleted from the trading link and become Sell-only. 
• There are stocks that have a very high percentage of holdings via Stock Connect and there could be some unwinding prior to the stocks becoming Sell-only.

• We believe it was a wise move for PDD to launch the overseas online marketplace TEMU first off the U.S., because of its massive, lucrative and integrated retail markets.
• Still, the adventure lacks some of the recipe for successes PDD made during its early days, and the failure of Wish suggests pricing not come at the expense of quality.
• We expect TEMU to lose US$2bn in 2024 (1/3 of PDD’s FY22 earnings) and won’t generate meaningful profit probably until 2026, reinforcing our view on PDD’s near-term earnings risk.

• We would be closing our 2021 high-conviction long trade on Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP) before they release 3QFY23 results next week.
• Although we are not expecting the company to miss consensus estimates this time around, we are expecting significant downside risks to Seven & I’s US business throughout the year.
• Given that shares went nowhere after 12% revenue and 1% OP beats in the previous quarter is a good indication that the upside is limited.

• On 30 December, Super Hi International Holding (9658 HK) completed its separate listing in HK from Haidilao by the way of introduction. The trading has been highly volatile so far.
• Our base case valuation of Super Hi International is target price of HKD13.6 per share, which represents a 40% upside from current levels.
• The same store sales at Super Hi improved significantly in nearly all major regions in 1H 2022. 

• Sales has been weak since October, mainly due to price hike.
• Technology leadership may not be sustainable with limited R&D investments.
• EREV version may not be the right solution for the company’s long-term growth. 

• In this insight, we discuss our initial thoughts on the Golfzon County IPO which is likely in 1H 2023.
• As of September 2022, Golfzon County owned and operated 18 golf courses and 387 holes, the largest in Korea. 
• Golfzon Newdin owns a 43.2% in Golfzon County. We estimate Golfzon Newdin’s market cap to be 273 billion won or 6,369 won per share, representing a 44% upside. 

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.

• Anton Oilfield
• Japfa Comfeed Indonesia
• Sands China
• Times China

• IPAR has added Lacoste to its portfolio of fragrance licenses and should lead to incremental growth in 2024.
• Lacoste, like IPAR’s other major licenses, is a well-established brand that is likely to immediately contribute to sales and earnings growth when in 2024
• Heading into the holiday shopping season of 2022, fragrance was proving as a high demand category from consumers

• Despite re-openings in China, Nu Skin’s operations remain exposed to cyclical risks.
• The company’s net margins are poor, and earnings crash risk is a regular feature.
• The stock’s technical features imply that it could rebound in 2023, but it presents an isolated case with little substance in the broader context.

• We expect one change to the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI INDEX) in March, though there is a possibility of a second change.
• The change in the index handling treatment for Secondary Listings and Dual Primary Listings will also result in some big float changes resulting in inflows to some stocks.
• If there are two changes to the index, estimated one-way turnover is 2.39% resulting in a one-way trade of HK$1,536m.

• We expect 5 changes to the Nifty 100 Index (NSE100 INDEX) at the March rebalance. The review period ends on 31 January and the announcement should be late February.
• The largest impact of passive trading will be on Page Industries (PAG IN), Biocon Ltd (BIOS IN), Mphasis Ltd (MPHL IN) and ABB India Ltd (ABB IN). 
• There are quite a few overlaps with the AMFI reclassification of stocks and there could be buying and selling from active fund managers over the next few weeks.

• After bouncing more than 60% from a near-all-time low, Alibaba Group (9988 HK)’s progress seems to have ended abruptly with the share-price holding flat for almost a month in December-2022.
• Meanwhile, the company’s cash cows, Taobao and Tmall are losing market share. Rapidly rising COVID infections create new headwinds that could affect business performance for at least two more quarters.
• With the shares trading near the top end of the new downward trend channel, we are short Alibaba as earnings are expected to miss consensus estimates in the next two-quarters.

• We expect at least one change to the Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH INDEX) in March – though there could be another change as well.
• Changes to the index handling for Dual Primary Listings should result in an increase in free float and passive inflows to Li Auto (2015 HK) and XPeng (9868 HK). 
• Estimated one-way turnover is 5.83% resulting in a one-way trade of HK$4.87bn and this is mainly driven by float and capping changes.

• There are four weeks left to go in the data period for calculating the next Nikkei 225 review for March, likely to be announced ~7 March 2023.
• The 3 ADDs should be Oriental Land (4661), Renesas Electronics (6723) , and Japan Airlines (9201).  The 3 DELETES Toho Zinc (5707) , Toyobo (3101), and Nippon Light Metal (5703) 
• Oriental Land is the one to watch in March. Slight underperformance would boost buying impact. The Sep23 rebalance and subsequent ones are smaller in size but more interesting in impact.

• The revised Corporate Governance Code and the inclusion of prime market listing criteria have resulted in significant improvements in % of independent directors and in the practices of Nominating/Compensation Committee.
• Meanwhile, the chairmanship of the board of directors and the ratio of female directors, for which the Code didn’t specify improvements or provide numerical target, are improving at modest pace.
• There is the issue of whether the board/committees require independent directors to function fully independently, and the % of female directors indicates the seriousness of improving management and governance.

• China’s U-turn on COVID policy has led to skyrocketed infection cases/mortality. Demand for funeral services due to additional deaths would surge, so positive sentiment on Fu Shou Yuan could continue.
• Fu Shou Yuan’s performance is expected to rebound in 22H2 and 23H1 driven by high demand and relaxation of COVID-19 control measures. It’s a good short-term trade with strong catalyst.
• The acceleration and resonance of population aging trend, the new urbanization process and the increase of cremation rate of remains provide objective conditions for Fu Shou Yuan’s long-term upward performance.  

• Shinwon Corp (009270 KS) is the 18th company in our Korea Small Cap Gems series.
• Established in 1973, Shinwon is a leading apparel company which has been in business for nearly 50 years. Its most popular apparel brands include Besti Belli, Si, Viki, and SIEG.
• The four key catalysts with Shinwon include significant share buybacks, strong growth in sales and profits driven by exports, potential change in the controlling shareholding structure, and discounted valuations.

• This is our first report on Hormel Foods Corporation, one of the leading protein food companies across the globe.
• Hormel achieved another quarter of growth in organic sales led by its solid performances from its food service businesses and its center store grocery portfolio.
• In the quarter, Hormel saw growth from its food and ethnic forward portfolios.

• Wayfair is a renowned e-commerce platform providing a wide variety of products such as furniture, decor, housewares, and home improvement offerings.
• Wayfair has seen strong momentum in CastleGate as it drives various advantages for suppliers, lower retail prices because of ship cost savings, reduced damage rates, better visibility on sites, and quicker conversion via quick delivery.
• The company has been driving operational cost savings, which could reduce the cost of goods.

• The data in this insight is collated from the “shareholding disclosure” link on the HKEx website.
• Often there is a corresponding HKEx announcement on the increase – or decrease – in the shareholding by directors. However, such disclosures are by no means an absolute.
• These insights may flag those companies where shares have been pledged. Stocks mentioned include Apac Resources (1104 HK), Ausnutria (1717 HK), Pharmaron Beijing (3759 HK), and Joinn Laboratories (6127 HK).

• Luxury brands had a rather fashionable year in 2022, bouncing back from the pandemic slump with the help of pent-up demand and lockdown savings spent on travel-worthy threads.
• However, even the resilient luxury market isn’t immune to the macroeconomic forces at play, from inflation to the war in Ukraine and the impending recession in the US and Europe.
• It is a surprise then that Luxury Fashion house Lanvin Group decided to plunge into the public markets despite the choppy economic waters.

• YFO has played a relatively upfront game for Toyo Construction (1890 JP) – badly at first, then better. 
• With Takashimaya (8233 JP) and H2O (8242 JP) now more secure and cross-shareholdings more problematic, they will sell off their equity in each other but continue to work on joint projects.
• Skyworth Group Limited (751 HK)‘s latest buyback offers a minimum proration of 7.8%, although applying the last buyback two years ago, it’s likely to be 13%+.

• The competitive position and demand environment for Eicher Motors (EIM IN)‘s “Classic 350” remains intact. 
• The recent launch “Hunter 350” is expanding markets by taking on the competition.
• Cannablisation fears from Hunter 350, remain unfounded, and unlikely to have any major impact on margin trajectory. 

• This year is less intense compared to previous years. However, given this year’s overall market returns and the lower visibility of yearend dividends, it is still a reasonably aggressive flow.
• Most of this PROP flow should have been dividend hunting aimed at the distortion of ex-date price correction caused by RETAIL’s tax avoidance-driven selling flow.
• The performance of the individual stock position strategy (entering on T-4~1 ex-date) might not have been as juicy as expected, but it still managed to deliver a positive return.

• Blibli (BELI IJ) is a very different animal from its listed peers given its omnichannel approach and its large 1P business plus a substantial private-public institutional B2B business. 
• The company’s IPO was a relative success, raising US$508m in fresh funds, and the share price is still above the IPO price after listing on 8th November.
• Blibli (BELI IJ) is still loss-making but has a strong backer in the Djarum Group. Its travel business could move to profitability quite rapidly and Ranch is there already.

• BigBasket, an India-based online grocery player owned by conglomerate Tata Sons, has raised US$200 million at a US$3.2 billion valuation, the platform’s co-founder and CEO Hari Menon told Tech in Asia.
• Founded from a small office in Bengaluru in 2011 by Menon and four other partners, V S Sudhakar, Vipul Parek, Abhinay Choudhari, and V S Ramesh, BigBasket was acquired by Tata Sons through its subsidiary Tata Digital in 2021.
• Largely focusing on online grocery, BigBasket has also expanded to quick commerce via BB Now and subscription-based service via BB Daily.

• Since many companies struggle to meet quorum requirements for AGMs, many companies mail accompanying documents along with the voting form in paper form, even though Companies Act has been amended.
• The use of DX, such as hybrid shareholder meetings and online voting, comes to mind to meet quorum requirements for shareholder meetings, and this will help reduce administrative costs.
• The fundamental issue, however, is that there are many conventional AGMs with little appeal and little substance, such as few managers whom we would really like to hear speak live.

• Charter Communications is one of the leading cable operators and broadband connectivity companies in the U.S.
• The company’s recent financial performance has been tepid despite consistent additions of new Internet customers throughout the year.
• They further offer the nation’s fastest Internet, WiFi, and mobile speeds when combined with WiFi, all while saving consumers thousands of dollars a year or serving them.

• Honeys is proving a resilient provider of low-cost women’s basic fashions in Japan. 
• While it struggled after losing the fickle younger fan base five years ago, Honeys has bounced back through careful control of costs that has kept prices down.
• Along with Workman and Shimamura, Honeys looks to be one of the longer-term beneficiaries of the shift to discount apparel, particularly in rising operating margins.

• Freetech Intelligent Systems, a China-based autonomous driving firm, has raised nearly US$100 million in its series B round, Nikkei Asia reported.
• Chaos Investment led the round, with TCL Industries Holdings, BAIC Capital, and Hengxu Capital participating, among other investors.
• Founded in 2016, Freetech creates a full-stack solution for autonomous vehicles, creating both software and hardware components to power cars.

• This is our first report on Charter Communications, one of the largest cable operators and broadband connectivity companies in the U.S.
• The company delivered a disappointing set of results in the quarter failing to meet Wall Street expectations in terms of revenues as well as earnings.
• The company also had around 4.7 million mobile lines at the end of the quarter.

• This is our first report on Sysco Corporation, one of the largest foodservice distribution companies in the U.S.
• Sysco delivered a mixed set of results for this quarter, surpassing revenue expectations of Wall Street with continued positive momentum in its business.
• The market share gains continued in the quarter, with the company posting 1.4 times sales growth in the industry.

• Sysco Corporation is one of the largest foodservice distribution companies in the U.S.
• The company’s financial performance has shown a simultaneous recovery along with the foodservice sector after the pandemic.
• Restaurant partners of the company continue to be resilient, and its travel hospitality and industry and business segment has regularly posted improvements in financial performance.