TMT/Internet

• It is well-known that Alibaba (ADR) (BABA US) is cheap (9x FY24 PE, fiscal year ending March; 8x FY23 free cash flow; net cash 25% of market cap).
• Taking into account all of the major moving parts, I believe Alibaba can now be categorized as a good value stock. 
• Shareholder returns through buyback and dividend, minus stock-based compensation in 2023 calendar year equal to around 5% yield.

• TSMC expects the foundry, semiconductor, electronics, industrial technology, and global GDP to be $0.25 trillion, $1 trillion, $3 trillion, $12 trillion, and $145 trillion, respectively, in 2030F
• Transistor technology is constantly evolving, and FinFET architecture will be followed by Nanosheet and others.
• In the transition, the automotive market belongs to IDM companies, but the utility of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) could fall under Foundry territory.  

• Alibaba plans to provide operational services to third-party sales broadcasters.
• Xpeng will hire 4,000 employees and raise research budget by 40%.
• Tuhu Car expected that its net profit will turn positive in 2023.

• Post FY23 results in mid-February, Appier’s stock exhibited significant volatility, despite robust financial performance.
• We believe that Appier is a beneficiary of continued growth in ecommerce and increasing ubiquity of AI solutions for marketing.  
• Appier trades at a significant discount to global peers and domestic SaaS companies, suggesting significant upside

• Elan Guides For Strong Revenue Growth Ahead and High Margins to Continue
• AI PCs Only Expected to Drive Significant Volume by 2025E; Major AI Opportunity for Touch Sensors
• Elan Can Benefit From Rising Consensus Forecasts But is Pricey — We Wouldn’t Chase the Rally But Also Don’t Want to Short It

• It was declined by 5% for 2023 verses 2022, which was not a surprise because the overall sentiment should be dim in 2023.
• For the coming 1Q24F, it could be a bit downside by 5%, assumed as a normal seasonality.
• AI demand remain the biggest driving force, and all eyes are on the CoWoS. 

• CARTA HD strives to become “The Evolution Factory” and operates mainly in the digital marketing field.
• The company was established in January 2019 through the merger of the former VOYAGE Group, which had expanded earnings by creating a series of new businesses centered on the ad tech domain, and the former Cyber Communications, the largest media rep firm in Japan.
• CARTA HD holds a 3.9% share in the Japanese online advertising market.

• ATNI reiterated its entry into the era of generating free cash flow after spending the last several years building out its fiber network
• ATNI reported fourth quarter results that showed services revenue rising sequentially. An increase in subscribers is the source for the success
• To grow revenue and generate free cash flow, ATNI has expanded its broadband network to approximately 769 thousand homes passed with 367 thousand of these homes having high-speed data

• Kinatico Ltd (ASX:KYP) is a ‘Know Your People’ regtech company providing workforce compliance monitoring and management technology and services.
• KYP has reported H1 FY24 NPAT of $0.357m, a $1.13m turnaround on the previous corresponding period (pcp), and the company’s best-ever result.
• The gross margin and EBITDA margin hit record levels of 67.7% and 13.4% respectively. The result was above our gross margin forecast but in line with our EBITDA estimate. 

• Kinatico Ltd (ASX:KYP) is a ‘Know Your People’ regtech company providing workforce compliance monitoring and management technology and services.
• KYP has reported H1 FY24 NPAT of $0.357m, a $1.13m turnaround on the previous corresponding period (pcp), and the company’s best-ever result.
• The gross margin and EBITDA margin hit record levels of 67.7% and 13.4% respectively.

• TSMC: +17.3% Premium, High Double Digit Level Persisting Since CNY
• UMC: -1.5% Discount, We Believe Spread Biased to Go Positive
• ChipMOS: +0.6% Premium, Collapsed from +4.6%. Now Within Typical Range.

• Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.
• On the IPO front, we looked at Trial Holdings (5882 JP) refiling and Xiaocaiyuan International Holding .
• For placements, it was an action packed week in India, again, with Australia joining in as well.

• ChipMOS Margin Rebound Sputters, Guidance Implies Margins Could Remain Under Pressure
• Valuation Appears Precarious In Light of Latest Results and Guidance
• Valuation Appears Precarious In Light of Latest Results and Guidance

Key points

• AI is a rapidly growing trend in the global market, with Taiwanese manufacturer AVC experiencing significant growth in their stock value.
• AVC has shown strong financial performance in recent years, with impressive average revenue and margin metrics.
• The company is expected to continue its growth trend in 2023, with higher margins than historical averages, as the impact of technology and COVID has been beneficial for AVC.

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.

• Despite the high-profile announcement of his attendance, his segment was less than 3 minutes long!
• Intel’s CEO alluded to a partnership with OpenAI and implied there’s more to come yet there’s been no public announcement of any such partnership. 
• Microsoft’s commitment to use Intel’s 18A is a vote of confidence in their foundry offering. Let’s see how it plays out.

• The changes for the SSE STAR50 (STAR50 INDEX) and STAR100 Index were announced post market close on Friday.
• The coming week is a full one with capping cutoffs, review cutoffs, announcements and implementations apart from futures expiries.
• With China open after Lunar New Year, the National Team is back pouring money into ETFs with the largest inflows to the CSI 300, CSI 500, ChiNext and STAR50 indices.

• Twilio’s recent quarterly results highlighted that the company exceeded its revenue and Non-GAAP income from operations targets for Q4 2023 by generating nearly $1.1 billion in revenue and $173 million in Non-GAAP income from operations.
• The free cash flow was $211 million.
• The company achieved $4.2 billion in revenue for the full year and improved its Non-GAAP operating results from a Non-GAAP operating loss of $4 million in 2022 to Non-GAAP operating income of $533 million in 2023.

• HubSpot, a leading software company, provided a generally positive update on the firm’s financial performance, strategic direction, and plans for future growth.
• On the financial front, the firm reported solid results for Q4 2023.
• Revenue grew by 21% year-on-year in constant currency terms, and by 25% for the full year 2023.

• Applied Materials delivered a decent result and the management claims to have made a strong start to the current fiscal year, exceeding its earnings projections.
• Strengths identified include the company’s innovation strategy and position at key industry inflections, such as new-foundry logic and developments in its DRAM market where it has captured over 50% of market share.
• Revenue from its advanced packaging product portfolio is predicted to reach nearly $1.5 billion in 2024.

• The Trade Desk had a robust finish to the year 2023 with a record total spend on their platform reaching almost $10 billion and revenue for the fourth quarter crossing the $600 million mark for the first time.
• This growth has significantly outpaced the digital advertising market with a year-on-year growth of 23%.
• The company also reported an adjusted EBITDA of over $770 million in 2023 and free cash flow upwards of $543 million.

• Tyler Technologies reported promising Q4 results reflecting a robust end to 2023 and signaling a pivotal year in its cloud transition.
• The company achieved all major objectives for the year with earnings and cash flow surpassing expectations.
• Recurring revenues reportedly grew by 8% and accounted for 84% of the total revenues.

• Zebra Technologies has reported its latest quarterly and year-end financial results for 2023 that were significantly impacted by broad-based softness across end markets and regions.
• The company realized sales of $1 billion demonstrating a 33% decline from the prior year, and adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.4%; a decrease of 7 points, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $1.71, a 64% decrease from the prior year.
• All product categories experienced declines, however, services and software remained a bright spot in the quarter from a revenue perspective.

• AppLovin closed the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 on a high note after surpassing the upper end of its forecast and demonstrating a pattern of exceptional performance throughout the year.
• Despite a challenging 2022 characterized by stagnant growth, the company reported a 76% increase in revenue from its software platform in 2023, testament to the potential of its AI advertising engine, AXON. While the performance shows the company’s financial strength, uncertainties prevail woven within the statements of forward-looking nature minus respective obligations of updating these unless required by law.
• Baptista Research looks to evaluate the different factors that could influence the company’s price in the near future and attempts to carry out an independent valuation of the company using a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methodology.

• FLEETCOR Technologies Inc.
• has reported mixed results for Q4 and full year 2023.
• Revenue for Q4 reached $937 million, registering a 6% upsurge; while cash EPS recorded a rise of 10% at $4.44, and EBITDA was approximately $500 million, 11% higher than the previous period.

• Reddit is getting ready for an IPO in the United States in the next several weeks. It is expected that this IPO will be completed in March. 
• The company was previously valued at US$10 billion in a funding round in 2021. It is expected that the company could sell about 10% of its shares in this IPO.
• Reddit may be seeking a valuation of at least US$5 billion in this IPO, which would be nearly half its valuation it received in 2021 in a private funding round. 

• Usually, February is typically the month with the fewest working days of the year, and therefore, revenue is likely to be at its lowest as well.
• We consider that the Taiwanese government may desire TSMC to build fabs in countries aligned with those who signed the “Wassenaar Arrangement.” 
• The price hike of NVIDIA Corp (NVDA US) by US$785.38 on February 22 in the US market could signal an important development in the AI sector.

• Cisco Systems Inc.’s fiscal second-quarter results demonstrated a mix of positives and negatives, balanced by the company’s flexible strategic route and shifting market conditions.
• Revenue for the quarter edged at the high end of the company’s guidance range, owing to robust operating leverage across business segments that surpassed margin expectations and facilitated better-than-expected earnings per share.
• A total of $2.8 billion value was returned to investors through dividends and share buybacks, evidencing Cisco’s ongoing commitment to its shareholders.

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.

• Lenovo

• In summarizing GoDaddy’s fourth quarter and annual 2023 results, it appears like the company has maintained a steady growth trajectory, particularly in its Applications & Commerce segment that achieved a 16% bookings growth.
• The company has also successfully driven a 2023 normalized EBITDA margin that surpassed previous guidance due to its investment in growth and cost structure management.
• Baptista Research looks to evaluate the different factors that could influence the company’s price in the near future and attempts to carry out an independent valuation of the company using a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methodology.

• Shopee – Sea’s largest business unit and Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce platform – has reported negative EBITDA for most of the 8 or so years since its launch. 

• Investors now however appear to be looking for earnings growth. In 7 of the last 9 quarterly earnings reports, investors have rewarded the company every time it has reported earnings growth (its share price has gone up in the day after the release), and penalized when it has not.

• Based on our analysis (and subject to the disclaimer included below), we expect Shopee’s GMV and Revenue to improve in Q4 2023 (as compared to the previous quarter) along with its EBITDA, although earnings will likely remain in negative territory.

• The S&P 500 index tracks the 500 largest names listed in the US and it is one of the most highly-tracked indices in the world.
• The index is reviewed quarterly. The next review will be in March 2024 and the evaluation date for the rankings for the constituent selection process is 29th February 2024.
• In this insight, we take a look at Potential ADDs and Potential DELs for the rebalance. We estimate US$13.1bn one-way flow on 3 ADDs and 3 DELs.

• Nvidia’s blowout earnings number is another example of how grasping exponential growth trends is extremely difficult for human investors.
• Unlike what is often assumed, Nvidia, for now, qualifies as a quality stock, revealing relentless competitive power, low debt, and reasonable valuation.
• Nvidia’s weight with Quality ETFs is bigger than its weight in the MSCI World Index, adding to quality stock outperformance.

• ISC Co Ltd (095340 KS) could replace Wonik Ips (240810 KS) in the FnGuide Semiconductor Top10 Index at the April rebalance.
• Jusung Engineering (036930 KS) is ranked just behind ISC Co Ltd (095340 KS) and could be added to the index instead depending on relative price performance.
• Shorts on ISC Co (095340 KS) have been stable over the last few months while there has been big covering on Wonik Ips (240810 KS) and Jusung Engineering (036930 KS). 

• Q423 revenues of ¥105.1 billion, about 5% better than forecasted, up 5% QoQ but down ~10% YoY.
• Q124 revenues forecasted to decline 17% QoQ to ¥87 billion. Not surprisingly, EBITDA will also decline 33% QoQ to ¥22.1 billion.
• On a brighter note, demand growth driven by generative AI will roughly double wafer demand for servers (AI+General) by 2027

• We expect NetEase to report C4Q23 revenue, GAAP op. profit and GAAP net income 4.9%, 5.7% and 8.5% vs. consensus.
• The robust topline growth was mainly contributed by revenue recognition of <Justice Mobile> in the peak summer season.
• The grossing of legacy titles like <FWWJ> is also growing steadily due to the low-price strategy. We raise our TP to US$118 to reflect the rich and diversified pipeline…

• Datadog Inc., in its Q4 2023 earnings, revealed that it ended the year on a high note.
• With continued innovation and high customer adoption rates, the company’s revenue was $590 million, a 26% increase year-over-year, exceeding its guidance range.
• The company’s customer growth was significant, moving from around 23,200 last year to about 27,300 currently.

• Nvidia’s earnings are akin to my Super Bowl.
• There is no more significant event in semiconductors and AI, and each quarter, we tune into Nvidia’s results to see precisely what quarter we are in the AI hype cycle (and potentially bubble).
• There is no better signpost for the entire AI ecosystem than the company making the most of the revenue so far: Nvidia.

• Cadence Design Systems reported outstanding performance for Q4 and FY 2023, achieving 15% revenue growth, a non-GAAP operating margin of 42%, and over 20% non-GAAP EPS growth.
• The company exited the year with a record backlog of $6 billion.
• Cadence attributes this success to their innovative solutions and customer commitments to their chip to system integrated design and analysis platforms.

• Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
• achieved solid financial results in 2023, with robust revenue growth and record gross margins.
• The semiconductor industry’s cyclical correction had a slight impact on the company’s 2023 Q4 progress, which could continue into early 2024.

• Today after the close, KDDI Corp (9433 JP) and Gree Inc (3632 JP) announced that KDDI would offer its 8,000,000 shares in Gree in an international offering through Mizuho Intl.
• The deal comes at a decently large discount and the stock is quite downtrodden. Especially when compared to its venture assets and cash, assuming invested amount is remotely viable.
• The problem is that too much of revenue isn’t earning much, so this sits in a Value Trap category. Shareholder structure makes it difficult to do buybacks.

• UMC spoke at an investment bank’s recent conference, providing additional color on guidance and its collaboration with Intel for 12nm chip production.
• UMC comments imply the key synergies between the two companies, whereby each can solve the other’s key problem,
• While UMC most likely needs to remain a “Taiwanese company” in terms of optics given its history, Intel’s synergies with UMC establishes acquisition-value support for UMC shares in our view.

• Key Events: 1) Nvidia Results Coming Today in the U.S. 2) Elan & ChipMOS Tomorrow in Taiwan 3) U.S. PC Maker Results Next Week
• Why United Microelectronics Is Becoming a Great Long-Term Acquisition Target for Intel 
• Novatek a Top Gainer After Reports of Alliance with ARM to Build Neoverse V2 for AI

• Post 35% price gain in a quarter, many good news we expected and other analysts expected already factored into the share price. We believe the risk/reward not attractive here.
• TSMC guides stronger 1Q24 and 2024, helped by Nvidia and copy cat AI GPU/ASIC orders. We see greater opportunities for alternative copy cat solutions like AMD and Alchip.
• We attribute Nvidia customers’ sales discrepancy to AI server is cannibalizing non-AI server and Nvidia is allocating more GPUs to premium price paying customers in 1H24 and reverse in 2H24.

• Delta Electronics Thailand (DELTA TB) still trades at a higher market cap than Delta Electronics (2308 TT) though the gap has been narrowing over the last few months.
• Delta Electronics Thailand (DELTA TB)‘s real float is around 18% and foreign investors hold 94.07% of the shares outstanding.
• Delta Electronics Thailand (DELTA TB) has traded weak following the placement in October and there could be further downside versus Delta Electronics (2308 TT). 

Vection Technologies secured multiple contracts in February, generating total contract value (TCV) of A$5.8m, with management expecting to recognise the associated revenue and cash across H224. Year to date, the group has delivered more than A$22.5m in TCV, c 80% of FY23 TCV, underpinning growth momentum in FY24. The most substantial contract, valued at A$4.9m, was won with an existing customer in the defence sector, Vection’s second-largest vertical, showing that management is delivering on its upsell strategy. The other contracts spanned healthcare, retail and real estate, reflecting growing demand for extended/virtual reality technologies across a myriad of commercial applications.

• Announces hosting agreement with GPU startup for AI computing.
• Soluna announced a co-location agreement with an AI-focused GPU startup that will locate its GPU units in Soluna’s existing modular data center at the 25MW Project Sophie in Kentucky.
• New contract is another milestone in the company’s growth into AI.

• On February 15, OpenAI, Google and Amazon launched respective AI advances in video LLM (SORA), long text (Gemini 1.5), and text-to-speech (BASE) abilities. The evolution speed of AI inspired awe;
• We estimate rival equivalent of SORA, delivered over cloud, will appear in 4-6 months of time but on-device version will take years.
• We suggest 2C AI applications, especially video, will be the prime beneficiary

• Novatek’s share price has surged by more than 15% in four days due to the news of Novatek’s alliance with ARM to develop Neoverse V2.
• While the decision on whether the iPhone 16 will feature OLED technology is still pending, the general sentiment is optimistic.
• Novatek is set to leverage Intel Corp (INTC US)’s 12nm capacity through United Microelectron Sp Adr (UMC US) in the near future.

Key points

• TI has continued to innovate in analog chip design over time
• Their chips are used in a variety of industries including automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics
• TI’s analog chips are found in a wide range of products from smartphones to medical devices

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.

• Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) will replace Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA US) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU INDEX) at the close on 23 February.
• Passives will need to sell a lot of Walmart (WMT US) following the 3:1 stock split and buy a lot of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US). 
• Given the ad hoc nature of the rebalances and the short timeline between announcement and implementation, the stocks could move over the rest of the week.

Key points

• Recommendation to short Lions Gate with 40-70% upside potential
• Unsustainable leverage and expected earnings misses cited as reasons for shorting
• Studio’s underperforming content and high debt levels are key concerns for investors

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.

• As of the review cutoff date of 19 February, there could be four changes for the iShares A50 China (2823 HK) / CSOP China A50 (HKD) (2822 HK) in March.
• Shaanxi Coal Industry, Hygon Information Technology, CGN Power and China Everbright Bank could replace Aier Eye Hospital Group, Bank Of Ningbo, WuXi AppTec and Jiangsu Yanghe Brewery.
• CGN Power (1816 HK) is a potential iShares China Large-Cap (FXI) (FXI US) inclusion while Hygon Information Technology C (688041 CH) is an inclusion to a global index in March.

• Naver Corp (035420 KS) is trying to complete the IPO of its affiliate Webtoon Entertainment in the US stock market as early as June 2024. 
• The expected value of Webtoon Entertainment (post IPO) is about US$3 billion to US$4 billion. Webtoon Entertainment is seeking to raise about US$500 million in this IPO. 
• The IPO of Webtoon Entertainment in the US is likely to have a positive impact on Naver Corp (035420 KS).

• Nintendo’s share price fell ~6% on rumours of Switch 2 delay, wiping around $4 billion of the market cap
• We do not believe that a one quarter delay will have any impact on the console’s long-term sell-through or the stock’s valuation
• With Sony’s PS5 faltering, Nintendo is launching at an opportune time. We turn bullish on the stock with ~25% upside from here

• One year ago, we published a note valuing Wechat Channels at US$29 billion by applying 25xPE to RMB8 billion net profit out of RMB37 billion revenue by 2024.
• Fast forward to today, the platform’s priority has been further elevated by Tencent management in its attempt to pursue high quality growth.
• We review our thesis on Wechat Channels based on recent channel checks and now believe that the platform could represent ~35% of Tencent’s total incremental profit from 2024 to 2026. 

• With the review period complete, Alchip Technologies is a high probability inclusion and Feng Tay Enterprise is a high probability deletion for the Yuanta/P-Shares Taiwan Top 50 ETF in March.
• Passive trackers will need to buy around 0.4x ADV in Alchip Technologies (3661 TT) and sell 4x ADV in Feng Tay Enterprise (9910 TT). 
• There will be positioning in both stocks, though it appears larger in Alchip Technologies (3661 TT) as compared to Feng Tay Enterprise (9910 TT). 

• Foreign traders face challenges in LG Display’s rights offering. While LG Display provides updates through English disclosures, detailed schedule information exclusive to the Korean prospectus is missing.
• To ensure access to all Korean disclosures, use the DART English service. DART imports English disclosures from KIND and provides English titles for Korean-only disclosures. Use translation tools like ChatGPT.
• FSC enhances services to address practical issues. For lengthy documents, only English titles are available. FSC will provide English for subtitles, tables, and charts, using an automatic translation system.

• Q124 revenues of $6.71 billion, at the high end of the guided range and essentially flat sequentially both QoQ and YoY
• Q224 revenue $6.5 billion at the midpoint, a modest downward movement of 3% QoQ and in line with what we saw from peers KLAC and LRCX
• Still a great company with excellent growth prospects, just not in 2024

• MicroStrategy Inc’s fourth quarter 2023 earnings point towards a strong performance from being the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, possessing 190,000 bitcoins with a market value of $8.1 billion.
• Over 2023, the company added another 56,650 bitcoins to its portfolio costing $1.9 billion, making the company’s bitcoin strategy a long-term focus.
• Baptista Research looks to evaluate the different factors that could influence the company’s price in the near future and attempts to carry out an independent valuation of the company using a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) methodology.

• According to Dynatrace’s fiscal third quarter 2024 earnings, the company delivered solid results driven by its ability to successfully navigate a continually changing market.
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 21% year over year, while subscription revenue increased by 23% over the same period.
• Non-GAAP operating income steadily increased to $105 million representing 29% of revenue and robust free cash flow margin was delivered at 25% on a trailing 12-month basis.

• Underpinned by an urgent need for a more secure digital landscape, CyberArk Software has emerged with a wholesome performance in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2023.
• An impressive 60% YoY growth of Subscription ARR has led CyberArk to become an exclusively recurring revenue company, with an astounding 95% of total bookings coming via subscriptions.
• CyberArk marked the close of 2023 by bolstering its market leadership in the realm of Identity Security Platforms with a robust growth quarter.

• The sales of Jan 2024F were the lowest during 2022-2024F, indicating a likely downtrend for 1Q24F.
• Demand is expected to remain sluggish in 2Q24F, potentially resulting in decreased raw wafer demand for Logic and Memory in 2Q24F.
• The market for 12″ raw wafers is expected to have a more stable demand-supply balance, while raw wafers of 8” and smaller sizes could experience reduced demand in 1H24F.

• I tally 53 – mostly firm, mostly Asia-Pac – transactions currently being discussed and analysed on Smartkarma. Inside is a timetable of upcoming key events for each deal.
• Four new deals discussed this week on Smartkarma: Altium Ltd (ALU AU), Ansarada Group Ltd (AND AU), Roland DG Corp (6789 JP), and Welbe Inc (6556 JP).
• Key updates took place on JSR Corp (4185 JP) and Outsourcing Inc (2427 JP) 

• After narrowly avoiding deletion at the last two index reviews, Zhongsheng Group will be deleted from the HSCEI INDEX in March and replaced with China Unicom (762 HK). 
• Zhongsheng Group (881 HK) is down 25% for the year while China Unicom Hong Kong (762 HK) is up 10%.
• There appears to be positioning on both stocks though the increase in shorts and jump in cumulative excess volume on Zhongsheng Group (881 HK) point to higher positioning.

• Diving Deep into Hindenburg Research’s comprehensive report on Temenos triggers a market plunge, alleging accounting manipulations, failed North American expansion, product failures, and troubled European deals.
• Allegations include aggressive revenue recognition, excessive R&D capitalization, difficulty in revenue collection, inflated free cash flow, and executive insiders stock divestment.
• Temenos denies allegations, defending its business integrity, performance, and financial standing, but market volatility persists, emphasizing the need for transparent communication and governance reassurance.

• There were index review announcements for the HSI, HSCEI INDEX, HSTECH, HSCI, HSIII and some global indices last week.
• There are a bunch of review cutoffs early in the coming week followed by announcements for the STAR50 INDEX and STAR100 Index later in the week.
• Another week of outflows for Tracker Fund of Hong Kong (2800 HK) and Hang Seng H Share ETF (2828 HK) as inflows to iShares Emerging Markets ex-China (EMXC US) continue.

• Cloudflare Inc.’s latest Q4 2023 earnings highlighted several encouraging developments, underscoring a strong quarter of business growth and an upbeat financial performance, even amid prevailing macroeconomic uncertainties.
• The cloud-based network security company reported total revenues of $362.5 million, a 32% increase year-over-year(YoY).
• The increase was driven significantly by larger customers, with 66% of revenue coming from this group.

• Coherent Corp.’s second quarter fiscal 2024 earnings demonstrated signs of gradual improvement in its financial performance, furthering confidence in its outlook for growth and profitability.
• They reported solid sequential growth in both revenue and margins.
• Significant developments from Q2 include increasing gross and operating margins and improving demand across its communications and industrial markets.

• Alibaba Group’s latest report for the December Quarter 2023 reflected steady growth despite necessary organizational adjustments.
• The call highlighted an overall focus on a more aggressive approach towards competition to win growth, reigniting the growth in their two core businesses: e-commerce and cloud computing.
• The healthy year-over-year Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) growth in the e-commerce segment is attributed to the effective execution of user-first and competitive pricing strategies in Taobao and Tmall Group (TTG).

• Roblox Corporation exhibited a robust performance in the fourth quarter and full year 2023, in line with the outlook projected at their Investor Day.
• Q4 saw daily active users (DAUs) reaching 71.5 million, a 22% increase, and hours engaged increasing to 15.5 billion hours, a jump of 21% year-on-year.
• Revenue for Q4 alone stood at $749 million, up 30% year-on-year, with bookings hitting $1.1 billion, a bump of 25% year on year.

• Snap Inc.
• achieved significant progress in Q4 2023, driven by its strategic focus on growing its community and enhancing user engagement.
• Monthly active users increased 8% year-over-year, passing the 800 million mark, and daily active users also increased 10% to reach 414 million, which indicates progress towards the company’s goal of 1 billion monthly active users.

• Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
• posted robust results for Q3 FY2024, led by robust performances from Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online, the Red Dead Redemption series, and Zynga’s in-app purchases.
• Net bookings reached $1.3 billion for the quarter.