Category

TMT/Internet

TMT: SKonec Entertainment, Xperi, Sushi and more

By | Daily Briefs, TMT/Internet

In today’s briefing:

  • Skonec Entertainment IPO Preview
  • XPER: Multiple Shots on Goal, Upgrading to Top Pick
  • Sushiswap: Up 100% on a Proposed Activist Takeover – What Happened?

Skonec Entertainment IPO Preview

By Douglas Kim

  • SKonec Entertainment (276040 KS), which specializes in VR based metaverse technologies, is getting ready to complete an IPO in the Korean stock market in the next several weeks.
  • Currently, Skonec Entertainment has a gray market value of 34,000 won, which is 183% higher than the high end of the IPO price range of 12,000 won. 
  • The company has been one of the first game companies to develop VR based gun shooting games in Korea.

XPER: Multiple Shots on Goal, Upgrading to Top Pick

By Hamed Khorsand

  • XPER starts 2022 with a baseline free cash flow that is receiving little investor attention after the Company spent 2021 investing in its product offering
  • XPER has multiple shots to achieve greater free cash flow in 2022. From AutoStage and AutoSense to hybrid bonding and content streaming intellectual property
  • The steps XPER took in 2021 did not achieve triumphant revenue and free cash flow events to garner investor attention in the same year, but sets up 2022 for growth

Sushiswap: Up 100% on a Proposed Activist Takeover – What Happened?

By Josh Du

  • After labeling Sushiswap a deep-value crypto play in our last report, it has rallied 100% over the past month on the back of the proposed takeover by Frog Nation
  • Frog Nation, despite the name, is a serious crypto conglomerate with control over three projects with a combined market cap of USD7bn, led by developer Daniele Sesta
  • If the takeover is successful, Frog Nation is likely to unlock value in Sushi by migrating over liquidity as well as managerial talent. However, this is likely priced-in.

Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Brief TMT & Internet: Reason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Reason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung
  2. Advantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
  3. U.S. Equity Strategy: Positive Outlook Intact; Cyclicals Leading; Opportunities in Tech Sector
  4. Best World (BEST SP): BT Article, Franchise and KOL

1. Reason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung

2

  • SamE shocked the market with 4Q results. OP was down nearly 30% YoY and even 20% from the already heavily adjusted street consensus of ₩13.4tril. The main reason was Amazon’s canceled order. Amazon canceled a significant portion of memory chips, mostly DRAM to be used in its IDCs.
  • The market guessed that Amazon might have delayed purchase to further capitalize on falling prices. But Amazon had canceled DRAM order because there were fundamental flaws in SamE’s custom DRAM chips at chip design level.
  • The street was expecting a bounce back for memory chip ASP in 2H this year. SamE’s technical issue may push it back further. Meanwhile, SamE’s next quarterly profit level can be even worse. Some in the local street already adjusted SamE’s 1Q OP down to slightly above ₩7tril. At this level, SamE’s FY19e PER would be at 11~12x. This is a very aggressive territory for SamE.

2. Advantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest

Capture%206

  • Advantest Corporation (6857 JP), based in Japan, manufactures and sells semiconductor testing equipment and electronic measuring systems. The company generates a majority of its revenue outside of Japan, where its products are mostly sold in countries where semiconductor volume production processes are concentrated, including South Korea, Taiwan and China.
  • The company’s revenues are highly correlated with memory demand and capital expenditure. The current oversupply in the DRAM and NAND memory markets has caused DRAM and NAND prices to decline. This has impacted the capital spending by large memory makers such as Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix.
  • Advantest has witnessed its revenue and operating profits growing at double digits since the beginning of the current semiconductor cycle. However, with the oversupply, memory price declines and capex halts, we expect the company revenue and profits to deteriorate starting in FY03/2020.
  • Based on our valuation, we believe Advantest is still overvalued at its current price of JPY2,510 per share. As the memory market has just started decelerating and the current cycle nears its worst, we feel the company share price will decline further with the gloomy outlook for company earnings.

3. U.S. Equity Strategy: Positive Outlook Intact; Cyclicals Leading; Opportunities in Tech Sector

Untitled

The market’s bounce off of the December, 2018 low was a swift “V” reversal. While we often see a retest of such events, our outlook since that time has repeatedly suggested that a retest may not occur. We continue to believe the market remains healthy with overall and leadership remaining centered in the cyclical Sectors, mainly Technology.  In this publication we provide an overview of our U.S. equity strategy, and examine attractive opportunities in each of our 12 Sectors, beginning with Technology – our favorite.

4. Best World (BEST SP): BT Article, Franchise and KOL

Franchise%201

Best World International (BEST SP) share price has been hammered due to the recent article in Business Times, although the company has addressed them one by one. The annual meeting that recently took place in their office in Singapore shed some light on the seemingly “new but not so new” franchise business model in China. The company also has started to engage Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) aka social media influencers as part of their social selling campaign. 

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief TMT & Internet: Uber IPO Preview: Surge Pricing and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Uber IPO Preview: Surge Pricing
  2. Nexon Sale: Bidding Pushed Back to Next Month – This Is All About Tencent
  3. MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q
  4. Yaskawa: Results Confirm Bottoming Out Despite Weakness, but the Stock Has Run Too Far
  5. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting

1. Uber IPO Preview: Surge Pricing

Uber%20cash%20flow

Uber has filed its S1 prospectus in order to raise a reported $10bn with an estimated valuation of $100bn. We note the following key points

Intro to Uber IPO

UBER financials: Heavy cash burn and negative margins

Major revenue slowdown in the latest quarter

You can find our cautious take on the Lyft IPO here: Lyft IPO Preview: Maybe We’ll Just Walk?

2. Nexon Sale: Bidding Pushed Back to Next Month – This Is All About Tencent

2

Korea’s news outlet Maeil Economic Daily reported yesterday that the main bidding of Nexon sale was pushed back to next month. It was originally planned for this month. Maeil said lower-than-expected interest among potential bidders was the main reason. More specifically, Tencent isn’t showing any serious commitment or intention.

Tencent is the key player in this event. But Tencent seems to be hiding its cards. Following are reasonable conclusions at this point wrt what must be going on in this deal:

  1. Tencent has the upper hand in all situations.
  2. Tencent must be the one who is taking more time and pushing back the schedule.
  3. But there is still a higher chance that Tencent will stay in this race to the end.
  4. But it is also very possible that final offer price will be lower than initially and currently expected as Tencent will likely get better deal conditions.

3. MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q

Monotaro%20sales

MonotaRO’s domestic (parent company) sales growth rate declined in March, but was up in 1Q as a whole. We expect no change to FY Dec-19 guidance when consolidated results are announced at the end of April. 

Parent company data for March show sales up 17.4% year-on-year in nominal terms, but up 23.3% when adjusted for the number of working days in the month. The adjusted figures for January and February were 30.5% and 26.6%. In the three months to March, adjusted sales were up 26.5% vs. 24.2% growth in 4Q of FY Dec-18 and 26.2% a year earlier. 

At ¥2,366 (Thursday, April 11, close), the shares are selling at 51x our estimate for FY Dec-19 and 44x our estimate for FY Dec-20. Price/sales multiples for the same two years are 4.5x and 3.9x. Projected valuations look high, but are on the low side of their recent historical ranges. Continuing double-digit growth should support the share price.

4. Yaskawa: Results Confirm Bottoming Out Despite Weakness, but the Stock Has Run Too Far

Yaskawa%20china%20mc

Yaskawa Electric (6506 JP) reported FY03/19 results yesterday where OP of ¥49.8bn missed guidance of ¥53bn (-6.0% miss) and consensus of ¥52.1bn. Guidance of ¥46.5bn OP for FY02/20 was light relative to consensus at ¥48.7bn and our own expectations for about ¥50bn in OP but we believe guidance looks a little conservative and consider it to be mostly in line. The main concern was 4Q orders which were down 17% YoY and 10% QoQ with both Motion Control and Robotics displaying weakness.

The company also announced a buyback of 0.76% of outstanding shares for ¥9bn which we feel is a little small and also somewhat poorly timed given the 50% rally in the stock price in the last three months.

5. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting

Screenshot%202019 04 11%20at%2011.55.48%20pm

On 9 April 2019, after a press release by the Ministry of Finance saying that it had commenced the selection procedure for underwriters to assist on such a sale, the Nikkei carried an article  (Japanese-only) saying that the government would sell down a stake in Japan Post Holdings (6178 JP) from its current 60-odd percent to a level of “over one-third” (presumably a level relatively close to one-third and a share) which is the minimum ownership level mandated by the Postal Service Privatization Act.  The proceeds of the sale are designed to raise money for reconstruction related to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. 

Currently, the Ministry of Finance owns 2.5595 billion shares out of the 4.5bn shares outstanding which is 56.88%, but the company has 10.34% of its shares as treasury shares so the MoF has voting rights of 63.3%. Another Nikkei article suggested the news meant a maximum sale of approximately 1.06 billion shares out of those 2.56bn shares held to bring the position down to 1.5bn shares exactly.

Importantly, IF the government got down to the “one-third plus one share” level (or close enough to it), that would complete the required privatization by the government based on the formal legal terms of the Privatization Act.

At Tuesday’s close of ¥1,286/share, 1.06bn shares would be ¥1.36 trillion as an offer size less fees and a discount to the close.  The Japan Postal Service Privatization Act specified that the amount raised reach ¥4 trillion in total. The amount raised in sales so far is ¥2.8 trillion according to the Nikkei. That suggests the minimum acceptable price at which such an Offering could take place is around ¥1,160-1180. However, the word used in the Nikkei article is profit so despite the government’s very low accounting basis, it is possible that the minimum price would be closer to the current price, or it could even be higher.

In any case… it is important to note other factors here.

Pricing is a problem. The current price remains below the last two times the government tapped the market.

Making the deal attractive is a problem. JPH is required to continue to own 100% of the postal service and the 24,000 post office branches across the country. With the use of physical post services declining, JPH needs to have some profits elsewhere to support that. Those postal branches are to some degree supported by payments made by JPI and JPB for fair usage, but it is not enough. JPH needs to do some M&A and it has stated its policy includes more of it. The first round (buying Toll Holdings) did not go well. The second round of buying 7% of Aflac Inc (AFL US) is (I think) a great idea, but it doesn’t hit the income statement for a couple of years.

Buybacks at the JPI and JPB level raise EPS at those two entities. However, it doesn’t raise the level of EPS at the JPH level. For that, you need to reduce the denominator there too. 

Exactly how this works. There are reasons to suspect that any offering later this year would be substantially smaller than what the Nikkei says, and as described in my original pre-IPO pieces Japan Post Holdings: The post-IPO details make for interesting possibilities and JAPAN POST GROUP : Bookbuilding Said “Mixed” But Know Your Details, the longer-term “solutions” to then-visible “issues” were obvious.

HOWEVER, this is interesting news.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train. 

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief TMT & Internet: Advantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Advantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
  2. U.S. Equity Strategy: Positive Outlook Intact; Cyclicals Leading; Opportunities in Tech Sector
  3. Best World (BEST SP): BT Article, Franchise and KOL

1. Advantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest

Capture%206

  • Advantest Corporation (6857 JP), based in Japan, manufactures and sells semiconductor testing equipment and electronic measuring systems. The company generates a majority of its revenue outside of Japan, where its products are mostly sold in countries where semiconductor volume production processes are concentrated, including South Korea, Taiwan and China.
  • The company’s revenues are highly correlated with memory demand and capital expenditure. The current oversupply in the DRAM and NAND memory markets has caused DRAM and NAND prices to decline. This has impacted the capital spending by large memory makers such as Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix.
  • Advantest has witnessed its revenue and operating profits growing at double digits since the beginning of the current semiconductor cycle. However, with the oversupply, memory price declines and capex halts, we expect the company revenue and profits to deteriorate starting in FY03/2020.
  • Based on our valuation, we believe Advantest is still overvalued at its current price of JPY2,510 per share. As the memory market has just started decelerating and the current cycle nears its worst, we feel the company share price will decline further with the gloomy outlook for company earnings.

2. U.S. Equity Strategy: Positive Outlook Intact; Cyclicals Leading; Opportunities in Tech Sector

Untitled

The market’s bounce off of the December, 2018 low was a swift “V” reversal. While we often see a retest of such events, our outlook since that time has repeatedly suggested that a retest may not occur. We continue to believe the market remains healthy with overall and leadership remaining centered in the cyclical Sectors, mainly Technology.  In this publication we provide an overview of our U.S. equity strategy, and examine attractive opportunities in each of our 12 Sectors, beginning with Technology – our favorite.

3. Best World (BEST SP): BT Article, Franchise and KOL

Franchise%201

Best World International (BEST SP) share price has been hammered due to the recent article in Business Times, although the company has addressed them one by one. The annual meeting that recently took place in their office in Singapore shed some light on the seemingly “new but not so new” franchise business model in China. The company also has started to engage Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) aka social media influencers as part of their social selling campaign. 

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief TMT & Internet: Nexon Sale: Bidding Pushed Back to Next Month – This Is All About Tencent and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Nexon Sale: Bidding Pushed Back to Next Month – This Is All About Tencent
  2. MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q
  3. Yaskawa: Results Confirm Bottoming Out Despite Weakness, but the Stock Has Run Too Far
  4. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting
  5. So-Young (新氧) Pre-IPO Review – Au Naturel

1. Nexon Sale: Bidding Pushed Back to Next Month – This Is All About Tencent

1

Korea’s news outlet Maeil Economic Daily reported yesterday that the main bidding of Nexon sale was pushed back to next month. It was originally planned for this month. Maeil said lower-than-expected interest among potential bidders was the main reason. More specifically, Tencent isn’t showing any serious commitment or intention.

Tencent is the key player in this event. But Tencent seems to be hiding its cards. Following are reasonable conclusions at this point wrt what must be going on in this deal:

  1. Tencent has the upper hand in all situations.
  2. Tencent must be the one who is taking more time and pushing back the schedule.
  3. But there is still a higher chance that Tencent will stay in this race to the end.
  4. But it is also very possible that final offer price will be lower than initially and currently expected as Tencent will likely get better deal conditions.

2. MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q

Screen%20shot%202019 04 12%20at%207.07.28

MonotaRO’s domestic (parent company) sales growth rate declined in March, but was up in 1Q as a whole. We expect no change to FY Dec-19 guidance when consolidated results are announced at the end of April. 

Parent company data for March show sales up 17.4% year-on-year in nominal terms, but up 23.3% when adjusted for the number of working days in the month. The adjusted figures for January and February were 30.5% and 26.6%. In the three months to March, adjusted sales were up 26.5% vs. 24.2% growth in 4Q of FY Dec-18 and 26.2% a year earlier. 

At ¥2,366 (Thursday, April 11, close), the shares are selling at 51x our estimate for FY Dec-19 and 44x our estimate for FY Dec-20. Price/sales multiples for the same two years are 4.5x and 3.9x. Projected valuations look high, but are on the low side of their recent historical ranges. Continuing double-digit growth should support the share price.

3. Yaskawa: Results Confirm Bottoming Out Despite Weakness, but the Stock Has Run Too Far

Yaskawa%20robot

Yaskawa Electric (6506 JP) reported FY03/19 results yesterday where OP of ¥49.8bn missed guidance of ¥53bn (-6.0% miss) and consensus of ¥52.1bn. Guidance of ¥46.5bn OP for FY02/20 was light relative to consensus at ¥48.7bn and our own expectations for about ¥50bn in OP but we believe guidance looks a little conservative and consider it to be mostly in line. The main concern was 4Q orders which were down 17% YoY and 10% QoQ with both Motion Control and Robotics displaying weakness.

The company also announced a buyback of 0.76% of outstanding shares for ¥9bn which we feel is a little small and also somewhat poorly timed given the 50% rally in the stock price in the last three months.

4. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting

Screenshot%202019 04 11%20at%2011.55.48%20pm

On 9 April 2019, after a press release by the Ministry of Finance saying that it had commenced the selection procedure for underwriters to assist on such a sale, the Nikkei carried an article  (Japanese-only) saying that the government would sell down a stake in Japan Post Holdings (6178 JP) from its current 60-odd percent to a level of “over one-third” (presumably a level relatively close to one-third and a share) which is the minimum ownership level mandated by the Postal Service Privatization Act.  The proceeds of the sale are designed to raise money for reconstruction related to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. 

Currently, the Ministry of Finance owns 2.5595 billion shares out of the 4.5bn shares outstanding which is 56.88%, but the company has 10.34% of its shares as treasury shares so the MoF has voting rights of 63.3%. Another Nikkei article suggested the news meant a maximum sale of approximately 1.06 billion shares out of those 2.56bn shares held to bring the position down to 1.5bn shares exactly.

Importantly, IF the government got down to the “one-third plus one share” level (or close enough to it), that would complete the required privatization by the government based on the formal legal terms of the Privatization Act.

At Tuesday’s close of ¥1,286/share, 1.06bn shares would be ¥1.36 trillion as an offer size less fees and a discount to the close.  The Japan Postal Service Privatization Act specified that the amount raised reach ¥4 trillion in total. The amount raised in sales so far is ¥2.8 trillion according to the Nikkei. That suggests the minimum acceptable price at which such an Offering could take place is around ¥1,160-1180. However, the word used in the Nikkei article is profit so despite the government’s very low accounting basis, it is possible that the minimum price would be closer to the current price, or it could even be higher.

In any case… it is important to note other factors here.

Pricing is a problem. The current price remains below the last two times the government tapped the market.

Making the deal attractive is a problem. JPH is required to continue to own 100% of the postal service and the 24,000 post office branches across the country. With the use of physical post services declining, JPH needs to have some profits elsewhere to support that. Those postal branches are to some degree supported by payments made by JPI and JPB for fair usage, but it is not enough. JPH needs to do some M&A and it has stated its policy includes more of it. The first round (buying Toll Holdings) did not go well. The second round of buying 7% of Aflac Inc (AFL US) is (I think) a great idea, but it doesn’t hit the income statement for a couple of years.

Buybacks at the JPI and JPB level raise EPS at those two entities. However, it doesn’t raise the level of EPS at the JPH level. For that, you need to reduce the denominator there too. 

Exactly how this works. There are reasons to suspect that any offering later this year would be substantially smaller than what the Nikkei says, and as described in my original pre-IPO pieces Japan Post Holdings: The post-IPO details make for interesting possibilities and JAPAN POST GROUP : Bookbuilding Said “Mixed” But Know Your Details, the longer-term “solutions” to then-visible “issues” were obvious.

HOWEVER, this is interesting news.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train. 

5. So-Young (新氧) Pre-IPO Review – Au Naturel

Paying ratio has been improving paying ratio  chartbuilder

So-Young (SY US) is looking to raise US$150m in its upcoming IPO. The company filed its prospectus with the SEC on Monday.

The company operates online platforms (mobile, website, and WeChat mini program) for discovering, evaluating, and reserving medical aesthetic services in China. It helps medical aesthetic service providers acquire customers through user generated content and other creative content format.

In this insight, we will look at the company’s business model, analyze its financial and operating performance, review the competitive landscape and point out some questions for management.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief TMT & Internet: MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q
  2. Yaskawa: Results Confirm Bottoming Out Despite Weakness, but the Stock Has Run Too Far
  3. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting
  4. So-Young (新氧) Pre-IPO Review – Au Naturel
  5. StubWorld: Amorepacific Is “Cheap”, Again; Kingboard Cleans House

1. MonotaRO (3064 JP): Slow March, Strong 1Q

Screen%20shot%202019 04 12%20at%207.07.28

MonotaRO’s domestic (parent company) sales growth rate declined in March, but was up in 1Q as a whole. We expect no change to FY Dec-19 guidance when consolidated results are announced at the end of April. 

Parent company data for March show sales up 17.4% year-on-year in nominal terms, but up 23.3% when adjusted for the number of working days in the month. The adjusted figures for January and February were 30.5% and 26.6%. In the three months to March, adjusted sales were up 26.5% vs. 24.2% growth in 4Q of FY Dec-18 and 26.2% a year earlier. 

At ¥2,366 (Thursday, April 11, close), the shares are selling at 51x our estimate for FY Dec-19 and 44x our estimate for FY Dec-20. Price/sales multiples for the same two years are 4.5x and 3.9x. Projected valuations look high, but are on the low side of their recent historical ranges. Continuing double-digit growth should support the share price.

2. Yaskawa: Results Confirm Bottoming Out Despite Weakness, but the Stock Has Run Too Far

Yaskawa%20china%20mc

Yaskawa Electric (6506 JP) reported FY03/19 results yesterday where OP of ¥49.8bn missed guidance of ¥53bn (-6.0% miss) and consensus of ¥52.1bn. Guidance of ¥46.5bn OP for FY02/20 was light relative to consensus at ¥48.7bn and our own expectations for about ¥50bn in OP but we believe guidance looks a little conservative and consider it to be mostly in line. The main concern was 4Q orders which were down 17% YoY and 10% QoQ with both Motion Control and Robotics displaying weakness.

The company also announced a buyback of 0.76% of outstanding shares for ¥9bn which we feel is a little small and also somewhat poorly timed given the 50% rally in the stock price in the last three months.

3. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting

Screenshot%202019 04 11%20at%2011.55.48%20pm

On 9 April 2019, after a press release by the Ministry of Finance saying that it had commenced the selection procedure for underwriters to assist on such a sale, the Nikkei carried an article  (Japanese-only) saying that the government would sell down a stake in Japan Post Holdings (6178 JP) from its current 60-odd percent to a level of “over one-third” (presumably a level relatively close to one-third and a share) which is the minimum ownership level mandated by the Postal Service Privatization Act.  The proceeds of the sale are designed to raise money for reconstruction related to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. 

Currently, the Ministry of Finance owns 2.5595 billion shares out of the 4.5bn shares outstanding which is 56.88%, but the company has 10.34% of its shares as treasury shares so the MoF has voting rights of 63.3%. Another Nikkei article suggested the news meant a maximum sale of approximately 1.06 billion shares out of those 2.56bn shares held to bring the position down to 1.5bn shares exactly.

Importantly, IF the government got down to the “one-third plus one share” level (or close enough to it), that would complete the required privatization by the government based on the formal legal terms of the Privatization Act.

At Tuesday’s close of ¥1,286/share, 1.06bn shares would be ¥1.36 trillion as an offer size less fees and a discount to the close.  The Japan Postal Service Privatization Act specified that the amount raised reach ¥4 trillion in total. The amount raised in sales so far is ¥2.8 trillion according to the Nikkei. That suggests the minimum acceptable price at which such an Offering could take place is around ¥1,160-1180. However, the word used in the Nikkei article is profit so despite the government’s very low accounting basis, it is possible that the minimum price would be closer to the current price, or it could even be higher.

In any case… it is important to note other factors here.

Pricing is a problem. The current price remains below the last two times the government tapped the market.

Making the deal attractive is a problem. JPH is required to continue to own 100% of the postal service and the 24,000 post office branches across the country. With the use of physical post services declining, JPH needs to have some profits elsewhere to support that. Those postal branches are to some degree supported by payments made by JPI and JPB for fair usage, but it is not enough. JPH needs to do some M&A and it has stated its policy includes more of it. The first round (buying Toll Holdings) did not go well. The second round of buying 7% of Aflac Inc (AFL US) is (I think) a great idea, but it doesn’t hit the income statement for a couple of years.

Buybacks at the JPI and JPB level raise EPS at those two entities. However, it doesn’t raise the level of EPS at the JPH level. For that, you need to reduce the denominator there too. 

Exactly how this works. There are reasons to suspect that any offering later this year would be substantially smaller than what the Nikkei says, and as described in my original pre-IPO pieces Japan Post Holdings: The post-IPO details make for interesting possibilities and JAPAN POST GROUP : Bookbuilding Said “Mixed” But Know Your Details, the longer-term “solutions” to then-visible “issues” were obvious.

HOWEVER, this is interesting news.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train. 

4. So-Young (新氧) Pre-IPO Review – Au Naturel

Contract liabilities indicate healty revenue growth contract liabilities rmbm  chartbuilder

So-Young (SY US) is looking to raise US$150m in its upcoming IPO. The company filed its prospectus with the SEC on Monday.

The company operates online platforms (mobile, website, and WeChat mini program) for discovering, evaluating, and reserving medical aesthetic services in China. It helps medical aesthetic service providers acquire customers through user generated content and other creative content format.

In this insight, we will look at the company’s business model, analyze its financial and operating performance, review the competitive landscape and point out some questions for management.

5. StubWorld: Amorepacific Is “Cheap”, Again; Kingboard Cleans House

Apr%202019

This week in StubWorld …

Preceding my comments on Amorepacific, Kingboard and other stubs, are the weekly setup/unwind tables for Asia-Pacific Holdcos.

These relationships trade with a minimum liquidity threshold of US$1mn on a 90-day moving average, and a % market capitalisation threshold – the $ value of the holding/opco held, over the parent’s market capitalisation, expressed in percent – of at least 20%.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief TMT & Internet: Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting
  2. So-Young (新氧) Pre-IPO Review – Au Naturel
  3. StubWorld: Amorepacific Is “Cheap”, Again; Kingboard Cleans House
  4. NTT DoCoMo: Sale of HTHK Mobile Stake Is the End of an Era (Thankfully)
  5. Changliao (畅聊) AKA Paipai (派派) Pre-IPO Review – Self-Sufficient

1. Japan Post Holdings – The Future Is Complex, But Interesting

Screenshot%202019 04 11%20at%2011.55.48%20pm

On 9 April 2019, after a press release by the Ministry of Finance saying that it had commenced the selection procedure for underwriters to assist on such a sale, the Nikkei carried an article  (Japanese-only) saying that the government would sell down a stake in Japan Post Holdings (6178 JP) from its current 60-odd percent to a level of “over one-third” (presumably a level relatively close to one-third and a share) which is the minimum ownership level mandated by the Postal Service Privatization Act.  The proceeds of the sale are designed to raise money for reconstruction related to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. 

Currently, the Ministry of Finance owns 2.5595 billion shares out of the 4.5bn shares outstanding which is 56.88%, but the company has 10.34% of its shares as treasury shares so the MoF has voting rights of 63.3%. Another Nikkei article suggested the news meant a maximum sale of approximately 1.06 billion shares out of those 2.56bn shares held to bring the position down to 1.5bn shares exactly.

Importantly, IF the government got down to the “one-third plus one share” level (or close enough to it), that would complete the required privatization by the government based on the formal legal terms of the Privatization Act.

At Tuesday’s close of ¥1,286/share, 1.06bn shares would be ¥1.36 trillion as an offer size less fees and a discount to the close.  The Japan Postal Service Privatization Act specified that the amount raised reach ¥4 trillion in total. The amount raised in sales so far is ¥2.8 trillion according to the Nikkei. That suggests the minimum acceptable price at which such an Offering could take place is around ¥1,160-1180. However, the word used in the Nikkei article is profit so despite the government’s very low accounting basis, it is possible that the minimum price would be closer to the current price, or it could even be higher.

In any case… it is important to note other factors here.

Pricing is a problem. The current price remains below the last two times the government tapped the market.

Making the deal attractive is a problem. JPH is required to continue to own 100% of the postal service and the 24,000 post office branches across the country. With the use of physical post services declining, JPH needs to have some profits elsewhere to support that. Those postal branches are to some degree supported by payments made by JPI and JPB for fair usage, but it is not enough. JPH needs to do some M&A and it has stated its policy includes more of it. The first round (buying Toll Holdings) did not go well. The second round of buying 7% of Aflac Inc (AFL US) is (I think) a great idea, but it doesn’t hit the income statement for a couple of years.

Buybacks at the JPI and JPB level raise EPS at those two entities. However, it doesn’t raise the level of EPS at the JPH level. For that, you need to reduce the denominator there too. 

Exactly how this works. There are reasons to suspect that any offering later this year would be substantially smaller than what the Nikkei says, and as described in my original pre-IPO pieces Japan Post Holdings: The post-IPO details make for interesting possibilities and JAPAN POST GROUP : Bookbuilding Said “Mixed” But Know Your Details, the longer-term “solutions” to then-visible “issues” were obvious.

HOWEVER, this is interesting news.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not a train. 

2. So-Young (新氧) Pre-IPO Review – Au Naturel

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So-Young (SY US) is looking to raise US$150m in its upcoming IPO. The company filed its prospectus with the SEC on Monday.

The company operates online platforms (mobile, website, and WeChat mini program) for discovering, evaluating, and reserving medical aesthetic services in China. It helps medical aesthetic service providers acquire customers through user generated content and other creative content format.

In this insight, we will look at the company’s business model, analyze its financial and operating performance, review the competitive landscape and point out some questions for management.

3. StubWorld: Amorepacific Is “Cheap”, Again; Kingboard Cleans House

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This week in StubWorld …

Preceding my comments on Amorepacific, Kingboard and other stubs, are the weekly setup/unwind tables for Asia-Pacific Holdcos.

These relationships trade with a minimum liquidity threshold of US$1mn on a 90-day moving average, and a % market capitalisation threshold – the $ value of the holding/opco held, over the parent’s market capitalisation, expressed in percent – of at least 20%.

4. NTT DoCoMo: Sale of HTHK Mobile Stake Is the End of an Era (Thankfully)

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NTT Docomo Inc (9437 JP) recently announced it would sell its 25% stake in Hutchinson Telecom Hong Kong’s ( Hutchison Telecommunications Hk Hld (215 HK)  mobile unit for US$60mn with closing expected at the end of May. This ends a 20-year association with Hutchinson forged in the initial excitement over 3G in 1999 but it hasn’t been a good ride for DoCoMo which lost close to 90% on its Hutchison investments and its other international forays were not much better.  On a related note, the HK mobile sale follows soon after DoCoMo’s exit from its credit card joint venture with Sumitomo Mitsui but we would not read anything into this beyond a rationalization of its non-core investments.

5. Changliao (畅聊) AKA Paipai (派派) Pre-IPO Review – Self-Sufficient

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Changliao Inc (CL HK) is looking to raise about US$100m in its upcoming IPO. The company just filed its draft prospectus with the HKEX last week.

Changliao is a fast-growing social networking entertainment platform. The business model of engaging and monetizing users through interactive games is interesting.

However, the need for an IPO is questionable since the company has a healthy net cash balance sheet and it had paid out dividends in the past two years. It can easily finance its growth through debt or operating cash flow. 

Tencent is an investor in the firm, however, it had only invested RMB9m in the company in FY2016. There are no other notable investors despite several rounds of financing.

In this insight, we will look at the company’s business model, analyze its financial performance and operating metrics.

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Brief TMT & Internet: Momo (MOMO): Paying Users Up 17%, Benefiting from Bankrupt Competitors, 80% Upside and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Momo (MOMO): Paying Users Up 17%, Benefiting from Bankrupt Competitors, 80% Upside
  2. Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities
  3. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability

1. Momo (MOMO): Paying Users Up 17%, Benefiting from Bankrupt Competitors, 80% Upside

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  • The stock price has risen 32% after the short seller J Capital slammed it.
  • MOMO’s paying user base of live video increased 22% yoy in 3Q18 and 17% yoy in 4Q2018 even though the live show market shrank in 2018.
  • We believe MOMO will benefit from small competitors’ bankruptcy.
  • The growth rate of the main business revenues stopped declining.
  • Our P/E band suggests upside of 80% for MOMO’s stock price.

2. Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities

Airya

Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:

  • Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
  • Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
  • Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
  • From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
  • True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.

3. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability

Meituan3 newiniatiate

  • Conference call with Meituan Dianping (3690 HK) reveals that ballooning losses from new initiatives (incl. one-off expenses) largely contributed to record quarterly EBIT losses in 4Q18.
  • Importantly, this masks Meituan Core’s (combined food delivery and in-store, hotel & travel divisions) continued progress toward profitability.
  • Management is bullish on every division’s outlook in 2019, particularly guiding for 1) balanced growth and profitability strategy for food delivery and 2) disciplined investments in new initiatives.
  • Meituan attractively trades at 2.9x 2019E P/S, only around half of peers’ valuation (5.5x).  

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Brief TMT & Internet: Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities
  2. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability

1. Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities

Airya

Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:

  • Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
  • Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
  • Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
  • From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
  • True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.

2. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability

Meituan3 newiniatiate

  • Conference call with Meituan Dianping (3690 HK) reveals that ballooning losses from new initiatives (incl. one-off expenses) largely contributed to record quarterly EBIT losses in 4Q18.
  • Importantly, this masks Meituan Core’s (combined food delivery and in-store, hotel & travel divisions) continued progress toward profitability.
  • Management is bullish on every division’s outlook in 2019, particularly guiding for 1) balanced growth and profitability strategy for food delivery and 2) disciplined investments in new initiatives.
  • Meituan attractively trades at 2.9x 2019E P/S, only around half of peers’ valuation (5.5x).  

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Brief TMT & Internet: Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities and more

By | TMT/Internet

In this briefing:

  1. Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities
  2. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability
  3. Ruhnn IPO Preview: Hard to Stay Red-Hot for Long

1. Snippets #20: Dark Clouds in Thai Equities

Airya

Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:

  • Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
  • Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
  • Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
  • From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
  • True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.

2. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability

Meituan3 newiniatiate

  • Conference call with Meituan Dianping (3690 HK) reveals that ballooning losses from new initiatives (incl. one-off expenses) largely contributed to record quarterly EBIT losses in 4Q18.
  • Importantly, this masks Meituan Core’s (combined food delivery and in-store, hotel & travel divisions) continued progress toward profitability.
  • Management is bullish on every division’s outlook in 2019, particularly guiding for 1) balanced growth and profitability strategy for food delivery and 2) disciplined investments in new initiatives.
  • Meituan attractively trades at 2.9x 2019E P/S, only around half of peers’ valuation (5.5x).  

3. Ruhnn IPO Preview: Hard to Stay Red-Hot for Long

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Ruhnn Holding Ltd (RUHN US) is an e-commerce platform which drives sales through KOLs (key opinion leaders). Ruhnn is the largest internet KOL facilitator in China as measured by revenue, the number of online stores and GMV in 2018 according to Frost & Sullivan. Ruhnn is backed by Alibaba Group Holding (BABA US), an 8.6% shareholder, and is seeking to raise $200 million through a Nasdaq IPO.

However, Ruhnn’s rhetoric does not match its financial performance. On balance, we are inclined to give this IPO a pass.

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