In this briefing:
- F&F: Time to Take Profits – Up 95% This Year Driven by MLB Baseball Hats Potential in China
- Fujitec (6406) Value Buy
- Bank of Tianjin: 太好了, 不可能是真的
- HK Connect Discovery Weekly: Mainland Investors Buying WH Group (2019-03-22)
- Micron. Things May Be Getting Worse But They Are Still Remarkably Good.
1. F&F: Time to Take Profits – Up 95% This Year Driven by MLB Baseball Hats Potential in China
F&F Co Ltd (007700 KS) shares have been soaring this year (up 95% YTD), versus KOSPI which is up only 5% YTD. F&F Co has been one of the top performing stocks in KOSPI this year. We believe it is time to take profits on this name and take it out of our model portfolio.
One of the main reasons why F&F Co has been soaring this year has been due to the MLB (Major League Baseball) apparel business expansion in China. In February 2019, F&F Co secured the selling rights of the MLB branded apparel products in China from the MLB headquarters in the US.
Baseball is becoming increasingly popular in China. According to the Chinese Baseball Association, more than 4 million Chinese play the game. The historical resistance to baseball is breaking down in China. For example, In April 2018, Tencent announced a deal to live stream 125 MLB games on platforms such as its its Tencent Sports app to Chinese audiences via their computers and mobile devices.
2. Fujitec (6406) Value Buy
The shares are cheap. The company is cash rich and owns 10% in treasury stock; it owned more last year but has cancelled 4%. It has some Y6bn in long term investment. EV in our view is Y57bn vs the current market cap of Y110bn. With ebitda next year coming in at Y15bn, EV/ebitda is under 4x. The shares yield 3.4% and trade at book. They have slightly underperformed the market over the last 12 months. For now, we view this as a defensive buy. There remain many issues longer term as to its place in the global elevator world. A potential positive, however, is that in May the company will announce a new mid-term plan and in it, they will outline their view as regards to shareholder returns for the next three years. They are aware that they are very over capitalised, so greater returns are a real possibility.
3. Bank of Tianjin: 太好了, 不可能是真的
Bank Of Tianjin (1578 HK) results at first look quite encouraging with firmer profitability, enhanced efficiency, improved capital adequacy, and increased provisioning.
Valuations are optically attractive: p/book of 0.5x, franchise valuation of 7%, earnings yield of 17%, and a total return ratio of 2.5x. These metrics are within the bargain hunter space.
However, optimism fades fast on closer inspection.
“Underlying” Income decreased by 21% YoY as the bank was squeezed by higher funding costs and non-interest expenses. Expenses on wholesale funding increased by 30% YoY. Debt funding now represents 71% of Gross Loans. Debt now stands at 4.3x SH. Funds. This type of funding has exploded by 10x since 2014. At the same time, deposits declined YoY. Deposits have increased by a more sedate 18% since 2014.
PT Profit would have been CNY1.4bn rather than CNY5.2bn but for hefty gains on securities. Loan loss provisions almost tripled YoY.
Regarding the Balance Sheet, Special Mention Loans rose sharply (+25% YoY) and represent 2.8x NPLs. A 127% and 108% YoY increase in “doubtful loans” and “loss loans” puts some perspective on a seemingly respectable NPL ratio of 1.64% and a LLR/NPLs of 250%.
Thus, Bank Of Tianjin (1578 HK) is cheap for a reason. We are reluctant to recommend taking a position at this juncture given the ongoing stresses in source of funding and asset quality.
4. HK Connect Discovery Weekly: Mainland Investors Buying WH Group (2019-03-22)
In our Discover HK Connect series, we aim to help our investors understand the flow of southbound trades via the Hong Kong Connect, as analyzed by our proprietary data engine. We will discuss the stocks that experienced the most inflow and outflow by mainland investors in the past seven days.
We split the stocks eligible for the Hong Kong Connect trade into three groups: component stocks in the HSCEI index, stocks with a market capitalization between USD 1 billion and USD 5 billion, and stocks with a market capitalization between USD 500 million and USD 1 billion.
In this insight, we highlight the WH Group, which led the inflows last week.
5. Micron. Things May Be Getting Worse But They Are Still Remarkably Good.
On Thursday March 21’st 2019, Micron announced latest quarter (Q2FY19) revenues of $5.8 billion, at the bottom end of their forecast range and down 26% sequentially. The midrange of their forecast for the current quarter (Q3FY19) will see revenues drop another 17% sequentially to $4.8 billion, roughly equivalent to the same quarter two years ago. On the earnings call, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated that the company would be cutting back both DRAM and NAND production by ~5% in response to a further deterioration in the CY2019 demand outlook. Furthermore, he refused to be drawn as to whether or not the current quarter would be the downturn trough despite reiterating his belief in the widely anticipated 2H CY2019 recovery thesis.
The challenging environment notwithstanding, there were some key positives also from the earnings call. The company is taking decisive and unprecedented actions to reduce their bit supply, actions we believe will be matched by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Gross margin coming into this downturn was a historic high at 61% and NAND gross margins have remained in the high 30% range despite ASP’s falling for five of the past six quarters. Furthermore, as forecasted three months ago, Micron still expects DRAM bit shipments to increase in the current quarter.
Integrating the latest updates from company, we now model Micron revenues declining for two further quarters to reach a trough at $4.5 billion in the company’s Q4FY19. We further model net income in the trough quarter at $1 billion. Thereafter we model a return to modest, sustained growth in the following quarters. Yes, things may be getting worse for Micron but they are still remarkably good.
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