In this briefing:
- Xinyi Solar Placement – Past Deals Have Done Well, Improvement in Sentiment Should Help
- NIO (NIO US): Lock-Up Expiry – This Could Get Messy
- Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) – A Retail Conundrum
- January Chip Revenues Down 15.6% Year-On-Year
- Futures and Spot Opportunities
1. Xinyi Solar Placement – Past Deals Have Done Well, Improvement in Sentiment Should Help
Xinyi Solar Holdings (968 HK) is looking to raise about US$170m in its top-up placement with an upsize option of 225m shares.
The deal scored well on our framework owing to its good track record, strong earnings and price momentum. The company’s 2H 2018 result had marginally beaten estimates while the news of China potentially reversing its effort to reduce solar subsidy has helped improve the overall sentiment of Xinyi Solar. On top of that, the past deals have generally done well.
2. NIO (NIO US): Lock-Up Expiry – This Could Get Messy
Yesterday, NIO Inc (NIO US)’s share tumbled 20% on the back of poor 1Q19 guidance. NIO warned that deliveries of ES8, its electric SUV, have been sluggish so far in 2019 and scrapped plans to build its Shanghai Manufacturing Plant. NIO blamed the slump on uncertainty over government subsidies for electric vehicles, China’s slowing economy and disruption caused by the Chinese New Year holidays.
The weak guidance could not come at a worse time as its six-month lock-up period expires on 11 March 2019. We continue to remain bears on NIO and believe that the lock-up expiry will lead to further share price weakness.
3. Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) – A Retail Conundrum
Pt Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ)‘s FY18 results call was an interesting combination of kitchen sinking, a cautious outlook, combined with some more optimistic strategies on specialty stores with new brands and smaller format stores for regional expansion. The big question is whether these strategies will win out or will the company continue to underwhelm on its growth prospects?
Pt Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) remains a market leader in its space with 159 departments stores across Indonesia selling affordable fashion to the middle classes but it has underwhelmed on a few occasions on its growth and guidance. It is reducing its dividend payout to facilitate the build-out of specialty stores with new brands on board.
Valuations do now look interesting with the company trading on 6.0x FY19E PER and 5.4x FY20E PER. It generates a forecast ROE of 70% and ROE of 30%, which is extremely high for a retailer. The question is how much analysts will downgrade and whether investors will look through its Lippo connection. After another 9% fall in the share price today after 22% yesterday, a lot does seem to have been factored in already.
4. January Chip Revenues Down 15.6% Year-On-Year
The Semiconductor Industry Association in the US released the latest WSTS figures for January chip revenues. Monthly revenues are down 15.6% from January of 2018. While this is not a surprise to our clients it is frightening to those who anticipated that 2019 would be a continuation of the bonanza enjoyed in 2018.
5. Futures and Spot Opportunities
Liquidity is driving the futures market to push up iron ore. We know futures trading is very active. This tells us we are not the only ones who noticed the divergence and are looking to capitalize.The fundamental issue is that we expect the futures and spot are back together after being seeing a gap.
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