Daily Brief Consumer: Trip.com, Panasonic Corp, Health And Happiness (H&H), S&P 500 INDEX, Puma , JD Health International , Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co KG, Cie Financiere Richemont , bet-at-home.com AG and more

• Trip.com reported strong Q3 earnings, reflecting 2023’s ongoing tourism revival
• Net Income beat expectations, and company made progress on expense control
• But we don’t see “game-changing” numbers in Trip.com’s latest earnings release

• Panasonic Holdings Corporation (PHD) is entering a strategic partnership with Apollo Global Management, involving the partial sale of its ownership in Panasonic Automotive Systems Corporation (PAS).
• PAS, historically known for car stereos and navigation systems, has expanded into automotive electronics, holding approximately 15% of the global Automotive Digital Cockpit market with $3.6 billion in sales.
• Despite a bearish view on Panasonic, this deal is seen as a positive step toward streamlining the group structure and concentrating on core, sustainable growth areas.

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.

• The broad equity market has been on an absolute tear since we discussed in our 10/31/23 Compass how risk/reward favored buyers as key supports were being tested on SPX/QQQ/IWM
• Furthermore, we discussed in our 11/7/23 Compass our belief that this was more than just another counter-trend rally, and that it is likely the start of a significant year-end rally.
• Bullish developments have only continued; among them includes 3.5-month downtrend reversals on the S&P 500 and QQQ. We expect more upside into year-end and beyond.

• Puma has outperformed its peers over recent quarters through a successful relaunch strategy leveraging on running, performance, and lifestyle wear
• Post Q3, sales and EBIT are in line with expectations, inventories are back to normal, and Puma is well on track to achieve the full-year outlook.
• On an EV/Sales basis, the valuation gap to European peer adidas has widened, which we believe is unjustified.

• JD Health’s 23Q3 results were below expectations. Due to the high base of 22H2 (especially 22Q4), revenue growth could become negative in 23Q4, thus dragging down 2023 full year growth.
• Considering the high base in 23H1, performance pressure could continue until 24H1. JD Health’s past high growth will be gone. Investors may need to get used to the lower-than-expected growth.
• Share price of JD Health is now in the bottom range. Current valuation is attractive. Despite the performance headwind, P/S is expected to return to about 3 to 4.

Since its formation in 1909, Borussia Dortmund has become one of Germany’s most successful football clubs and one of the most valuable global football clubs and brands. The corporate strategy has been to establish itself as the leading German football club after Bayern Munich, and to make its financial success less dependent on short-term sporting success by increasing the domestic and international marketing of the brand name to grow revenue. Over the long term, Borussia Dortmund has a proven and enviable track record of prudent investment in talent. Its investible free float is c 67%

• During H1-24, Richemont faced growing headwinds, including an uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, unfavorable FX movements and demanding comparatives. The Company nonetheless achieved double-digit sales growth
• H1-24 results presentation shows some cautious optimism, but the recovery will be slow
• The shares de-rated to a P/E of 16.3x, below its past 10-year average of 21.7x, which implies a 25% discount.

bet-at-home (BAH) is an online sports betting and gaming company, licensed in Malta and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Founded in 1999, the company has expanded across both regions and product verticals to serve over 5.6m registered users, making it one of the largest online gambling providers in Europe. BAH holds online sports betting and online gaming licences in a number of European countries, with its markets being Germany (44% of H123 betting and gaming volume), Austria and the rest of Western Europe (45%) and Eastern Europe (10%).