Daily Brief Equity Bottom-Up: DBS – Is This the Time To Take Provision Expenses at 70% Lower than Average? and more

• There is no refuting the strong net interest income figures at DBS, although it seems toppy
• DBS took credit costs/assets at 4bps in 2Q23 vs 13bps average during FY18, FY19 quarterly
• There are not many banks that we can turn too with over 50% QoQ decline in credit costs

• Swire Properties is one of the largest office and retail landlords in HK.  Office is facing headwind despite should see recovery in the long-term.  HK retail is recovering.
• Swire announced to spend 100bn to expand its portfolio in terms of capital management, yet it did not announce a share buyback that many investors would like to see
• Lack of share buyback, with weak HK office and China retail, could drag Swire’s share price.  Despite we see value in the stock, it could remain as value trap

• Fancl released 1QFY24 results last week. While revenue was broadly in line with consensus at ¥27.2bn (consensus ¥26.9bn), OP beat consensus by around 27% to generate an OP of ¥3.2bn.
• While there were certain performance improvements in the flagship brands “FANCL” and “ATTENIR” during FQ1, there are no definitive signs that they are completely out of trouble.
• Meanwhile, it looks like competition has affected Fancl Corp (4921 JP)’s plan to cut advertising costs. Thus, FY24 OP guidance could be under pressure.

• The main focus will remain on Direct-to-Consumer profitability, but areas such as the recently announced restructuring plan and pricing power in parks & experiences also deserve attention.
• The main focus is on the company’s Direct- to- consumer profitability.
• It has been three months since my latest update on The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) when I highlighted a number of reasons why the company is finally in a good position to deliver on its bottom line figures.

• PayPal stock has fallen dramatically on speculations regarding the near-term future.
• The market is now pricing-in significant deterioration of the company’s top or bottom line.
• The management is making the right moves to secure long-term competitive advantages, while also rewarding shareholders, according to the report.

• From a niche player to a global high-flyer – Shofu is a domestic market leader in developing and manufacturing dental materials and equipment.

• With its proprietary technology and expertise, it is aiming to become a global top 10 player with a strategic focus on overseas expansion.

• With an addressable market estimated to become up to 20 times larger than Japan, growth prospects are high and the company is gaining solid traction with FY3/2023 results set to reach record highs.

• Glencore plc’s first half earnings landed softer than most of its shareholders would’ve liked.
• We think a period of stability is near, but key indicators fail to suggest the miner is set for a steep recovery.
• Mining powerhouse, Glencore plc (OTCPK:GLCNF) released its first-half earnings results on Tuesday and delivered a few surprises by doing so.

CLIQ Digital delivered robust growth in H123, with 37% year-on-year growth in both revenue and EBITDA at a maintained margin of 15.8%. Growth continues to be driven by growing marketing spend and investment into evolving the bundled content offering. Given a more competitive bidding market, management is focusing on acquiring customers with a higher lifetime value to create a more profitable subscriber base. Management has reiterated both its FY23 and mid-term FY25 guidance and our headline forecasts remain unchanged. Despite CLIQ’s share price performance faring better than the peer average valuation, it remains at a significant discount to peers on both EV/sales and EV/EBITDA multiples. In our view there continues to be significant upside to the current share price on our current estimates.