Daily Brief Equity Bottom-Up: Money Forward: Non-BO Margin on a Decline and Upcoming Fee Revision to Have Negative Impact and more

• Money Forward (3994 JP) reported 2QFY11/2023 results yesterday. Revenue increased 43.5% YoY to ¥7.3bn (vs consensus ¥7.18bn) while operating losses dropped to ¥1.58bn vs ¥2.15bn in 2QFY11/22 (vs consensus ¥1.65bn).
• 2Q revenues were within its guidance of ¥7.1-7.4bn and MF has revised its FY11/23E guidance upward based on the progress made during the first half of the year.
• MF’s non-BO business margins continue to decline, and the plan to revise price plans for sole proprietors in December should result in attrition and further increase in advertising spend.

• In this insight, we conducted fundamental analysis and look at major share price drivers for Hysan Development, who is a major landlord in Hong Kong
• Hysan Development has a simple business model and owns a retail/office portfolio in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.  Its retail properties are largely tourist-centric
• Despite trading at attractive valuation, the stock has low trading liquidity.  Also there is no visible catalyst which means there is little chance for re-rating for the stock

• Imugene Ltd (IMU AU) got US patent for its oncolytic virotherapy CF33 products, including VAXINIA and CHECKVacc. The patent protects the method of composition and use of CF33 until 2037.
• Imugene has appointed two-decade experienced Dr Ron Weitzman as Interim Chief Medical Officer. Dr Weitzman’s expertise in solid-tumor and hematologic malignancies is of particular interest for Imugene.
• Imugene is actively recruiting patients for its five ongoing clinical trials. The company has a strong balance sheet holding more than A$150 million in cash, providing a runway through 2025.

• We had a call with ChipMOS management about their latest long-term R&D efforts and drivers. 
• We see many of the company’s key clients’ businesses turning a corner, hence see these developments likely to benefit ChipMOS.
• The company will be reporting earnings on August 3rd, we have an Outperform rating for the shares. Could see some continued margin weakness, however we believe forward outlook is improving.

• We raise iQIYI’s membership/ads growth in 2Q23 from 12.9%/10.6% to 15.7%/22.4% YoY because of high quality content and recovery of major advertisers.
• We upgrade iQIYI’s rating to BUY because:1) iQIYI exhibits advantages in content quality and production capabilities. 2) Major advertisers are expected to increase their advertising budgets continuously.
• Emergency of mini drama is another variable for the Chinese online video industry. However, we anticipate the impact on iQIYI is relatively limited currently.

• Herein we revise and update MLKN estimates following MillerKnoll’s FY23 earnings report and FY24 guidance.

• Our 1QFY24 diluted non-GAAP EPS estimate is now $0.20, down $0.10 from our previous (reduced) $0.30 estimate.

• Our FY24 annual estimate is now $1.82 (down from $2.00), below the midpoint of the $1.70-$2.00 management outlook.

• TSMC will report its 2Q23 results today in the afternoon Taiwan time. Look for key readthroughs from the company in terms of robustness of the AI boom and PC recovery.
• AMD’s Chairman and CEO arrived in Taiwan and met with key supply chain partners — Related stocks are surging; ASML beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Taiwan AI,  PC-linked, and AMD-linked shares are flying; Our recent Memory Monitor piece also highlights signs that the DRAM cycle has bottomed.

Nano Dimension has raised its tender offer for Stratasys again, increasing its cash offer from $24 to $25 per share and extending the closing date to 31 July. If successful, it plans to explore options for further consolidation of the industry. If unsuccessful, it will review its Stratasys investment and may sell its stake on the open market.