In today’s briefing:
- Zeekr IPO – Missed Targets and Related Party Deals – We Would Stick to the Bottom-End
- EQT to Acquire Perficient for $3.0 Billion
- Rebooting WeWork
- Newmont Corporation: What Is Its Asset Divestments Strategy? – Major Drivers
- Royal Caribbean Group: Focus on Millennial Customers and New Cruise Experiences! – Major Drivers
- Atlassian Corporation: Will The New Sole CEO Help Take The Company Towards A New Growth Trajectory?
- -30% // Cocoa Bubble Has Busted & Central Banks Buy Gold
- Check Point Software Technologies: Potential Opportunities with NVIDIA AI Infrastructure & 5 Critical Growth Drivers
- Juniper Networks: What Is The AI Cluster Opportunity With Ethernet Adoption! – Major Drivers
- Western Digital Corporation: A Growing Customer Base in Enterprise SSD Space & 5 Major Growth Drivers
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Zeekr IPO – Missed Targets and Related Party Deals – We Would Stick to the Bottom-End
- ZEEKR (ZK US), a premium EV brand by Geely Auto (175 HK), aims to raise around US$370m in its US listing.
- Zeekr was formed in Mar 2021 as a JV between Geely and its founder. Its first model was launched in Apr 21 with deliveries starting in Oct 21.
- We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier notes. In this note, we talk about the updates from its recent filings and have a relook at valuations.
EQT to Acquire Perficient for $3.0 Billion
- Perficient Inc (PRFT US) agreed to be acquired by EQT, for $76/share in cash, 75% premium, 51% premium to 30-day VWAP, and c. $3 billion EV.
- I understand EQT has opted to present an offer that the Board could not refuse, on both EV/Fwd EBITDA and Fwd P/E basis.
- Spread is 3.6%/6.2% (gross/annualised, assuming settlement by 16 December). Long.
Rebooting WeWork
- The last week of SPACs was packed with buyouts, IPOs, and deal amendments.
- A co-working spaces provider gets a lifeline with a restructuring deal with its creditors, while a SPAC terminates a deal with a group of companies.
- Also, two new IPOs are announced, including one from serial sponsor Michael Klein after a three-year hiatus. Read on to find out the latest about all things SPACs.
Newmont Corporation: What Is Its Asset Divestments Strategy? – Major Drivers
- The first quarter 2024 earnings for Newmont Corporation presents an operational and strategic snapshot for the company in a balanced manner.
- To lay out the salient attributes and challenges of investing in Newmont: Positively, Newmont executives highlight the company’s robust operational performance for the 1st quarter 2024.
- Despite experiencing the loss of three employees due to on-site incidents, Newmont still looks set to meet its 2024 guidance, thereby proving the underlying stability of its operations.
Royal Caribbean Group: Focus on Millennial Customers and New Cruise Experiences! – Major Drivers
- Royal Caribbean Group has made impressive strides in reshaping the business in the first quarter of 2024.
- The company described its Q1 2024 as robust and experiencing an upward trajectory in business operations, bolstered by the consumers’ demand for vacation experiences.
- The results of Q1 2024 were significantly better than anticipated, with the company’s brands being stronger than ever and demand for vacation experiences showing consistent acceleration.
Atlassian Corporation: Will The New Sole CEO Help Take The Company Towards A New Growth Trajectory?
- Atlassian Corporation Plc, leading software and services provider, recently marked their Q3 of Fiscal Year 2024 earnings call, reporting significant growth in their Cloud customer base and paid seats, among other financial milestones.
- However, they also made the announcement of the stepping down of co-CEO, Scott Farquhar, by August 31, 2024.
- The growth in the Cloud customer base was highlighted as a result of the winding down of support for Server operations three and a half years ago, which yielded three times the increase in paid seats in the Cloud.
-30% // Cocoa Bubble Has Busted & Central Banks Buy Gold
- -30% // Cocoa Bubble Has Busted Just two weeks ago, the most-active contract hit a record of almost $12,000 a ton as the industry grappled with the fallout of severe supply shortages.
- “It’s important to underscore that the recent downturn in cocoa prices is primarily a result of trading maneuvers, not a realignment of market fundamentals,” analysts at Fitch Solutions’ BMI unit said in a note, adding they expect volatility to persist.
- Volatility spiked as bigger margin requirements spurred traders to close out positions, helping to drive aggregate open interest in cocoa futures to the lowest in more than a decade.
Check Point Software Technologies: Potential Opportunities with NVIDIA AI Infrastructure & 5 Critical Growth Drivers
- The Q1 2022 earnings reveal insights into the performance of Check Point Software Technologies.
- The company made some forward-looking statements related to its fiscal year 2022.
- Golan reported that its earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter grew by 13% year-on-year to reach $2.04, with a net income of $235 million marking an 8% increase year over year.
Juniper Networks: What Is The AI Cluster Opportunity With Ethernet Adoption! – Major Drivers
- The Q3 2023 results released by Juniper Networks, Inc. showed a better-than-expected performance with significant profitability.
- Even in a challenging macro environment, the company was able to achieve total revenue of $1.398 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.60.
- The company anticipates that it will continue to perform well due to the increasing demands from customers for AIOps and software automation tools, which aim to improve network operations and reduce overhead costs.
Western Digital Corporation: A Growing Customer Base in Enterprise SSD Space & 5 Major Growth Drivers
- Western Digital performed exceptionally well in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024, with revenue of $3.5 billion, a non-GAAP gross margin of 29.3%, and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.63, surpassing market expectations.
- The company’s performance was bolstered by a diversified portfolio spanning multiple end markets, coupled with structural changes to its businesses enhancing its earning potential and ability to minimize business cycles.
- It was also able to leverage a constrained supply environment for higher earnings per share.