In this briefing:
- Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability
- Ruhnn IPO Preview: Hard to Stay Red-Hot for Long
- Up Fintech (Tiger Brokers) IPO Quick Take – It’s Not like Futu, Won’t Perform like It Either
- Bharti Infratel: Bad News Largely in the Price Now. Upgrade to Neutral
- Meituan Dianping 4Q2018 Quick Read: Monetization Rate and Margins Disappointed
1. Meituan Dianping: Time to Bail? Relax, Core Business Progressing Toward Profitability
- Conference call with Meituan Dianping (3690 HK) reveals that ballooning losses from new initiatives (incl. one-off expenses) largely contributed to record quarterly EBIT losses in 4Q18.
- Importantly, this masks Meituan Core’s (combined food delivery and in-store, hotel & travel divisions) continued progress toward profitability.
- Management is bullish on every division’s outlook in 2019, particularly guiding for 1) balanced growth and profitability strategy for food delivery and 2) disciplined investments in new initiatives.
- Meituan attractively trades at 2.9x 2019E P/S, only around half of peers’ valuation (5.5x).
2. Ruhnn IPO Preview: Hard to Stay Red-Hot for Long
Ruhnn Holding Ltd (RUHN US) is an e-commerce platform which drives sales through KOLs (key opinion leaders). Ruhnn is the largest internet KOL facilitator in China as measured by revenue, the number of online stores and GMV in 2018 according to Frost & Sullivan. Ruhnn is backed by Alibaba Group Holding (BABA US), an 8.6% shareholder, and is seeking to raise $200 million through a Nasdaq IPO.
However, Ruhnn’s rhetoric does not match its financial performance. On balance, we are inclined to give this IPO a pass.
3. Up Fintech (Tiger Brokers) IPO Quick Take – It’s Not like Futu, Won’t Perform like It Either
Up Fintech (TIGR US) plans to raise up to US$91m in its US listing. The company counts Xiaomi Corp (1810 HK) and Interactive Brokers Group, Inc (IBKR US) as its main investors.
In my earlier insights, I commented about Tiger’s reliance on IBKR and compared its operations with Futu Holdings Ltd (FHL US):
- Up Fintech (Tiger Brokers) Pre-IPO Quick Note – Much Too Reliant on IBKR
- Futu Holdings IPO Quick Note – Comparison with Tiger Brokers – Same Market, Different Economics
In this insight, I’ll run the deal through our framework and comment on valuations.
4. Bharti Infratel: Bad News Largely in the Price Now. Upgrade to Neutral
Following three years of share price declines, Chris Hoare has started to moderate his negative view on Bharti Infratel (BHIN IN). Our thesis, that Infratel would struggle as the market consolidated to three players, has largely played out. We remain wary of the viability of Vodafone Idea (IDEA IN) at current tariff levels but the ongoing capital raising at IDEA puts off the day of reckoning, while IDEA’s exit penalties (as they consolidate with Vodafone) are being paid quarterly which will flatter revenues/cash flow. We think earnings forecasts have probably bottomed for the time being and raise our recommendation to Neutral and upgrade our price target to INR270 (from INR220).
5. Meituan Dianping 4Q2018 Quick Read: Monetization Rate and Margins Disappointed
Meituan Dianping reported 4Q2018 numbers last night. As we covered the company’s IPO and lock-up expiry, we took a close look the company 4Q2018 results and listened in the conference call. While we are encouraged by the company’s strong transaction volume and revenue growth in 4Q2018, we are less bullish given the deceleration of monetization growth. We also note that the company trimmed down the details of reporting, in particular, the operation of its New Initiative segment and hence results were less transparent.
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