Insight Provider, CrossASEAN Research

Nicolas Van Broekhoven

Was on the buyside for 15 years, most recently at a medium-sized boutique asset management firm. I grew up in Europe, went to university in the US and have been living in Singapore for the last 7 years which has given me a broad scope on the world and investing in general.

Consider myself a generalist investor with a preference for small and mid-cap companies and special situations. However, a large cap that has gone temporarily out of favor might also pique my interest. 

My style of investing could be categorized as more of value investor, rather than growth at any cost. Learning from Charlie Munger on the importance of quality of a company has been of tremendous value over the years.I like businesses with real earnings, cash flows, dividends, book value and insider ownership.

Insight Provider

AEM Holding: Aggressively Buying Their Own Stock; Historically Pre-Cursor to Strong Performance

AEM: Temasek Investment + New Customers = Pre-Cursor to Nasdaq Listing? Fair Value to 8 SGD

Aem Holdings: Raises Guidance for FY21, New Customer Wins in FY22 to Drive Re-Rating to 8 SGD

AEM Holdings: Optimistic on FY21; Fair Value Remains at 5 SGD (41% Upside)

AEM Holdings (AEM SP): No Covid-19 Impact; 2020 Will Be a Record Year; 3.7 SGD Fair Value Remains

AEM: Onwards to $1 Billion Market Cap; Now More Attractive as M&A Target with Biz Diversification

CrossASEAN Research

At CrossASEAN Research we strive to produce unbiased and differentiated on the ground insights on companies across South East Asia. Our Research is produced for the most part after face to face meetings and conversations with company management to dig deep into the long term vision and strategy of the companies we cover. We seek to deliver investable and actionable themes on sectors and markets across SE Asia, often in collaboration with other Insight Providers across the region, pooling the vast experience of the analysts within the Smartkarma Ecosystem. We also offer bespoke work and tailor made trips for our clients. 

Insights across South East Asia

Equity Bottom-Up

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/aem-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11019:1" rel="noopener">AEM (AEM SP)</a> posted 1Q21 results which were relatively soft YoY. Management noted that 1Q21 was still much stronger than 1Q19 and 1Q20 was an anomaly. AEM also shared annual guidance between 460-520M SGD for 2021. This was the first time management shared guidance for the year. Given AEM's history we believe this guidance is conservative.During the call the CEO and CFO were confident that growth would significantly pick up from 3Q21 as its largest customer <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/intel-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:16764:1" rel="noopener">Intel Corp (INTC US)</a> ramps up requirement for its latest test handlers. Longer term the company is hopeful to announce multiple new significant customer wins by 2022. This has been a multi-year process which could now bear fruits next year and would be an important catalyst for the company. We remain convinced AEM also becomes an M&amp;A target at some point which provides downside support to the stock.Nothing in 1Q21 results changes the long-term bull thesis on AEM. Fair Value remains unchanged 5 SGD (40% upside).

AEM (AEM SP) posted 1Q21 results which were relatively soft YoY. Management noted that 1Q21 was still much stronger than 1Q19 and 1Q20 was an anomaly. AEM also shared annual guidance between 460-520M SGD for 2021. This was the first time management shared guidance for the year. Given AEM's history we believe this guidance is conservative.During the call the CEO and CFO were confident that growth would significantly pick up from 3Q21 as its largest customer Intel Corp (INTC US) ramps up requirement for its latest test handlers. Longer term the company is hopeful to announce multiple new significant customer wins by 2022. This has been a multi-year process which could now bear fruits next year and would be an important catalyst for the company. We remain convinced AEM also becomes an M&amp;A target at some point which provides downside support to the stock.Nothing in 1Q21 results changes the long-term bull thesis on AEM. Fair Value remains unchanged 5 SGD (40% upside). 

AEM: Temporary Weakness Creates Buying Opportunity Going into New Product Cycle as of 3Q21