Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMA

A chartered management accountant with more than 10 years of rich experience in investment research and financial analysis. Worked as an equity analyst for one of the world's largest asset managers with USD2.5trn in AUM covering numerous sectors including chemicals, retail, tech, autos, telco, real-estate and banks, globally. Experienced in fundamental equity research, industry research, commodity studies, forensic accounting, and due diligence reviews.

Equity Analyst

Lufax IPO: Peer Comparison Reveals Change in Strategy Weighs Heavy on Company Performance

KWG Living IPO: Expansion in Community Value-Added Services Drives Growth

KWG Living IPO: Strong Financials and Growth Prospects Justify a Premium

oRo: Another Stock Capable of Making PM Suga’s Digitalisation Dream a Real

JD Health Pre-IPO: Poised to Benefit from Structural Changes in Healthcare in China and the Pandemic

Chindata IPO: Making Good Progress but Challenges Ahead

Battle Lines Drawn As BABA Builds Out First/Last-Mile Capacity; But Who Will Fund 75+ Bn CNY CapEx?

Lufax IPO: Shift in Product Mix and Higher Customer Acquisition Cost Eat into Profits

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

Equity Capital Markets

GDS Holdings (ADR) / Equity Capital Markets

It was reported by several news media outlets over the past few weeks that the leading developer and operator of high-performance data centres in China, GDS Holdings is in the process of securing a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.The demand for high-performance data centres in China and elsewhere has been growing substantially driven by big data, AI and other IoT initiatives. The Covid-19 outbreak has further accelerated this growth as more people opt to work from home coupled with an increase in online learning activities.While we remain positive about GDS’ top line growth and the demand for data centres, we have been unimpressed with the trend in the company’s margins. Both the GPM and OPM have not improved much over the past 4-5 quarters despite the company continuing to add new capacity.We conducted a quantamental study on the company’s margins to examine if it has more room for growth.

It was reported by several news media outlets over the past few weeks that the leading developer and operator of high-performance data centres in China, GDS Holdings is in the process of securing a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.The demand for high-performance data centres in China and elsewhere has been growing substantially driven by big data, AI and other IoT initiatives. The Covid-19 outbreak has further accelerated this growth as more people opt to work from home coupled with an increase in online learning activities.While we remain positive about GDS’ top line growth and the demand for data centres, we have been unimpressed with the trend in the company’s margins. Both the GPM and OPM have not improved much over the past 4-5 quarters despite the company continuing to add new capacity.We conducted a quantamental study on the company’s margins to examine if it has more room for growth.

GDS Secondary: Quantamental Analysis Reveals Limited Room for Margin Expansion