Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives, MBI Deep Dives

MBI Deep Dives

Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives

MBI is the abbreviation for “Mostly Borrowed Ideas”. Why “Mostly Borrowed Ideas?” As a generalist, I do not have a background in any particular sector. I enjoy navigating across industries, businesses, and countries to learn, understand, and connect the dots. In any case, most ideas and innovations are incremental in nature. Very few of us are smart enough to come up with truly original or groundbreaking ideas. I am Abdullah Al-Rezwan. I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. I went to University of Dhaka for my undergrad and majored in Finance. After working three and half years in Equity Research (Sell-side) covering Financial Sector in Bangladesh, I left Bangladesh to pursue my MBA in the US. I graduated within top 10% of the class from Cornell University's two-year MBA program and worked on the buy-side following my graduation. During my time at Cornell, I won two stock pitch competitions and also became finalists in four other competitions. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a generalist in the US large cap team at Madison Investments and covered a wide range of companies from UnitedHealth to Amazon and Boeing before US immigration reality paused my career in investment management. As my work authorization expired, I moved to Canada in January, 2021. Then in early 2022, I was able to return to the US.

Equity Bottom-Up

IQVIA Holdings Inc. focuses on technology solutions and contract research services. The Company offers a broad range of solutions which includes clinical development strategies, therapeutic expertise, predictive and prescriptive analytics, and patient retention services. IQVIA Holdings serves consumer health, biopharma, and medical technology industries globally.

<ul><li>Back in 2016, IMS Health and Quintiles went through a merger of equals to form “QuintilesIMS” which was later renamed to be “IQVIA” in 2017.</li><li>"I" and “Q” stand for IMS Health and Quintiles respectively and "VIA" means "by way of”.</li><li>Since IMS and Quintiles both used to be separate public companies, let me discuss these two businesses separately at first before getting into the details of their post-merger status.</li></ul>

Back in 2016, IMS Health and Quintiles went through a merger of equals to form “QuintilesIMS” which was later renamed to be “IQVIA” in 2017."I" and “Q” stand for IMS Health and Quintiles respectively and "VIA" means "by way of”.Since IMS and Quintiles both used to be separate public companies, let me discuss these two businesses separately at first before getting into the details of their post-merger status.

lululemon athletica Inc. designs and retails athletic clothing.  The Company produces fitness pants, shorts, tops and jackets for yoga, dance, running, and general fitness. lululemon serves customers throughout the world.

<ul><li>Lululemon was facing some really thorny questions from Mr. Market ever since 4Q’23 earnings. Today’s earnings should help calm some nerves.</li><li>Here are my highlights from tonight’s call. Sales Growth by Region At first glance, one may find confirmation to plenty of concerns for LULU. US sales, which was ~61% of overall sales this quarter, grew by only 2%.</li><li>Growth momentum in international markets, especially in China helped mask the weakness in the US.</li></ul>

Lululemon was facing some really thorny questions from Mr. Market ever since 4Q’23 earnings. Today’s earnings should help calm some nerves.Here are my highlights from tonight’s call. Sales Growth by Region At first glance, one may find confirmation to plenty of concerns for LULU. US sales, which was ~61% of overall sales this quarter, grew by only 2%.Growth momentum in international markets, especially in China helped mask the weakness in the US.

Aon PLC is a professional services provider. The Company is comprised of risk and insurance brokerage consulting. Aon's services include helping manage risk for clients, negotiating and placing insurance risk with other carriers, and advising clients related to health and benefits, retirement, compensation, strategic human capital, and human resource outsourcing.

<ul><li>This month's Deep Dive will be on <strong>TSMC </strong>which I'm hoping to publish sometime in the last week of this month.</li><li>Following TSMC, I will spend some time out of semis for a few months and then come back to semis later in the year.</li><li>I also wanted to share some brief notes on why I have started buying Aon today.</li></ul>

This month's Deep Dive will be on TSMC which I'm hoping to publish sometime in the last week of this month.Following TSMC, I will spend some time out of semis for a few months and then come back to semis later in the year.I also wanted to share some brief notes on why I have started buying Aon today.

Amazon.com, Inc. is an online retailer that offers a wide range of products. The Company's products include books, music, videotapes, computers, electronics, home and garden, and numerous other products.  Amazon offers personalized shopping services, Web-based credit card payment, and direct shipping to customers.

<ul><li>Now that Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all reported their quarters, we now have better context to how their quarters went.</li><li>So, while I will mostly discuss Amazon's earnings in this update, I will briefly touch on some broader themes as well.</li><li>Overall revenue was slightly below the high end of Amazon's guidance.</li></ul>

Now that Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon all reported their quarters, we now have better context to how their quarters went.So, while I will mostly discuss Amazon's earnings in this update, I will briefly touch on some broader themes as well.Overall revenue was slightly below the high end of Amazon's guidance.

Alphabet, Inc. operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides web-based search, advertisements, maps, software applications, mobile operating systems, consumer content, enterprise solutions, commerce, and hardware products.

<ul><li>Despite following Big Tech closely for the last 5 years, this sentence from today's call still somewhat surprised me!</li><li>The scale and the height of success of Google truly boggles my mind.</li><li>Over the last year or so, Google has had its fair share of skeptics, including yours truly. </li></ul>

Despite following Big Tech closely for the last 5 years, this sentence from today's call still somewhat surprised me!The scale and the height of success of Google truly boggles my mind.Over the last year or so, Google has had its fair share of skeptics, including yours truly. 

MBI is the abbreviation for “Mostly Borrowed Ideas”. 

Why “Mostly Borrowed Ideas?”

As a generalist, I do not have a background in any particular sector. I enjoy navigating across industries, businesses, and countries to learn, understand, and connect the dots. In any case, most ideas and innovations are incremental in nature. Very few of us are smart enough to come up with truly original or groundbreaking ideas.

I am Abdullah Al-Rezwan. I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. I went to University of Dhaka for my undergrad and majored in Finance. After working three and half years in Equity Research (Sell-side) covering Financial Sector in Bangladesh, I left Bangladesh to pursue my MBA in the US. I graduated within top 10% of the class from Cornell University's two-year MBA program and worked on the buy-side following my graduation. During my time at Cornell, I won two stock pitch competitions and also became finalists in four other competitions. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a generalist in the US large cap team at Madison Investments and covered a wide range of companies from UnitedHealth to Amazon and Boeing before US immigration reality paused my career in investment management. As my work authorization expired, I moved to Canada in January, 2021. Then in early 2022, I was able to return to the US.