ASEAN Insight Provider, CrossASEAN Research

Angus Mackintosh

ASEAN Insight Provider

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

Sea Limited offers information technology services. The Company provides online personal computer and mobile digital content, e-commerce, and payment platforms. Sea serves customers worldwide.

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<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sea-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8509:1" rel="noopener">Sea Limited (SE US)</a> booked a strong set of 1Q2024 results from a GMV, revenue and adjusted EBITDA perspective, with fears of greater competition from TikTok failing to materialise. </li>
<li>The company has been investing in growth across all segments, with e-commerce driving and digital financial services driving growth but digital entertainment also seeing a return to growth mode. </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sea-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8509:1" rel="noopener">Sea Limited</a> continues to focus on its core competitiveness in pricing, improving service quality, and lowering the cost to serve through SPX Express, with advertising becoming a more meaningful contributor.  </li>
</ul>



Sea Limited (SE US) booked a strong set of 1Q2024 results from a GMV, revenue and adjusted EBITDA perspective, with fears of greater competition from TikTok failing to materialise. 
The company has been investing in growth across all segments, with e-commerce driving and digital financial services driving growth but digital entertainment also seeing a return to growth mode. 

Sea Limited continues to focus on its core competitiveness in pricing, improving service quality, and lowering the cost to serve through SPX Express, with advertising becoming a more meaningful contributor.  


Semiconductor & Technology Specialist, Ingenuity

William Keating

Semiconductor & Technology Specialist

Ingenuity

Our focus is exclusively on in-depth research & consulting in the broader semiconductor industry. We focus on the key players, namely Intel, Micron, Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, NVIDIA, AMD, TSMC & Global Foundries - as well as some of the lesser known, but nonetheless critical, companies such as ASML (for EUV), Mellanox, Cavium, Xilinx etc. We specialise in their products, roadmaps, process technologies, competitive advantages & threats etc. We also help our clients understand the implications of new and emerging technologies, e.g. 3D X-Point, 3D NAND, Carbon Nanotubes, Autonomous Driving, Graphene, Silicon Photonics, Wafer-Level Optics, Artificial Intelligence, FPGA, GPU, ASIC etc. 

Semiconductor Analysis & Research

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Q124 DRAM revenue $18.2 billion, up 6% QoQ and up 88% YoY. NAND revenue $14.1 billion, up 23.4% QoQ and 68.8% YoY</li>
<li>ASP increases, HBM, NAND for enterprise SSD and looming shortages for legacy products are all mounting tailwinds for the beleaguered memory segment</li>
<li>First quarter ASP increases for DRAM &amp; NAND for Micron, SK Hynix &amp; Samsung were almost identical. That's quite a coincidence..</li>
</ul>


Q124 DRAM revenue $18.2 billion, up 6% QoQ and up 88% YoY. NAND revenue $14.1 billion, up 23.4% QoQ and 68.8% YoY
ASP increases, HBM, NAND for enterprise SSD and looming shortages for legacy products are all mounting tailwinds for the beleaguered memory segment
First quarter ASP increases for DRAM &amp; NAND for Micron, SK Hynix &amp; Samsung were almost identical. That's quite a coincidence..


Semiconductor Memory. Profits Return & Tailwinds Mount On Surging (& Very Similar) ASP Increases

Head of Research, Krungthai XSpring

Waraporn Wiboonkanarak

Head of Research

A full service Thai brokerage

Krungthai XSpring

Krungthai XSpring is a full service broker. The company provides a wide range of investment services such as Securities Brokerage, Derivative Agent Business, Securities Borrowing and Lending, Securities Trading, Underwriting, Financial Advisory, Wealth Advisory, Private Fund Management and International Markets Securities Trading. 

In terms of credibility, Fitch Ratings has assigned Krunghtai XSpring a long-term rating of AA- and a national short-term rating of F1+ with stable outlook.

SVI Public Company Limited provides printed circuit board contract manufacturing services.  Most of its customers are original equipment manufacturers of computer peripheral products, telecommunication equipment, and industrial equipment and instruments.

<ul><li>We maintain our Buy rating on SVI, while upgrading our tactical view to very limited downside (from neutral), based on the valuation metrics.</li><li>The 1Q24 core earnings were slightly above our expectation, mainly due to a solid gross margin.</li><li>Sales growth weakened further YoY and QoQ, especially in its key segments, due to unfavorable global economic conditions.</li></ul>

We maintain our Buy rating on SVI, while upgrading our tactical view to very limited downside (from neutral), based on the valuation metrics.The 1Q24 core earnings were slightly above our expectation, mainly due to a solid gross margin.Sales growth weakened further YoY and QoQ, especially in its key segments, due to unfavorable global economic conditions.

SVI - Earnings Growth in 1Q24 Carried by Higher Gross Margin

KCE Electronics Public Company Limited and its subsidiaries manufacture and export single-layered, multi-layered, and double-sided printed circuit boards (PCBs) under its KCE trademark.  Multi-layered PCBs are used mainly in high technology equipment and high precision instruments.  Double-sided PCBs are used largely in telecommunication and computing equipment.

<ul><li>We maintain our Neutral recommendation and the FY2024E fair value of Bt35.50. KCE’s core earnings grew YoY and QoQ in 1Q24, mainly from a rebound in the gross margin.</li><li>The result was slightly above our expectation, comprising 25% of our FY2024E forecast.</li><li>While we maintain our Neutral recommendation, our valuation metrics indicate that it could be upgraded to Outperform, especially as the current valuation has been upgraded to overvalued from sell previously. </li></ul>

We maintain our Neutral recommendation and the FY2024E fair value of Bt35.50. KCE’s core earnings grew YoY and QoQ in 1Q24, mainly from a rebound in the gross margin.The result was slightly above our expectation, comprising 25% of our FY2024E forecast.While we maintain our Neutral recommendation, our valuation metrics indicate that it could be upgraded to Outperform, especially as the current valuation has been upgraded to overvalued from sell previously. 

Kce Electronics - Earnings Growth in 1Q24 Driven by Strong Gross Margin

Hana Microelectronics Public Company Limited is an electronics manufacturing service company.  The Company manufactures electronic components on behalf of its customers for shipment to them or their customers.

<ul><li>HANA saw a YoY and QoQ rebound in core earnings in 1Q24.</li><li>The results were slightly below our expectations, but we still believe they point to a positive direction in terms of HANA’s gross margin recovery in FY2024E.</li><li>We maintain our fair value of Bt42.00 but downgrade our recommendation to Outperform, after the share price rose by roughly 6% since our last report. </li></ul>

HANA saw a YoY and QoQ rebound in core earnings in 1Q24.The results were slightly below our expectations, but we still believe they point to a positive direction in terms of HANA’s gross margin recovery in FY2024E.We maintain our fair value of Bt42.00 but downgrade our recommendation to Outperform, after the share price rose by roughly 6% since our last report. 

Hana Microelectronics - Upside Priced in for FY2024 but Remain Bullish for FY2025

Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT)
Digital Highway

Sea Limited (SE US) - Making Hay

Sea Ltd continues to focus on its core competitiveness in pricing, service quality, and lowering the cost to serve through SPX Express, with...

Angus Mackintosh

Semiconductor Memory. Profits Return & Tailwinds Mount On Surging (& Very Similar) ASP Increases

Q124 DRAM revenue $18.2 billion, up 6% QoQ and up 88% YoY. NAND revenue $14.1 billion, up 23.4% QoQ and 68.8% YoY. Q124 ASP increases for Micron,...

William Keating

SVI - Earnings Growth in 1Q24 Carried by Higher Gross Margin

We maintain our Buy rating on SVI, while upgrading our tactical view to very limited downside (from neutral), based on the valuation metrics.

Krungthai XSpring

Kce Electronics - Earnings Growth in 1Q24 Driven by Strong Gross Margin

We maintain our Neutral recommendation and the FY2024E fair value of Bt35.50. KCE’s core earnings grew YoY and QoQ in 1Q24, mainly from a rebound...

Krungthai XSpring

Hana Microelectronics - Upside Priced in for FY2024 but Remain Bullish for FY2025

The results were slightly below our expectations, but we still believe they point to a positive direction in terms of HANA’s gross margin recovery...

Krungthai XSpring