Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Costco Wholesale Corporation, during its second quarter of fiscal year 2024 earnings, provided a detailed financial summary and highlighted its numerous operational changes.</li><li>CFO Richard Galanti expressed his positive outlook for the company's future, citing specific achievements and future plans.</li><li>From a fiscal perspective, net income for the Q2 2024 was $1.743 billion or $3.92 per diluted share, up from $1.466 billion or $3.30 last year, signifying solid growth.</li></ul>

Costco Wholesale Corporation, during its second quarter of fiscal year 2024 earnings, provided a detailed financial summary and highlighted its numerous operational changes.CFO Richard Galanti expressed his positive outlook for the company's future, citing specific achievements and future plans.From a fiscal perspective, net income for the Q2 2024 was $1.743 billion or $3.92 per diluted share, up from $1.466 billion or $3.30 last year, signifying solid growth.

Costco Wholesale Corporation: Are Its Efforts With Respect To E-commerce Penetration & Delivery Expansion Working Well? - Major Drivers

Fundamental Analyses, Contrarian Cashflows

Contrarian Cashflows

Fundamental Analyses

The purpose of Contrarian Cashflows is to document my investment research and share it with everyone who is interested in value investing. My long term aspiration for Contrarian Cashflows is to become a platform for professional investors and serious amateurs where they can get inspiration and discuss investing-related topics.
I plan to publish one company deep dive per month that is guided by my investment approach. All information I use for my write-ups is publicly available and most of the time directly sourced from public filings issued by the respective companies. To guarantee maximum transparency, for every post I provide a list of all used sources in the resources section.
Contrarian Cashflows is built around the principles of respect, honesty, open-mindedness and a touch of humour. Please consider these principles in any engagement interaction with me, other readers and the content on this blog. Misbehaviour is not tolerated.
If you want to reach out to me directly, the best way is via LinkedIn, Twitter or email. You can find the details at my homepage contrariancashflows.com

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>I recently came across a thought-provoking blog post by Andrew Walker on his YAVB discussing the possibility of a bubble forming in quality stocks.</li><li>Although Andrew acknowledged that the title might be seen as provocative, he raised valid concerns about the potential challenges of achieving satisfactory returns in the future by investing in quality-growth-at-a-reasonable-price stocks, given their lofty valuations.</li><li>As an example, he pointed to Costco, which is presently trading at a P/E ratio of 50 despite its long-term expected growth rate only slightly surpassing that of the US GDP.</li></ul>

I recently came across a thought-provoking blog post by Andrew Walker on his YAVB discussing the possibility of a bubble forming in quality stocks.Although Andrew acknowledged that the title might be seen as provocative, he raised valid concerns about the potential challenges of achieving satisfactory returns in the future by investing in quality-growth-at-a-reasonable-price stocks, given their lofty valuations.As an example, he pointed to Costco, which is presently trading at a P/E ratio of 50 despite its long-term expected growth rate only slightly surpassing that of the US GDP.

<ul><li>Costco delivered an all-around beat in the most recent quarterly result.</li><li>The company reported net income for the 17-week fourth quarter came in at $2.16 billion or $4.86 per diluted share compared to $1.868 billion or $4.20 per diluted share in the 16-week fourth quarter last year.</li><li>In terms of sales, net sales for the 17-week fourth quarter were $77.43 billion, an increase of 9.4% from $70.76 billion in the 16-week fourth quarter last year.</li></ul>

Costco delivered an all-around beat in the most recent quarterly result.The company reported net income for the 17-week fourth quarter came in at $2.16 billion or $4.86 per diluted share compared to $1.868 billion or $4.20 per diluted share in the 16-week fourth quarter last year.In terms of sales, net sales for the 17-week fourth quarter were $77.43 billion, an increase of 9.4% from $70.76 billion in the 16-week fourth quarter last year.

Costco Wholesale Corp: Strategies for Consistent Membership Renewals! - Major Drivers

<ul><li>Costco delivered a disappointing set of results as the company was unable to meet the revenue expectations as well as the earnings expectations of Wall Street.</li><li>Net sales for the quarter grew 1.9% to $52.6 billion, compared to $51.61 billion at the same time last year.</li><li>Traffic or shopping frequency increased by 4.8% globally and 3.5% in the United States during the quarter.</li></ul>

Costco delivered a disappointing set of results as the company was unable to meet the revenue expectations as well as the earnings expectations of Wall Street.Net sales for the quarter grew 1.9% to $52.6 billion, compared to $51.61 billion at the same time last year.Traffic or shopping frequency increased by 4.8% globally and 3.5% in the United States during the quarter.

Costco Wholesale Corporation: Strong Renewals & Membership Growth Continue To Drive Results – Key Drivers

Equity Long-Short, Semiconductors, Fabricated Knowledge

Douglas O'Laughlin

Equity Long-Short, Semiconductors

Fabricated Knowledge

Learn more about the world's most important manufactured product. Meaningful insight, timely analysis, and an occasional investment idea.

<ul><li>Markets always act erratically, but I thought I would highlight one aspect that disproportionately impacts semiconductors.</li><li>Factor investing is not new, but we are in a unique period where Momentum has quite a period of outperformance and short-term outperformance.</li><li>This matters because semiconductors are (as far as my memory holds) the most significant weight in Momentum I’ve ever witnessed. </li></ul>

Markets always act erratically, but I thought I would highlight one aspect that disproportionately impacts semiconductors.Factor investing is not new, but we are in a unique period where Momentum has quite a period of outperformance and short-term outperformance.This matters because semiconductors are (as far as my memory holds) the most significant weight in Momentum I’ve ever witnessed. 

United States

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates wholesale membership warehouses in multiple countries.  The Company sells all kinds of food, automotive supplies, toys, hardware, sporting goods, jewelry, electronics, apparel, health and beauty aids, as well as other goods.

Costco Wholesale (COST US)

Costco Wholesale Corporation: Are Its Efforts With Respect To E-commerce Penetration & Delivery Expansion Working Well? - Major Drivers

Costco Wholesale Corporation, during its second quarter of fiscal year 2024 earnings, provided a detailed financial summary and highlighted its...

Baptista Research

Portfolio Update: April 2024

I recently came across a thought-provoking blog post by Andrew Walker on his YAVB discussing the possibility of a bubble forming in quality...

Contrarian Cashflows

Costco Wholesale Corp: Strategies for Consistent Membership Renewals! - Major Drivers

Costco delivered an all-around beat in the most recent quarterly result. The company reported net income for the 17-week fourth quarter came in at...

Baptista Research

Costco Wholesale Corporation: Strong Renewals & Membership Growth Continue To Drive Results – Key Drivers

Costco delivered a disappointing set of results as the company was unable to meet the revenue expectations as well as the earnings expectations of...

Baptista Research

Factors and Semiconductors

A friendly warning. Momentum is outperforming all factors this year, and Semiconductors are a large part of that. Markets always act erratically,...

Fabricated Knowledge