Global Emerging Market Equities, Propitious Research

Wium Malan, CFA

Global Emerging Market Equities

Independent, Fundamental Quantitative Research

Propitious Research

Fully independent, fundamental and quantitative equity research, focused on companies in the Telecommunication, Media, Technology, Internet and Healthcare sectors in the Global Emerging Markets. Idea generation focused on Quality stocks, trading below their intrinsic Value, with sound Corporate Governance.

Equity Bottom-Up

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28434:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (9988 HK)</a> has had a disastrous year, ever since the IPO of their FinTech arm, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ant-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24240:1" rel="noopener">Ant Financial Services Group (6688 HK)</a>, was pulled last minute in November 2020. Since then, they have faced continued regulatory hurdles, including an RMB18.2bn anti-monopoly fine, which has culminated in a 51% share price drop, since its November 2020 peak, which means that Alibaba is currently trading on only a 14.3x forward PE ratio. Given that this is nearly 4 standard deviations below its 5-year historical average trading range, and that this multiple would imply only a 0.72x PEG ratio, for a company with an extremely strong net cash balance sheet, delivering returns on capital well above its cost of capital, with positive free cash flow generation, and a $15bn share buyback program, indicates that there is a massive disconnect between long-term Buy-side expectations and near-term Sell-side estimates. Looking at the reported group financials over this period it does not seem as though the regulatory impact has been that significant on core operations. The key concern, however, is that Alibaba is losing market share in its core businesses. In this insight, I take a closer look at the broader Chinese retail market, as well as the Chinese digital advertising market (I estimate that Alibaba still generates more than 40% of its Chinese commerce revenue, and roughly 1/3rd of group revenue, from marketing activities), to analyse Alibaba’s relative revenue share loss. Finally, I also revisit current valuation levels and analyse what this implies for its Core Commerce operations.

Alibaba Group (9988 HK) has had a disastrous year, ever since the IPO of their FinTech arm, Ant Financial Services Group (6688 HK), was pulled last minute in November 2020. Since then, they have faced continued regulatory hurdles, including an RMB18.2bn anti-monopoly fine, which has culminated in a 51% share price drop, since its November 2020 peak, which means that Alibaba is currently trading on only a 14.3x forward PE ratio. Given that this is nearly 4 standard deviations below its 5-year historical average trading range, and that this multiple would imply only a 0.72x PEG ratio, for a company with an extremely strong net cash balance sheet, delivering returns on capital well above its cost of capital, with positive free cash flow generation, and a $15bn share buyback program, indicates that there is a massive disconnect between long-term Buy-side expectations and near-term Sell-side estimates. Looking at the reported group financials over this period it does not seem as though the regulatory impact has been that significant on core operations. The key concern, however, is that Alibaba is losing market share in its core businesses. In this insight, I take a closer look at the broader Chinese retail market, as well as the Chinese digital advertising market (I estimate that Alibaba still generates more than 40% of its Chinese commerce revenue, and roughly 1/3rd of group revenue, from marketing activities), to analyse Alibaba’s relative revenue share loss. Finally, I also revisit current valuation levels and analyse what this implies for its Core Commerce operations.

Alibaba: How Much Core Market Share Loss Has Been Priced In?

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) / Equity Capital Markets

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$550m, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Indian IPO. Nykaa is a lifestyle focussed e-commerce platform and consumer brand offering a portfolio of beauty, personal care and fashion products, including its own branded products. As per RedSeer, it was the largest Specialty Beauty and Personal Care Platform in India in terms of value of products sold in FY21.As of March 21, it had 43.7m cumulative downloads across all its mobile applications. Its offline channel comprises 73 physical stores across 38 cities in India. It reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR40,459.8m (around US$550m) in FY21. As of Mar 21, it offered approximately 2.0m SKUs from 3,826 national and international brands across its business verticals. Nykaa’s GMV, revenue and gross profit have more than doubled over FY19-21, even though the company suffered from a drop in orders due to COVID-19 in 4Q20 and 1Q21. Overall, GMV grew by 62.7% in FY20 and 50.7% in FY21. Revenue growth has broadly kept pace with GMV growth while the company has managed to turn a profit in FY21. However, the growth for its largest segment, beauty and personal care, appears to have slowed down in FY21. While its fashion segment is operated as a marketplace and hence, won’t be a big driver of revenue growth till it scales.

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$550m, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Indian IPO. Nykaa is a lifestyle focussed e-commerce platform and consumer brand offering a portfolio of beauty, personal care and fashion products, including its own branded products. As per RedSeer, it was the largest Specialty Beauty and Personal Care Platform in India in terms of value of products sold in FY21.As of March 21, it had 43.7m cumulative downloads across all its mobile applications. Its offline channel comprises 73 physical stores across 38 cities in India. It reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR40,459.8m (around US$550m) in FY21. As of Mar 21, it offered approximately 2.0m SKUs from 3,826 national and international brands across its business verticals. Nykaa’s GMV, revenue and gross profit have more than doubled over FY19-21, even though the company suffered from a drop in orders due to COVID-19 in 4Q20 and 1Q21. Overall, GMV grew by 62.7% in FY20 and 50.7% in FY21. Revenue growth has broadly kept pace with GMV growth while the company has managed to turn a profit in FY21. However, the growth for its largest segment, beauty and personal care, appears to have slowed down in FY21. While its fashion segment is operated as a marketplace and hence, won’t be a big driver of revenue growth till it scales.

FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) Pre-IPO - Mixed Bag - Fashion Growing, Beauty Slowing

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by a host of financial investors including Centurium, Carlyle, CDH, CPE, NWS, Ping An, Goldman Sachs and Yili.As per iResearch, ANE’s network was the largest in China in terms of total freight volume over 2017-20 with a market share of 17.2% in 2020.By Dec 2020, it had collaborated with approximately 26,400 freight partners and agents to serve 3.6m shippers across approximately 96% of the counties and townships in China. Both the freight partners and freight agents operate under its brand and are required to adhere to its service guidelines and policies. ANE’s overall volume and top line growth has been decent. However, not all of its offerings have been growing, while some of its revenue growth was driven by accounting changes. We covered various aspects of the deal in our earlier note <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/ane-logistics-pre-ipo-margins-expanding-but-appears-to-be-falling-behind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - Margins expanding but appears to be falling behind</a>. In this note we will talk about the updated financials from the PHIP.

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO. The company is backed by a host of financial investors including Centurium, Carlyle, CDH, CPE, NWS, Ping An, Goldman Sachs and Yili.As per iResearch, ANE’s network was the largest in China in terms of total freight volume over 2017-20 with a market share of 17.2% in 2020.By Dec 2020, it had collaborated with approximately 26,400 freight partners and agents to serve 3.6m shippers across approximately 96% of the counties and townships in China. Both the freight partners and freight agents operate under its brand and are required to adhere to its service guidelines and policies. ANE’s overall volume and top line growth has been decent. However, not all of its offerings have been growing, while some of its revenue growth was driven by accounting changes. We covered various aspects of the deal in our earlier note ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - Margins expanding but appears to be falling behind. In this note we will talk about the updated financials from the PHIP.

ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - PHIP Updates - Underlying Growth Is Far from Clear

Overseas Chinese Equities, Aequitas Research

Ming Lu

Overseas Chinese Equities

<ul>
<li>PDD made profit for the first time after IPO.</li>
<li>PDD shrank its direct sales.</li>
<li>PDD stopped actively accumulating users.</li>
<li>We believe total revenue will grow by 45% in 2022.</li>
<li>We believe PDD's operating margin will turn positive in 2022.</li>
<li>We also believe PDD’s stock price has a downside of 15%.</li>
</ul>


PDD made profit for the first time after IPO.
PDD shrank its direct sales.
PDD stopped actively accumulating users.
We believe total revenue will grow by 45% in 2022.
We believe PDD's operating margin will turn positive in 2022.
We also believe PDD’s stock price has a downside of 15%.


Pinduoduo (PDD): Made Profit After Giving up Direct Sales and User Accumulation

Silver Point

Thomas J. Monaco

Silver Point is a boutique research firm that focuses on the broader financial services sector, with a particular focus on troubled institutions globally. 

Asia Ex Japan

*Being “Seriously Dealt” With: No sooner than Tencent Holdings’ (700.HK) [Tencent] virtual call ended with a competitor dismissing new gaming restrictions did the mainland Chinese regulator haul in gaming industry executives for a complete dressing down. It’s probably fair to say, Tencent’s recent hubris was their Jack Ma moment. It kind of makes one wonder what the authorities have planned next for Tencent. As the screws continue to tighten, the question becomes whether or not Tencent can narrow the regulatory discount, or whether these issues will remain a persistent overhang?; *As We’ve Just Learned - Ignoring It, Doesn’t Make It Go Away: Mainland China's crackdown on capital markets activities has rapidly expanded under the broad narrative of "financial stability". There remains no doubt, in our view, that Tencent will follow Alibaba Group (BABA.US) [Alibaba] in the formation of a financial holding company. It’s pretty surprising that Tencent refuses to discuss this matter when financial services are the largest component of earnings and growth; and *Prior To The War On Gaming, Results Have Already Deteriorated: Tencent’s 2Q21 GAAP net income declined CNY 5.2 bn (10.8%) linked quarter – and were of poor quality. Results were challenged by: cost of revenue increase; operating expense increase; losses in associates; higher impairment charges; and weaker online games. Were it not for the artificially lower tax rate, results would have been even more challenged.

*Being “Seriously Dealt” With: No sooner than Tencent Holdings’ (700.HK) [Tencent] virtual call ended with a competitor dismissing new gaming restrictions did the mainland Chinese regulator haul in gaming industry executives for a complete dressing down. It’s probably fair to say, Tencent’s recent hubris was their Jack Ma moment. It kind of makes one wonder what the authorities have planned next for Tencent. As the screws continue to tighten, the question becomes whether or not Tencent can narrow the regulatory discount, or whether these issues will remain a persistent overhang?; *As We’ve Just Learned - Ignoring It, Doesn’t Make It Go Away: Mainland China's crackdown on capital markets activities has rapidly expanded under the broad narrative of "financial stability". There remains no doubt, in our view, that Tencent will follow Alibaba Group (BABA.US) [Alibaba] in the formation of a financial holding company. It’s pretty surprising that Tencent refuses to discuss this matter when financial services are the largest component of earnings and growth; and *Prior To The War On Gaming, Results Have Already Deteriorated: Tencent’s 2Q21 GAAP net income declined CNY 5.2 bn (10.8%) linked quarter – and were of poor quality. Results were challenged by: cost of revenue increase; operating expense increase; losses in associates; higher impairment charges; and weaker online games. Were it not for the artificially lower tax rate, results would have been even more challenged.    

Tencent Holdings – Modern Day Opium War

China

PDD Holdings Inc. is a multinational commerce group that owns and operates a portfolio of businesses. The Company focuses on digital economy so that local communities and small businesses can benefit from the increased productivity and new opportunities. PDD Holdings has built a network of sourcing, logistics, and fulfillment capabilities for its underlying businesses.

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PDD Holdings (PDD US)

FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) Pre-IPO - Mixed Bag - Fashion Growing, Beauty Slowing

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$550m, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Indian IPO.

Sumeet Singh

ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - PHIP Updates - Underlying Growth Is Far from Clear

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO.

Sumeet Singh

Pinduoduo (PDD): Made Profit After Giving up Direct Sales and User Accumulation

PDD made profit for the first time, because PDD shrank its direct sales and stopped accumulating users. We believe revenue will grow by 45% and the...

Ming Lu

Tencent Holdings – Modern Day Opium War

TENCENT HOLDINGS: The mainland Chinese regulator hauled in gaming industry executives for a complete dressing down over the recent August gaming...

Thomas J. Monaco

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52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

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Alibaba: How Much Core Market Share Loss Has Been Priced In?

In this insight, I analyse Chinese retail sales and digital advertising market share changes and what is implied by Alibaba’s current valuation...

Wium Malan, CFA

FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) Pre-IPO - Mixed Bag - Fashion Growing, Beauty Slowing

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$550m, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Indian IPO.

Sumeet Singh

ANE Logistics Pre-IPO - PHIP Updates - Underlying Growth Is Far from Clear

ANE, an express freight network operator in China for less-than-truckload (LTL) market, aims to raise around US$500m in its Hong Kong IPO.

Sumeet Singh

Pinduoduo (PDD): Made Profit After Giving up Direct Sales and User Accumulation

PDD made profit for the first time, because PDD shrank its direct sales and stopped accumulating users. We believe revenue will grow by 45% and the...

Ming Lu

Tencent Holdings – Modern Day Opium War

TENCENT HOLDINGS: The mainland Chinese regulator hauled in gaming industry executives for a complete dressing down over the recent August gaming...

Thomas J. Monaco