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

Rakuten Securities / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rakuten-securities-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:39933:1" rel="noopener">Rakuten Securities (RAKUSEC JP)</a>, the online securities arm of Rakuten, aims to raise around US$500m (estimated) in its Japan listing.</li>
<li>It is the largest online securities firm in Japan with a 33.7% market share. In FY22, it had over 8.64m accounts, with around JPY18.2tn (US$131bn) of assets under custody.</li>
<li>In this note, we talk about the positive aspects of the deal.</li>
</ul>



Rakuten Securities (RAKUSEC JP), the online securities arm of Rakuten, aims to raise around US$500m (estimated) in its Japan listing.
It is the largest online securities firm in Japan with a 33.7% market share. In FY22, it had over 8.64m accounts, with around JPY18.2tn (US$131bn) of assets under custody.
In this note, we talk about the positive aspects of the deal.


Rakuten Securities IPO Early Look - The Positives - Has Been Gaining Market Share

China/Asia TMT

Shawn Yang

China growth and global non-US Internet equities

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Blue Lotus Research is a Hong Kong Type 4 Licensed investment advisory firm focusing on Chinese growth equities and global non-US Internet equities

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Futu reported 1Q23 revenue 12.7%/14.8% higher than our est./cons., non-GAAP NI 21.2%/19.5% higher than our est./cons., mainly due to strong margin financing and security lending activities during volatile market; </li>
<li>Futu’s operation and client trading behaviours remain steady in 1Q23 after the implement of rectification measures from regulators. </li>
<li>On the other side, overseas expansion in Japan and Malaysia may start to kick-off in 2H23; We maintain BUY rating on FUTU and maintain TP at US$51.  </li>
</ul>


Futu reported 1Q23 revenue 12.7%/14.8% higher than our est./cons., non-GAAP NI 21.2%/19.5% higher than our est./cons., mainly due to strong margin financing and security lending activities during volatile market; 
Futu’s operation and client trading behaviours remain steady in 1Q23 after the implement of rectification measures from regulators. 
On the other side, overseas expansion in Japan and Malaysia may start to kick-off in 2H23; We maintain BUY rating on FUTU and maintain TP at US$51.  


[Futu Holdings (FUTU US, BUY, TP US$51) Review]: A Resilient Quarter Under Regulatory Pressure

<ul>
<li>Futu announced to remove the Futubull app in Mainland China in order to fully compliance with the CSRC rectification measures, while the existing paying clients’ trading activities are unimpacted.</li>
<li>We think the movement is consistent with CSRC’s previous statements, and thus maintain our 5% user churn rate in 2023 unchanged.</li>
<li>We think the full implementation of penalty fine on Futu is unfair. We expect a symbolic fine to be imposed on Futu in the future.</li>
</ul>


Futu announced to remove the Futubull app in Mainland China in order to fully compliance with the CSRC rectification measures, while the existing paying clients’ trading activities are unimpacted.
We think the movement is consistent with CSRC’s previous statements, and thus maintain our 5% user churn rate in 2023 unchanged.
We think the full implementation of penalty fine on Futu is unfair. We expect a symbolic fine to be imposed on Futu in the future.


[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Company Update]: Futu App Removal Moves One Step to Final Resolution

<ul>
<li>We expect Futu to report 1Q23 revenue in-line with consensus, while net income beat consensus by 4.2%, mainly due to less operating expenses.  </li>
<li>The next catalysts in 2023 could be 1) gradual market share gain in HK region, 2) potential new markets in Japan and Southeast Asia. </li>
<li>We maintain BUY rating on FUTU and maintain TP at US$51.  </li>
</ul>


We expect Futu to report 1Q23 revenue in-line with consensus, while net income beat consensus by 4.2%, mainly due to less operating expenses.  
The next catalysts in 2023 could be 1) gradual market share gain in HK region, 2) potential new markets in Japan and Southeast Asia. 
We maintain BUY rating on FUTU and maintain TP at US$51.  


[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Earnings Preview]: Steady Operation Albeit Regulation Concern Overhang

<ul>
<li>FUTU reported 4Q22 revenue 4.1%/10.6% above our est./cons., gross profit  in-line with our estimate and beat consensus by 7.7%, and non-GAAP net income 8.6%/21.8% above our est./cons.  </li>
<li>Although it had experienced client asset outflow due to regulation concerns and weak market performance, we did not observe further deteriorate trend.</li>
<li>We maintain BUY rating on FUTU and maintain TP at US$51.</li>
</ul>


FUTU reported 4Q22 revenue 4.1%/10.6% above our est./cons., gross profit  in-line with our estimate and beat consensus by 7.7%, and non-GAAP net income 8.6%/21.8% above our est./cons.  
Although it had experienced client asset outflow due to regulation concerns and weak market performance, we did not observe further deteriorate trend.
We maintain BUY rating on FUTU and maintain TP at US$51.


[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Earnings Review]: Asset Outflow Has Limited Impact on Financial

United States

Futu Holdings Limited operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, offers an online brokerage platform that enables individual investors to trade in listed stocks. Futu Holdings serves customers in the United States, China, and Hong Kong.

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Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU US)

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US, BUY, TP US$51) Review]: A Resilient Quarter Under Regulatory Pressure

Futu reported 1Q23 revenue 12.7%/14.8% higher than our est./cons., non-GAAP NI 21.2%/19.5% higher than our est./cons., mainly due to strong margin...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Company Update]: Futu App Removal Moves One Step to Final Resolution

Futu announced to remove the Futubull app in Mainland China. We think the movement is consistent with CSRC’s previous statements, and thus maintain...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Earnings Preview]: Steady Operation Albeit Regulation Concern Overhang

The next catalysts in 2023 could be 1) gradual market share gain in HK region, 2) potential new markets in Japan and Southeast Asia. We maintain...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Earnings Review]: Asset Outflow Has Limited Impact on Financial

Although it had experienced client asset outflow due to regulation concerns and weak market performance, we did not observe further deteriorate...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Rakuten Securities IPO Early Look - The Positives - Has Been Gaining Market Share

Rakuten Securities, the online securities arm of Rakuten, aims to raise around US$500m (estimated) in its Japan listing.

Sumeet Singh

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US, BUY, TP US$51) Review]: A Resilient Quarter Under Regulatory Pressure

Futu reported 1Q23 revenue 12.7%/14.8% higher than our est./cons., non-GAAP NI 21.2%/19.5% higher than our est./cons., mainly due to strong margin...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Company Update]: Futu App Removal Moves One Step to Final Resolution

Futu announced to remove the Futubull app in Mainland China. We think the movement is consistent with CSRC’s previous statements, and thus maintain...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Earnings Preview]: Steady Operation Albeit Regulation Concern Overhang

The next catalysts in 2023 could be 1) gradual market share gain in HK region, 2) potential new markets in Japan and Southeast Asia. We maintain...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

[Futu Holdings (FUTU US) Earnings Review]: Asset Outflow Has Limited Impact on Financial

Although it had experienced client asset outflow due to regulation concerns and weak market performance, we did not observe further deteriorate...

Blue Lotus Research Institute