Equity Derivatives and Volatility Specialist, Clifton Derivatives

John Ley

Equity Derivatives and Volatility Specialist

Clifton Derivatives

Independent derivative and volatility research firm focusing on events/catalysts, earnings, relative value and cross asset volatility strategies.

Equity Derivatives

<ul>
<li>There are multiple signs of overheating in Baidu trading including accelerating stock and option volumes.  </li>
<li>Skew has been driven higher by strong demand for up-strike Calls.</li>
<li>We recommend a hedge that tilts the odds in the holder’s favor while establishing the position at a credit.</li>
</ul>


There are multiple signs of overheating in Baidu trading including accelerating stock and option volumes.  
Skew has been driven higher by strong demand for up-strike Calls.
We recommend a hedge that tilts the odds in the holder’s favor while establishing the position at a credit.


Baidu (9888.HK): Overheated Trading and Skew Dynamics Highlight a Distinct Hedge Opportunity

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>EM allocations in Global funds have broken out of a multi-year range, reaching the highest level since 2019 as underweights narrow.</li>
<li>The move is led by Taiwan, China &amp; HK, and South Korea, with strong inflows and rising fund participation.</li>
<li>Despite the shift, EM exposure remains shallow and concentrated, making higher allocations a clear point of differentiation.</li>
</ul>


EM allocations in Global funds have broken out of a multi-year range, reaching the highest level since 2019 as underweights narrow.
The move is led by Taiwan, China &amp; HK, and South Korea, with strong inflows and rising fund participation.
Despite the shift, EM exposure remains shallow and concentrated, making higher allocations a clear point of differentiation.


Breaking the Range: EM Reclaims Attention in Global Portfolios

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.

Event-Driven

Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls / Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/zhejiang-sanhua-intelligent-controls-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:45277:1" rel="noopener">Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls (2050 HK)</a>, raised around US$1.4bn in its H-share listing. The lockup on its cornerstone investors is set to expire soon.</li>
<li>ZSIC is a market leader in a number of products, with commanding market share both domestically and globally.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.</li>
</ul>



Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls (2050 HK), raised around US$1.4bn in its H-share listing. The lockup on its cornerstone investors is set to expire soon.
ZSIC is a market leader in a number of products, with commanding market share both domestically and globally.
In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.


Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls IPO Lockup - US$800m Cornerstone Release

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), Mirae Asset Securities

Mirae Asset Securities

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Leading full-service brokerage firm in Vietnam. 

Content available is external broker reports authored by a third party outside the Smartkarma network and has been aggregated by an online aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed by Smartkarma in this format for user's convenience and general informational purposes only. Content does not constitute investment or financial advice and Smartkarma makes no representation or warranty regarding its accuracy or contents. Original third party author retains all copyright and other proprietary rights in the content. Access or use of third party links not controlled by Smartkarma are at the user's own risk.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>For 2Q25, Baidu reported below-consensus results, with revenue of CNY32.7bn (-4% YoY) and operating profit of CNY3.3bn (-45% YoY).</li><li>Online marketing revenue saw a sharper decline (-16% YoY), hurt by sluggish macro conditions in China and intensifying search engine competition.</li><li>Revenue from iQIYI also declined 11% YoY. In contrast, cloud revenue saw solid growth (+27% YoY). </li></ul><p><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></p>

For 2Q25, Baidu reported below-consensus results, with revenue of CNY32.7bn (-4% YoY) and operating profit of CNY3.3bn (-45% YoY).Online marketing revenue saw a sharper decline (-16% YoY), hurt by sluggish macro conditions in China and intensifying search engine competition.Revenue from iQIYI also declined 11% YoY. In contrast, cloud revenue saw solid growth (+27% YoY). Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Baidu (9888 HK/Hold)Accelerating Earnings Slowdown

Index Rebal Trades & Special Situations, Quiddity Advisors

Janaghan Jeyakumar, CFA

Index Rebal Trades & Special Situations

Quiddity Advisors

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>The HSCEI serves as a benchmark to reflect the overall performance of the top 50 "Mainland China" securities listed in Hong Kong.</li>
<li>The official index changes and indicative weights for the June 2025 index rebal event will be announced on Friday 16th May 2025.</li>
<li>We continue to expect zero index changes for June 2025 but we estimate there to be capping flows of US$396mn one-way.</li>
</ul>


The HSCEI serves as a benchmark to reflect the overall performance of the top 50 "Mainland China" securities listed in Hong Kong.
The official index changes and indicative weights for the June 2025 index rebal event will be announced on Friday 16th May 2025.
We continue to expect zero index changes for June 2025 but we estimate there to be capping flows of US$396mn one-way.


Quiddity Leaderboard HSCEI Jun25: US$396mn One-Way; Announcement Tomorrow

China

Baidu, Inc. operates an Internet search engine. The Company offers algorithmic search, enterprise search, news, MP3, and image searches, voice assistance, online storage, and navigation services. Baidu serves clients globally.

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Baidu (9888 HK)

Baidu (9888.HK): Overheated Trading and Skew Dynamics Highlight a Distinct Hedge Opportunity

Trading momentum and skew highlight overheating in Baidu, where a hedge can be structured to tilt odds toward the holder while entering at a credit.

John Ley

Breaking the Range: EM Reclaims Attention in Global Portfolios

EM allocations are breaking out in Global portfolios, led by Taiwan and China & HK. Underweights are narrowing, but exposure remains...

Steven Holden

Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls IPO Lockup - US$800m Cornerstone Release

Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls (2050 HK), raised around US$1.4bn in its H-share listing. The lockup on its cornerstone investors is set to...

Sumeet Singh

Baidu (9888 HK/Hold)Accelerating Earnings Slowdown

For 2Q25, Baidu reported below-consensus results, with revenue of CNY32.7bn (-4% YoY) and operating profit of CNY3.3bn (-45% YoY).

Mirae Asset Securities

Quiddity Leaderboard HSCEI Jun25: US$396mn One-Way; Announcement Tomorrow

NetEase (9999 HK), Baidu (9888 HK), and Trip.com Group (9961 HK) are likely to see their free float-adjusted factors get revised upwards and...

Janaghan Jeyakumar, CFA

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