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>Block, the parent company of brands like Square and Cash App, has reported its third-quarter financial results for 2024, revealing a noteworthy performance with both achievements and challenges.</li><li>This analysis provides a balanced examination of the outcomes and outlook for the company, incorporating insights from their latest earnings call.</li><li>Block's third-quarter results exhibited robust growth, with a significant increase in gross profit, reaching $2.25 billion, up 19% compared to the previous year.</li></ul>

Block, the parent company of brands like Square and Cash App, has reported its third-quarter financial results for 2024, revealing a noteworthy performance with both achievements and challenges.This analysis provides a balanced examination of the outcomes and outlook for the company, incorporating insights from their latest earnings call.Block's third-quarter results exhibited robust growth, with a significant increase in gross profit, reaching $2.25 billion, up 19% compared to the previous year.

Block Inc.: Will Its Integration of Bitcoin Strategy Be A Breakthrough Move? - Major Drivers

<ul><li>Block, Inc., the parent company to Block and Cash App, delivered robust results in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting strong growth in key business areas aligned with strategic initiatives.</li><li>The company reported a gross profit of $2.23 billion, marking a 20% year-over-year increase.</li><li>The Cash App segment notably outperformed, contributing a gross profit of $1.3 billion, up 23% year-over-year, thanks to the robust performance of the Cash App Card, Cash App Borrow, and Buy Now, Pay Later services.</li></ul>

Block, Inc., the parent company to Block and Cash App, delivered robust results in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting strong growth in key business areas aligned with strategic initiatives.The company reported a gross profit of $2.23 billion, marking a 20% year-over-year increase.The Cash App segment notably outperformed, contributing a gross profit of $1.3 billion, up 23% year-over-year, thanks to the robust performance of the Cash App Card, Cash App Borrow, and Buy Now, Pay Later services.

Block Inc.: Focus on Banking Products and Direct Deposit Services & Other Major Drivers

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

<ul>
<li>Tencent has been busy distributing shares in some of its investments over the past two years, with JD.com’s distribution announced in 2021 and Meituan’s in 2022.</li>
<li>In our earlier note in 2022, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tencent-investee-selldown-the-us-120bn-global-overhang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:81153" rel="noopener">Tencent Investee Selldown - The US$120bn Global Overhang</a>, we had looked at its overall investment portfolio.</li>
<li>With two of its large investments spun-out, we now re-look at Tencent’s shareholding in various companies to try and gauge which ones it could sell out of and how. </li>
</ul>


Tencent has been busy distributing shares in some of its investments over the past two years, with JD.com’s distribution announced in 2021 and Meituan’s in 2022.
In our earlier note in 2022, Tencent Investee Selldown - The US$120bn Global Overhang, we had looked at its overall investment portfolio.
With two of its large investments spun-out, we now re-look at Tencent’s shareholding in various companies to try and gauge which ones it could sell out of and how. 


Tencent Investee Selldown - JD.com Done, Meituan Done, Two More Still Left

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

<ul>
<li>In December 2021, buy-now, pay-later outfit <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/humm-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:35366:1" rel="noopener">humm (HUM AU)</a> announced approaches from third parties to acquire all/part of the company. This was discussed in<a href="https://skr.ma/CkbrE" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> BNPL Play Hummgroup Fields Proposals</a>. </li>
<li>Six months later, a proposed sale of Humm Consumer Finance business to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/latitude-group-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26740:1" rel="noopener">Latitude (LFS AU)</a> was terminated, before the scheduled vote, due to opposition from founder/chairman Andrew Abercrombie. </li>
<li>Now the Abercrombie Group (TAG), the family office of Andrew Abercrombie, has tabled a A$0.58/share non-binding Offer, in cash, by way of a Scheme. Abercrombie hold 26.6%.</li>
</ul>


In December 2021, buy-now, pay-later outfit humm (HUM AU) announced approaches from third parties to acquire all/part of the company. This was discussed in BNPL Play Hummgroup Fields Proposals. 
Six months later, a proposed sale of Humm Consumer Finance business to Latitude (LFS AU) was terminated, before the scheduled vote, due to opposition from founder/chairman Andrew Abercrombie. 
Now the Abercrombie Group (TAG), the family office of Andrew Abercrombie, has tabled a A$0.58/share non-binding Offer, in cash, by way of a Scheme. Abercrombie hold 26.6%.


Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xero-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:390:1" rel="noopener">Xero Ltd (XRO AU)</a>  plans to raise around US$1.2bn via an institutional placement to partly fund the US$2.5bn acquisition for Melio.</li>
<li>The US market has been a growth dampener for Xero for a while. The acquisition is large but might not be a game changer.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.</li>
</ul>



Xero Ltd (XRO AU)  plans to raise around US$1.2bn via an institutional placement to partly fund the US$2.5bn acquisition for Melio.
The US market has been a growth dampener for Xero for a while. The acquisition is large but might not be a game changer.
In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.


Xero US1.2bn Placement - Trying to Jump Start US, Again. Might Not Be a Game Changer.

United States

Block, Inc. operates as a financial services and digital payments company. The Company develops a payments platform aimed at small and medium businesses that allows them to accept credit card payments and use tablet computers as payment registers for a point-of-sale system. Block also provides financial and marketing services.

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Block (XYZ US)

Block Inc.: Will Its Integration of Bitcoin Strategy Be A Breakthrough Move? - Major Drivers

Block, the parent company of brands like Square and Cash App, has reported its third-quarter financial results for 2024, revealing a noteworthy...

Baptista Research

Block Inc.: Focus on Banking Products and Direct Deposit Services & Other Major Drivers

Block, Inc., the parent company to Block and Cash App, delivered robust results in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting strong growth in key...

Baptista Research

Tencent Investee Selldown - JD.com Done, Meituan Done, Two More Still Left

Tencent has been distributing shares in some of its investments over the past two years. In this note, we look at which of its remaining investee...

Sumeet Singh

Humm Group (HUM AU): Chairman's NBIO

humm is engaged. Yet terms remain indicative. If small, illiquid arbs are your thing, I might pay up to A$0.54/share, assuming payment around the...

David Blennerhassett

Xero US1.2bn Placement - Trying to Jump Start US, Again. Might Not Be a Game Changer.

Xero Ltd (XRO AU) plans to raise around US$1.2bn via an institutional placement to partly fund the US$2.5bn acquisition for Melio.

Sumeet Singh

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