Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>As discussed in our previous Int'l Compass (June 29, 2023), we are bullish on global equities (MSCI ACWI) as long as ACWI-US is above $93, targeting $110</li>
<li>Bullish developments have continued: DXY breaking below $101-$101.50, RS bottoming for small-caps, MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. (ACWX-US) 1+ year breakout above $50, Italy's FTSE MIB breaking above multi-year resistance at 28,100.</li>
<li>This is only further evidence supporting our bullish outlook. We are getting the breakout above 4400-4415 on the EURO STOXX 50 that we've been expecting. Buys in Energy, Materials, Financials</li>
</ul>


As discussed in our previous Int'l Compass (June 29, 2023), we are bullish on global equities (MSCI ACWI) as long as ACWI-US is above $93, targeting $110
Bullish developments have continued: DXY breaking below $101-$101.50, RS bottoming for small-caps, MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. (ACWX-US) 1+ year breakout above $50, Italy's FTSE MIB breaking above multi-year resistance at 28,100.
This is only further evidence supporting our bullish outlook. We are getting the breakout above 4400-4415 on the EURO STOXX 50 that we've been expecting. Buys in Energy, Materials, Financials


Bullish Developments Continue; MSCI ACWI Ex-US 1-Yr Breakout; Buys in Energy, Materials, Financials

Financials & FinTech research, Galliano’s Financials Research

Victor Galliano

Financials & FinTech research

Financials & FinTech, EM & Developed Markets

Galliano’s Financials Research

Galliano's Financials Research provides fundamental research in Emerging Markets financials, including FinTech, as well as financials in select Developed Markets.

The investment style applied is generally value oriented, although Growth At Reasonable Price (GARP) strategies can also be used where appropriate. 

Our investment research approach aim is often contrarian, looking to capitalise on overly sceptical or optimistic consensus views. In terms of valuation techniques, the focus is on PBV ratio to ROE, PE multiples and dividend yield, as well as the application of PEG ratios and, where appropriate, Sum of the Parts (SOTP) valuations.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>The investor rotation into value focusing in on EM and DM banks; our key picks are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/credicorp-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25963:1" rel="noopener">Credicorp Ltd (BAP US)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/turkiye-garanti-bankasi-as" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:25026:1" rel="noopener">Turkiye Garanti Bankasi As (GARAN TI)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/commercial-international-bank" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27625:1" rel="noopener">Commercial International Bank (COMI EY)</a> in EM banks, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/unicredit-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21234:1" rel="noopener">UniCredit SpA (UCG IM)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/caixabank-sa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21255:1" rel="noopener">CaixaBank SA (CABK SM)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bper-banca-s-p-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21165:1" rel="noopener">BPER Banca S.p.A (BPE IM)</a> in Southern Europe banks</li>
<li>Exchanges and Big Data, the convergence; <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/intercontinental-exchange-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10221:1" rel="noopener">Intercontinental Exchange (ICE US)</a> is strong on recurring revenues, and both ICE and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/s-p-global-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9735:1" rel="noopener">S&amp;P Global Inc. (SPGI US)</a> should deliver shareholder value creation from transformative M&amp;A</li>
<li>Potential for premium growth and returns in digital payments; we like <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nexi-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28921:1" rel="noopener">Nexi SpA (NEXI IM)</a>, where we see clear benefits from its M&amp;A, and we see <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/paypal-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4747:1" rel="noopener">Paypal Holdings (PYPL US)</a> as a core holding</li>
<li>Digital wealth managers focus on the mass affluent; <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/finecobank-banca-fineco-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21188:1" rel="noopener">Finecobank Banca Fineco (FBK IM)</a> stands out in Europe, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xp-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28619:1" rel="noopener">XP Inc (XP US)</a> is the leader in Brazil but looks over-valued and exposed to increased competition, in our view</li>
<li>Risks to our positive views on our themes includes slower than expected growth in digital payments, transactions and increased regulation on big data; a slower than expected global GDP recovery also could adversely impact bank fundamentals</li>
</ul>


The investor rotation into value focusing in on EM and DM banks; our key picks are Credicorp Ltd (BAP US), Turkiye Garanti Bankasi As (GARAN TI), Commercial International Bank (COMI EY) in EM banks, and UniCredit SpA (UCG IM), CaixaBank SA (CABK SM), and BPER Banca S.p.A (BPE IM) in Southern Europe banks
Exchanges and Big Data, the convergence; Intercontinental Exchange (ICE US) is strong on recurring revenues, and both ICE and S&amp;P Global Inc. (SPGI US) should deliver shareholder value creation from transformative M&amp;A
Potential for premium growth and returns in digital payments; we like Nexi SpA (NEXI IM), where we see clear benefits from its M&amp;A, and we see Paypal Holdings (PYPL US) as a core holding
Digital wealth managers focus on the mass affluent; Finecobank Banca Fineco (FBK IM) stands out in Europe, XP Inc (XP US) is the leader in Brazil but looks over-valued and exposed to increased competition, in our view
Risks to our positive views on our themes includes slower than expected growth in digital payments, transactions and increased regulation on big data; a slower than expected global GDP recovery also could adversely impact bank fundamentals


FinTech & Financial Investment Themes 2021

<ul>
<li>The elephant in the Italian bank M&amp;A room is government controlled <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/banca-monte-dei-paschi-di-siena" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21162:1" rel="noopener">Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS IM)</a>, which needs to find a merger partner in 2021; will that be <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/unicredit-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21234:1" rel="noopener">UniCredit SpA (UCG IM)</a>, post-Mustier, and who could be its new CEO?</li>
<li>We believe that, in the event of a Unicredit acquisition of BMPS, it would require meaningful “government sponsorship”; in effect, for BMPS, pre-deal, to dispose of the bulk of its NPLs – which is underway – and for a capital infusion that renders the deal to be capital neutral for Unicredit</li>
<li>The other big M&amp;A unknowns relate to the listed mid-cap banks especially <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/banco-bpm-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28121:1" rel="noopener">Banco BPM SpA (BAMI IM)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/bper-banca-s-p-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21165:1" rel="noopener">BPER Banca S.p.A (BPE IM)</a>; these banks need to cut costs and branch networks, which can be more readily incorporated into a merger restructuring plan</li>
<li>We believe that the risk of a BMPS acquisition is largely priced into Unicredit shares, and we expect its wide PBV discount to premium valued <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/intesa-sanpaolo-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21200:1" rel="noopener">Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP IM)</a> to narrow;  our recommendation is to go long Unicredit, short Intesa</li>
<li>We think <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/credit-agricole-sa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21373:1" rel="noopener">Credit Agricole Sa (ACA FP)</a> is unlikely to sweeten the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/credito-valtellinese-spa" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21175:1" rel="noopener">Credito Valtellinese Sc (CVAL IM)</a> cash offer of €10.50 per share, and with CreVal shares trading at a 7% offer premium, there could be downside risk</li>
<li>We remain negative on Banco BPM shares, as, in the wake of the CredAg offer for CreVal, we believe that BPM’s options are limited, and that it may be the potential “back-stop” merger candidate with BMPS, in the event of no deal with Unicredit; the alternative could be a BPM-BPER merger, and we turn constructive on BPER, after its protracted underperformance</li>
<li>Risks to our view include Unicredit acquiring BMPS on worse than expected terms, with Intesa on the other hand delivering better than expected synergies and savings from the UBI integration; other risks also include a bidder emerging for BPM, as well as no merger or bid for BPER</li>
</ul>


The elephant in the Italian bank M&amp;A room is government controlled Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS IM), which needs to find a merger partner in 2021; will that be UniCredit SpA (UCG IM), post-Mustier, and who could be its new CEO?
We believe that, in the event of a Unicredit acquisition of BMPS, it would require meaningful “government sponsorship”; in effect, for BMPS, pre-deal, to dispose of the bulk of its NPLs – which is underway – and for a capital infusion that renders the deal to be capital neutral for Unicredit
The other big M&amp;A unknowns relate to the listed mid-cap banks especially Banco BPM SpA (BAMI IM) and BPER Banca S.p.A (BPE IM); these banks need to cut costs and branch networks, which can be more readily incorporated into a merger restructuring plan
We believe that the risk of a BMPS acquisition is largely priced into Unicredit shares, and we expect its wide PBV discount to premium valued Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP IM) to narrow;  our recommendation is to go long Unicredit, short Intesa
We think Credit Agricole Sa (ACA FP) is unlikely to sweeten the Credito Valtellinese Sc (CVAL IM) cash offer of €10.50 per share, and with CreVal shares trading at a 7% offer premium, there could be downside risk
We remain negative on Banco BPM shares, as, in the wake of the CredAg offer for CreVal, we believe that BPM’s options are limited, and that it may be the potential “back-stop” merger candidate with BMPS, in the event of no deal with Unicredit; the alternative could be a BPM-BPER merger, and we turn constructive on BPER, after its protracted underperformance
Risks to our view include Unicredit acquiring BMPS on worse than expected terms, with Intesa on the other hand delivering better than expected synergies and savings from the UBI integration; other risks also include a bidder emerging for BPM, as well as no merger or bid for BPER


Italian Banks M&A Scenarios: The Italian Job in 2021

Research and consultancy, Tabbush Report

Daniel Tabbush

Research and consultancy

Tabbush Report

We provide research and consultancy on Asian banks. Our focus is on what we call “Asian bank research, without the noise.” We are interested in the most critical swing-factors for banks, the NPL and credit cycle, and where we believe there is a gap between perception and reality. We often focus on the less studied components of bank financial statements.  Our research is highly thematic, sometimes examining unlisted banks and companies as a window on mainstream banks. 

Being independent allows us to look at smaller banks, often overlooked by others. Analysis of BIS bank guidelines in the context of Asia, is also a focal point, while we also analyze global banks operating in the region. We use what we believe is the most comprehensive, reliable financials database, SNL Financial. S&P Capital IQ augments our database, with corporate data and CEIC, with economics. 

Asian bank research, without the noise.

<p>The European Central Bank (ECB) provided EUR1.3tr to banks at a negative interest rate, to promote, to push lending, to support economies, companies, consumers. We know from how central banks and governments are responding to the impact of shutdown, that at the margin they are doing more. Banks are the core of this, with the likely impact being better margins and volume. Where margins are incredibly low for some EU banks, this new facility can provide a sizable delta to net interest income. In turn, this helps support credit costs, which for most regions are being pushed out longer, being phased in over many more months, and unlike what was first anticipated, announced early in the year.</p>

The European Central Bank (ECB) provided EUR1.3tr to banks at a negative interest rate, to promote, to push lending, to support economies, companies, consumers. We know from how central banks and governments are responding to the impact of shutdown, that at the margin they are doing more. Banks are the core of this, with the likely impact being better margins and volume. Where margins are incredibly low for some EU banks, this new facility can provide a sizable delta to net interest income. In turn, this helps support credit costs, which for most regions are being pushed out longer, being phased in over many more months, and unlike what was first anticipated, announced early in the year.

<ul>
<li>The core investor concern on Eurozone banks has been on the dovish ECB policy and the restart of QE with its negative implications for bank credit margins, including the Italians</li>
<li>Italian banks are being proactive and successful in legacy de-risking through the disposal or recovery of NPLs, improving balance sheets and lowering their prospective cost of risk</li>
<li>In this report, we focus on the importance of the Italian NPL transactions market, and how the continuation of the government guarantee on securitizations (GACS) supports pricing of NPL disposals</li>
<li>The key concern for Italian banks’ NPL disposals is that low NPL provision coverage on disposals could result in losses and capital hits, but we estimate that disposals in 2017 and 2018 have had a limited adverse impact on core capital, with the help of recoveries</li>
<li>The challenge lies with the Unlikely to Pay (UTP) “bucket” of NPLs, with their lower coverage than the Bad Loans (BL) category; here we expect internal work-outs and restructurings to play a bigger role in unsecured UTPs portfolios, with disposals focused on secured UTPs</li>
<li>We highlight Unicredit, Banco BPM, and UBI as de-risking winners on attractive valuations; Intesa is impressive on de-risking but well discounted in its valuation, whilst we believe BMPS is an avoid</li>
<li>Core risks to our thesis are a worsening in the Italian political outlook, tougher rules on NPL coverage requirements and reduced appetite on the part of buyers for Italian NPL disposals</li>
</ul>


The core investor concern on Eurozone banks has been on the dovish ECB policy and the restart of QE with its negative implications for bank credit margins, including the Italians
Italian banks are being proactive and successful in legacy de-risking through the disposal or recovery of NPLs, improving balance sheets and lowering their prospective cost of risk
In this report, we focus on the importance of the Italian NPL transactions market, and how the continuation of the government guarantee on securitizations (GACS) supports pricing of NPL disposals
The key concern for Italian banks’ NPL disposals is that low NPL provision coverage on disposals could result in losses and capital hits, but we estimate that disposals in 2017 and 2018 have had a limited adverse impact on core capital, with the help of recoveries
The challenge lies with the Unlikely to Pay (UTP) “bucket” of NPLs, with their lower coverage than the Bad Loans (BL) category; here we expect internal work-outs and restructurings to play a bigger role in unsecured UTPs portfolios, with disposals focused on secured UTPs
We highlight Unicredit, Banco BPM, and UBI as de-risking winners on attractive valuations; Intesa is impressive on de-risking but well discounted in its valuation, whilst we believe BMPS is an avoid
Core risks to our thesis are a worsening in the Italian political outlook, tougher rules on NPL coverage requirements and reduced appetite on the part of buyers for Italian NPL disposals


Italian Banks: Legacy NPL Disposals Drive Returns Recovery

Italy

BPER Banca S.p.A. is an Italian banking group that provides a wide range of traditional banking services to individuals, corporate, and public entities. Its core activities include retail banking, corporate and investment banking, private banking, wealth management, and insurance. The company is headquartered in Modena, Italy, and was founded in 1867.

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BPER Banca (BPE IM)

Bullish Developments Continue; MSCI ACWI Ex-US 1-Yr Breakout; Buys in Energy, Materials, Financials

We remain bullish on global equities as long as $ACWI remains above $93, targeting $110; Bullish developments continue: $DXY below $101.50, small...

Vermilion Research

FinTech & Financial Investment Themes 2021

Our key 2021 investment themes and ideas in EM and S Europe banks, exchanges and data providers, digital payments companies and digital wealth...

Victor Galliano

Italian Banks M&A Scenarios: The Italian Job in 2021

Italian banks M&A is gathering and we take a largely contrarian stance on stocks; pairs trade long Unicredit, short Intesa; positive on BPER,...

Victor Galliano

European Banks – Paid to Lend

The European Central Bank (ECB) provided EUR1.3tr to banks at a negative interest rate, to promote, to push lending, to support economies,...

Daniel Tabbush

Italian Banks: Legacy NPL Disposals Drive Returns Recovery

The core investor concern on Eurozone banks has been on the dovish ECB policy and the restart of QE with its negative implications for bank credit...

Victor Galliano

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