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.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>We explore Klarna’s and Stripe’s IPO prospects and valuations based on recent share transactions; Nuvei and Cielo are close to being taken private, with Worldpay now controlled by private equity</li>
<li>Nuvei and Worldpay both grew by acquisition but failed to deliver on the market’s expected returns, in our view, ending up under PE ownership; is Nexi a potential PE target?</li>
<li>We retain Visa as a core holding and also keep PagSeguro and PayPal as buys, replacing Cielo with new peer group addition Shift4; we keep our sell rating on Affirm</li>
</ul>


We explore Klarna’s and Stripe’s IPO prospects and valuations based on recent share transactions; Nuvei and Cielo are close to being taken private, with Worldpay now controlled by private equity
Nuvei and Worldpay both grew by acquisition but failed to deliver on the market’s expected returns, in our view, ending up under PE ownership; is Nexi a potential PE target?
We retain Visa as a core holding and also keep PagSeguro and PayPal as buys, replacing Cielo with new peer group addition Shift4; we keep our sell rating on Affirm


Payment Companies – Potential IPOs, Select Companies Being Taken Private and Sector Overview

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>In 2H23 our longs Visa and PagSeguro delivered positive returns, whilst PayPal was in negative territory; among our shorts, Kakao Pay was modestly successful, DLocal and Affirm continued to appreciate</li>
<li>We retain card network megacap Visa as a core holding, and keep PagSeguro and PayPal adding Cielo to the buy list</li>
<li>We keep our negative views on DLocal and Affirm, and remove Kakao Pay from the sell list for its less marked price-to-sales multiple valuation</li>
</ul>


In 2H23 our longs Visa and PagSeguro delivered positive returns, whilst PayPal was in negative territory; among our shorts, Kakao Pay was modestly successful, DLocal and Affirm continued to appreciate
We retain card network megacap Visa as a core holding, and keep PagSeguro and PayPal adding Cielo to the buy list
We keep our negative views on DLocal and Affirm, and remove Kakao Pay from the sell list for its less marked price-to-sales multiple valuation


Payment Companies – Our High Conviction Calls for 1H 2024

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Once again, our shorts – especially Kakao Pay and Paytm – were more successful than our longs, given the protracted turbulent market conditions</li>
<li>For 2023, we favour Visa in the card network megacaps, adding Wise to the buys and we stick with PagSeguro; we drop Nexi from the buy list</li>
<li>Among our shorts, we stick with our negative view on DLocal, given its high take-rate and demanding valuations, and we stay negative on Kakao Pay due to its fundamental over-valuation</li>
</ul>


Once again, our shorts – especially Kakao Pay and Paytm – were more successful than our longs, given the protracted turbulent market conditions
For 2023, we favour Visa in the card network megacaps, adding Wise to the buys and we stick with PagSeguro; we drop Nexi from the buy list
Among our shorts, we stick with our negative view on DLocal, given its high take-rate and demanding valuations, and we stay negative on Kakao Pay due to its fundamental over-valuation


Payment Companies – 2022 in Review, Our High Conviction Calls for 2023

<ul>
<li>Brazil caps interchange fees on prepaid and debit cards, as from 1st April 2023, limiting revenues for Brazilian card issuers; Nubank and Inter seem most exposed, less so PagSeguro</li>
<li>We expect that Brazil fintechs StoneCo and Cielo, with their small card issuance operations, should be broadly unaffected</li>
<li>Nubank’s prospective revenue hit is more than 5%, Inter close to 5% and PagSeguro’s hit at 1-2%; we remain negative on Nubank, turn cautious on Inter, but find PagSeguro attractive</li>
</ul>


Brazil caps interchange fees on prepaid and debit cards, as from 1st April 2023, limiting revenues for Brazilian card issuers; Nubank and Inter seem most exposed, less so PagSeguro
We expect that Brazil fintechs StoneCo and Cielo, with their small card issuance operations, should be broadly unaffected
Nubank’s prospective revenue hit is more than 5%, Inter close to 5% and PagSeguro’s hit at 1-2%; we remain negative on Nubank, turn cautious on Inter, but find PagSeguro attractive


Brazil Fintech: New Cap on Card Interchange Fees, Nubank and Inter Look Most Exposed

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

<ul>
<li>This is now the third Int'l Compass/third week in a row where we are discussing an increasing number of country indexes experiencing bullish 3.5-9-month downtrend reversals.</li>
<li>Importantly, all of the previously mentioned indexes are holding above their breakout levels (i.e., there has yet to be any failed breakouts).</li>
<li>Now, the U.S. dollar (DXY) is starting to show early signs of topping. We continue to believe that global equities are going through a bottoming process.</li>
</ul>


This is now the third Int'l Compass/third week in a row where we are discussing an increasing number of country indexes experiencing bullish 3.5-9-month downtrend reversals.
Importantly, all of the previously mentioned indexes are holding above their breakout levels (i.e., there has yet to be any failed breakouts).
Now, the U.S. dollar (DXY) is starting to show early signs of topping. We continue to believe that global equities are going through a bottoming process.


U.S. Dollar Topping?; Bullish Reversals Continue; Ideas in Growth/Cyclicals, Financials

Brazil

Cielo SA is an electronic payment solutions company based in Brazil and Latin America. The Company is responsible for accreditation of commercial establishments, capture, transmission, processing and settlement of transactions made with credit cards and debit cards as well as network management services.

Cielo SA (CIEL3 BZ)

Payment Companies – Potential IPOs, Select Companies Being Taken Private and Sector Overview

In payments, PagSeguro, Visa, PayPal and Shift4 are buys while Affirm remains a sell. Klarna and Stripe prep for their IPOs, Nuvei and Cielo are...

Victor Galliano

Payment Companies – Our High Conviction Calls for 1H 2024

In payments, we stick with Visa, PayPal and PagSeguro, adding Cielo to the buy list; we remain negative on DLocal and Affirm, removing Kakao Pay...

Victor Galliano

Payment Companies – 2022 in Review, Our High Conviction Calls for 2023

For 2023, we favour Visa in the card network megacaps, adding Wise to the buys and we stick with PagSeguro; for shorts, we remain negative on...

Victor Galliano

Brazil Fintech: New Cap on Card Interchange Fees, Nubank and Inter Look Most Exposed

Regulatory pressure, due to the interchange fee cap, worsens the revenue outlook for Nubank especially, as well as that of Inter; we see...

Victor Galliano

U.S. Dollar Topping?; Bullish Reversals Continue; Ideas in Growth/Cyclicals, Financials

This is now the third week in a row where we are discussing an increasing number of country indexes with bullish 3.5-9-month downtrend reversals,...

Vermilion Research