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>This is our first report on ed-tech major, Coursera.</li>
<li>The company had a successful fourth quarter, marking a strong close to the year.</li>
<li>The company welcomed 24 million new learners in this period, bringing their base to more than 140 million and seeing an increase in annual revenue of 21% over the previous year.</li>
</ul>


This is our first report on ed-tech major, Coursera.
The company had a successful fourth quarter, marking a strong close to the year.
The company welcomed 24 million new learners in this period, bringing their base to more than 140 million and seeing an increase in annual revenue of 21% over the previous year.


Coursera Inc.: Initiation Of Coverage - What Makes This Ed-Tech Giant Tick? - Major Drivers

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst, Obex Capital Research

Aaron Gabin

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research Analyst

TMT & Consumer Independent Equity Research

Obex Capital Research

“Obex” is Latin for Barriers to Entry. Obex Capital Management’s investment philosophy is driven by an intense focus on which business model’s Barriers to Entry are able to withstand the ever increasing competitive disruption in the TMT and Consumer Sectors.

Summary: Coursera, an online education platform will see its business model decelerate faster than expected. While the TAM trajectory of online education has clearly inflected higher due to the pandemic, we think  the Coursera’s growth trajectory is being mismodeled based on 2020’s surge in signups. Coursera’s profitability is dependent on scaling its enterprise and degree customer bases. While the demand for upskilling employees is real, intense competition from LinkedIn, Pluralsight, and others may crimp growth and gross margins segment, while a lack of leverage with its content suppliers (university partners), plus edX’s open source alternative  weaken revenue sharing over time. A lack of tangible evidence of Coursera’s skills-based credentialing translating to jobs will result in underwhelming consumer growth and lack of pricing power. Downside risks around regulation and competitive incursion by tech platforms paired with an obscene valuation make a compelling short case. Base Case Valuation: $33                                  Bull Case: $57                                 Bear Case: $20<div class="content-highlight">Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.</div>

Summary: Coursera, an online education platform will see its business model decelerate faster than expected. While the TAM trajectory of online education has clearly inflected higher due to the pandemic, we think  the Coursera’s growth trajectory is being mismodeled based on 2020’s surge in signups. Coursera’s profitability is dependent on scaling its enterprise and degree customer bases. While the demand for upskilling employees is real, intense competition from LinkedIn, Pluralsight, and others may crimp growth and gross margins segment, while a lack of leverage with its content suppliers (university partners), plus edX’s open source alternative  weaken revenue sharing over time. A lack of tangible evidence of Coursera’s skills-based credentialing translating to jobs will result in underwhelming consumer growth and lack of pricing power. Downside risks around regulation and competitive incursion by tech platforms paired with an obscene valuation make a compelling short case. Base Case Valuation: $33                                  Bull Case: $57                                 Bear Case: $20Obex’s fundamental research process is focused on secular change in the TMT and Consumer sectors. We seek to differentiate between fundamental business analysis and security analysis. Before deciding if a security’s pricing and positioning merit a long or short position, we analyze the four pillars of business fundamentals (Secular Factors, TAM, Competitive Advantage, Business Model) in order to determine if this is a “good” or “not so good” opportunity.

Education Sector Analyst, Schoolhouse Solutions

Anik Siwach

Education Sector Analyst

Schoolhouse Solutions

Schoolhouse is a strategy and research provider for the Education sector. We publish differentiated reports and bespoke research on the sector, focused on private and public companies in Asia-Pacific. Our team has decades of experience working with Education companies ranging from K-12 to Tertiary and Edtech.

Strategy and Research Provider

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>EdTech Market Volatility: Docebo and Tribal Group report significant YTD gains of +27% and +32%, while Janison and LTG Group face steep declines of -59% and -45%.</li>
<li>AI Disruption and Adaptation: Chegg introduces a GPT-style assistant in response to AI challenges, while Duolingo excels with 83.1M monthly users, expanding beyond language tuition.</li>
<li>Shifts in Private Funding: Private EdTech funding declines in 2023, with strategic investors and family offices driving deals, amidst a broader reduction in venture capital investments.</li>
</ul>


EdTech Market Volatility: Docebo and Tribal Group report significant YTD gains of +27% and +32%, while Janison and LTG Group face steep declines of -59% and -45%.
AI Disruption and Adaptation: Chegg introduces a GPT-style assistant in response to AI challenges, while Duolingo excels with 83.1M monthly users, expanding beyond language tuition.
Shifts in Private Funding: Private EdTech funding declines in 2023, with strategic investors and family offices driving deals, amidst a broader reduction in venture capital investments.


Education Sector YTD: Volatility in Public Equities, PE Stalking with Take Private Offers

IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/readytech-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29105:1" rel="noopener">ReadyTech Holdings Ltd (RDY AU)</a> confirmed that it received a conditional, non-binding indicative proposal from Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) at A$4.50 per share, a 38.9% premium to the undisturbed price.</li>
<li>PEP aims to jointly work with Pemba, the largest shareholder with a 32.01% stake, on the proposal. Microequities, the second-largest shareholder, is said to oppose the offer.</li>
<li>The offer represents an all-time price high but struck at a discount to peer multiples, suggesting room for a bump. At last close, the spread to the offer is 8.4%.</li>
</ul>



ReadyTech Holdings Ltd (RDY AU) confirmed that it received a conditional, non-binding indicative proposal from Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) at A$4.50 per share, a 38.9% premium to the undisturbed price.
PEP aims to jointly work with Pemba, the largest shareholder with a 32.01% stake, on the proposal. Microequities, the second-largest shareholder, is said to oppose the offer.
The offer represents an all-time price high but struck at a discount to peer multiples, suggesting room for a bump. At last close, the spread to the offer is 8.4%.


ReadyTech’s Indicative Offer of A$4.50 from Pacific Equity Partners Good Enough?

Latest News from the World’s Leading Innovators

Granite Bay Capital

An innovation focussed investment company

Granite Bay Capital is an innovation focussed investment company with a deep focus on the companies at the leading edge of innovation across major themes such as AI, ubiquitous computing, sustainability, automation and longevity.

Headline Developments Every week there’s a new deal (or regulation) in gaming.  The Steam Deck, the Epic vs Apple case, China’s regulatory crackdowns (triggering a Tencent and Netease collapse).  Acquisitions ramp up every week (this week alone saw Roblox buy Discord competitor Guilded and Swedish game Holdco Embracer Group snap up three new developers).

Headline Developments Every week there’s a new deal (or regulation) in gaming.  The Steam Deck, the Epic vs Apple case, China’s regulatory crackdowns (triggering a Tencent and Netease collapse).  Acquisitions ramp up every week (this week alone saw Roblox buy Discord competitor Guilded and Swedish game Holdco Embracer Group snap up three new developers).

United States

Coursera, Inc. operates as an online educational company. The Company partners with universities and organizations to offer classes on their platform. Coursera serves clients worldwide.

Coursera (COUR US)

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Explore 2023's EdTech trends in our report: Duolingo's rise, Chegg's AI pivot, market volatility, and funding shifts. Essential insights for...

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ReadyTech’s Indicative Offer of A$4.50 from Pacific Equity Partners Good Enough?

The offer represents an all-time share price high but struck at a discount to peer multiples, suggesting room for a bump. At the last close, the...

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Weekly Innovation Review (WIRE) #45

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