Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Research from Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Equity Research Firm

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Our monthly WTR restaurant and retail report focuses on stock performance, short interest, an outlook for restaurant commodity costs, our casual dining same-store sales (SSS) and traffic survey, and takeaways from the Restaurant Finance &amp; Development Conference (RFDC) that occurred in mid-November.</li>
<li>Retailers outperform and restaurants underperform indexes on a MTD basis. For November 2023, the performance reversed, with retailers outperforming the restaurants by a wide margin.</li>
<li>On a month-to-date (MTD) basis, our equal-weighted index of restaurant stocks increased 6.2% following a decline of 4.2% in October, but below the S&amp;P 500, which increased 8.6%. </li>
</ul>


Our monthly WTR restaurant and retail report focuses on stock performance, short interest, an outlook for restaurant commodity costs, our casual dining same-store sales (SSS) and traffic survey, and takeaways from the Restaurant Finance &amp; Development Conference (RFDC) that occurred in mid-November.
Retailers outperform and restaurants underperform indexes on a MTD basis. For November 2023, the performance reversed, with retailers outperforming the restaurants by a wide margin.
On a month-to-date (MTD) basis, our equal-weighted index of restaurant stocks increased 6.2% following a decline of 4.2% in October, but below the S&amp;P 500, which increased 8.6%. 


Restaurant & Retail Roundup - Takeaways from RFDC

HK/China Healthcare Analyst (ex-Fosun Pharma)

Xinyao (Criss) Wang

Equity Capital Markets

Big Catering International Holding / Equity Capital Markets

Big Catering International Holding (BCI HK)

<ul>
<li>The advantage of Big Catering lies in its differentiated Buffet model, but its disadvantage is "heavy asset" model, which results in significant lagging behind in cost control and expansion speed.</li>
<li>The core of low net profit margin stems from the rigid pressure of cost structure.If Big Catering wants to expand southward, it will face intense competition and high education costs.</li>
<li>Big Catering has very limited room for downward adjustment in its pricing strategy. Valuation would be lower than <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/domino-s-pizza-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6436:1" rel="noopener">Domino's Pizza</a>, but higher than that of traditional restaurants with slow growth.</li>
</ul>


The advantage of Big Catering lies in its differentiated Buffet model, but its disadvantage is "heavy asset" model, which results in significant lagging behind in cost control and expansion speed.
The core of low net profit margin stems from the rigid pressure of cost structure.If Big Catering wants to expand southward, it will face intense competition and high education costs.
Big Catering has very limited room for downward adjustment in its pricing strategy. Valuation would be lower than Domino's Pizza, but higher than that of traditional restaurants with slow growth.


Pre-IPO Big Catering International Holding - The Business Model, the Pain Points and the Outlook

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

We continue to see a mixed market, and weak market dynamics lead us to be cautious. One of the primary issues is weak breadth; the large-cap indexes (S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq) remain bullish despite being held up by a relatively small number of mega-cap growth stocks, a condition that can persist for weeks or months. Ultimately, as long as there continues to be an absence of breakdowns at the index and Sector level we remain constructive overall.

We continue to see a mixed market, and weak market dynamics lead us to be cautious. One of the primary issues is weak breadth; the large-cap indexes (S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq) remain bullish despite being held up by a relatively small number of mega-cap growth stocks, a condition that can persist for weeks or months. Ultimately, as long as there continues to be an absence of breakdowns at the index and Sector level we remain constructive overall.

U.S. Equity Strategy: Cautious Overall; Favor Large-Caps & Growth; Key Supports Holding In The U.S.

Consumer Analyst / Channel Surveillance Specialist, Trudence Capital Advisors

Pranav Bhavsar

Consumer Analyst / Channel Surveillance Specialist

ASA Capital Management

ASA Capital Management is a boutique Research and Investment Advisory firm focusing on primary research in India. ASA provides bespoke research services to Institutional Clients with a focus on due diligence backed with primary research, Field Trips & Channel Checks.

Our Channel checks for the Indian F&amp;B (Food and Beverage Industry) indicate changing consumer behaviour along with a change in market structure which could accelerate due to the current COVID-19 crisis. Interesting investment opportunities would include organised F&amp;B brands, delivery aggregators and also digital payment providers.

Our Channel checks for the Indian F&amp;B (Food and Beverage Industry) indicate changing consumer behaviour along with a change in market structure which could accelerate due to the current COVID-19 crisis. Interesting investment opportunities would include organised F&amp;B brands, delivery aggregators and also digital payment providers. 

India F&B | Channel Checks Indicate Market Share Gains for Organised Players Post COVID-19

Our outlook remains cautious as we continue to expect heightened volatility and a potential retest of the February 2018 lows over the next several weeks. Near-term we are monitoring for S&amp;P 500 support near 2,600 (i.e., the October low) and resistance near 2,817 or the 100- and 50-day moving averages. In today’s report we outline our current concerns along with developments that would cause us to become more constructive on the market. We also highlight attractive set ups within the Financials, Consumer Discretionary, and Health Care Sectors.

Our outlook remains cautious as we continue to expect heightened volatility and a potential retest of the February 2018 lows over the next several weeks. Near-term we are monitoring for S&amp;P 500 support near 2,600 (i.e., the October low) and resistance near 2,817 or the 100- and 50-day moving averages. In today’s report we outline our current concerns along with developments that would cause us to become more constructive on the market. We also highlight attractive set ups within the Financials, Consumer Discretionary, and Health Care Sectors.

U.S. Equity Strategy: Retest of October Lows Underway; Upgrading Financials

United States

Domino's Pizza, Inc. operates a network of Company-owned and franchise Domino's Pizza stores, located throughout the United States and in other countries.  The Company also operates regional dough manufacturing and distribution centers in the contiguous United States and outside the United States.

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Domino's Pizza (DPZ US)

Restaurant & Retail Roundup - Takeaways from RFDC

Retailers outperform and restaurants underperform indexes on a MTD basis. For November 2023, the performance reversed, with retailers outperforming...

Water Tower Research

Pre-IPO Big Catering International Holding - The Business Model, the Pain Points and the Outlook

Big Catering's Buffet model offers differentiation, but heavy asset model leads to cost control issues and slow expansion, limited pricing...

Xinyao (Criss) Wang

U.S. Equity Strategy: Cautious Overall; Favor Large-Caps & Growth; Key Supports Holding In The U.S.

The S&P 500 remains bullish, recently hitting our 4400-4406 target as large-caps remain attractive. As long as support at the 50-day MA and 4257...

Vermilion Research

U.S. Equity Strategy: Retest of October Lows Underway; Upgrading Financials

Our outlook remains cautious as we continue to expect heightened volatility and a potential retest of the February 2018 lows over the next several...

Vermilion Research

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Restaurant & Retail Roundup - Takeaways from RFDC

Retailers outperform and restaurants underperform indexes on a MTD basis. For November 2023, the performance reversed, with retailers outperforming...

Water Tower Research

Pre-IPO Big Catering International Holding - The Business Model, the Pain Points and the Outlook

​Big Catering's Buffet model offers differentiation, but heavy asset model leads to cost control issues and slow expansion, limited pricing...

Xinyao (Criss) Wang

U.S. Equity Strategy: Cautious Overall; Favor Large-Caps & Growth; Key Supports Holding In The U.S.

The S&P 500 remains bullish, recently hitting our 4400-4406 target as large-caps remain attractive. As long as support at the 50-day MA and 4257...

Vermilion Research

India F&B | Channel Checks Indicate Market Share Gains for Organised Players Post COVID-19

Our Channel checks for the Indian F&B (Food and Beverage Industry) indicate changing consumer behaviour along with a change in market structure...

Pranav Bhavsar

U.S. Equity Strategy: Retest of October Lows Underway; Upgrading Financials

Our outlook remains cautious as we continue to expect heightened volatility and a potential retest of the February 2018 lows over the next several...

Vermilion Research

Big Catering's Buffet model offers differentiation, but heavy asset model leads to cost control issues and slow expansion, limited pricing...