Global TMT analyst with Asia ex-Japan focus.

Mitchell Kim

Equity Bottom-Up

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/coupang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28425:1" rel="noopener">Coupang (CPNG US) </a>is set for IPO on 11 March 2021 at a revised-up range of USD32-34.  This is one of the blockbuster listings among the Korean companies and thrusting Coupang to the five largest companies in Korea.  There have been healthy debates on this IPO with a consensus that the valuation is very expensive, yet, Coupang appears to be set to fetch close to USD50 billion valuation.</p><p><strong>We are on the “expensive” camp and willing to wait for a better entry price.</strong> We arrived at this conclusion by focusing on direct head-to-head growth and valuation comparisons with its peer, JD.com, instead of comparing with a broad base of peers. Simply put, would you rather have JD.com or Coupang shares?  They are both mostly online retailers with nearly 90% of revenues from retail.     </p><p><strong>Coupang’s market value is priced at 67% premium to JD.com’s market value in 2015</strong> when the latter was in a similar growth stage but with higher upside potential for online consumption outlook.  The only explanation is the outlook for better growth and other considerations we discuss in this report.   </p><p>In this report, we highlight the following:</p><ol>
<li>How does Coupang stack up against JD.com at the past similar growth stage?</li>
<li>Is Coupang expensive?  Yes, on most multiples including EV/Sales and EV/Gross Profit.</li>
<li>How can the market justify paying such a premium? High growth expectation.</li>
<li>Is Coupang’s growth in 2020 sustainable?  Unlikely.</li>
</ol>

Coupang (CPNG US) is set for IPO on 11 March 2021 at a revised-up range of USD32-34.  This is one of the blockbuster listings among the Korean companies and thrusting Coupang to the five largest companies in Korea.  There have been healthy debates on this IPO with a consensus that the valuation is very expensive, yet, Coupang appears to be set to fetch close to USD50 billion valuation.We are on the “expensive” camp and willing to wait for a better entry price. We arrived at this conclusion by focusing on direct head-to-head growth and valuation comparisons with its peer, JD.com, instead of comparing with a broad base of peers. Simply put, would you rather have JD.com or Coupang shares?  They are both mostly online retailers with nearly 90% of revenues from retail.     Coupang’s market value is priced at 67% premium to JD.com’s market value in 2015 when the latter was in a similar growth stage but with higher upside potential for online consumption outlook.  The only explanation is the outlook for better growth and other considerations we discuss in this report.   In this report, we highlight the following:
How does Coupang stack up against JD.com at the past similar growth stage?
Is Coupang expensive?  Yes, on most multiples including EV/Sales and EV/Gross Profit.
How can the market justify paying such a premium? High growth expectation.
Is Coupang’s growth in 2020 sustainable?  Unlikely.


Coupang (CPNG US): Going Mano E Mano with JD.com

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.

Equity Capital Markets

<div><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/coupang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28425:1" rel="noopener">Coupang (CPNG US)</a> is the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea, according to Euromonitor. Coupang is best known for Rocket Delivery, which provides free, next-day delivery for orders placed any time of the day.</p></div><div><p>Coupang has priced its IPO at $35 per share, above the previously upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share. The number of the offer shares has increased from 120 million to 130 million shares due to a 10 million shares increase in the secondary tranche. At the final IPO price of $35 per share, Coupang will have a market cap of $60 billion. </p></div><div><p>In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/coupang-ipo-initiation-delivering-the-goods" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:48125" rel="noopener">Coupang IPO Initiation: Delivering the Goods</a>, we opined that Coupang's fundamentals tick all the right boxes and worth a look, in our view. In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/coupang-ipo-valuation-insights" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:48708" rel="noopener">Coupang IPO: Valuation Insights</a> we noted was attractively priced for its growth potential vs global e-commerce peers at the original IPO price range of $27-30 per share. In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/coupang-ipo-upsized-deal-size" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:48991" rel="noopener">Coupang IPO: Upsized Deal Size</a>, Coupang remained attractive at the upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share.</p></div><div><div class="content-highlight"><p>Updating for the final IPO net raise, our base-case DCF derived price target of $39.46 per share. As DCF-based target prices are subject to a wide range of variability, we present a sensitivity table to help investors gauge where target prices could head. Our DCF sensitivity analysis shows that the IPO price has reasonable upside potential. </p></div></div>

Coupang (CPNG US) is the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea, according to Euromonitor. Coupang is best known for Rocket Delivery, which provides free, next-day delivery for orders placed any time of the day.Coupang has priced its IPO at $35 per share, above the previously upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share. The number of the offer shares has increased from 120 million to 130 million shares due to a 10 million shares increase in the secondary tranche. At the final IPO price of $35 per share, Coupang will have a market cap of $60 billion. In Coupang IPO Initiation: Delivering the Goods, we opined that Coupang's fundamentals tick all the right boxes and worth a look, in our view. In Coupang IPO: Valuation Insights we noted was attractively priced for its growth potential vs global e-commerce peers at the original IPO price range of $27-30 per share. In Coupang IPO: Upsized Deal Size, Coupang remained attractive at the upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share.Updating for the final IPO net raise, our base-case DCF derived price target of $39.46 per share. As DCF-based target prices are subject to a wide range of variability, we present a sensitivity table to help investors gauge where target prices could head. Our DCF sensitivity analysis shows that the IPO price has reasonable upside potential. 

<div><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/coupang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28425:1" rel="noopener">Coupang (CPNG US)</a> is the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea, according to Euromonitor. Coupang is best known for Rocket Delivery, which provides free, next-day delivery for orders placed any time of the day.</p></div><div><p>Coupang has increased its IPO price range from $27-30 per share to $32-34 per share. The number of the offer shares remains unchanged at 120 million shares and the primary/secondary split remains unchanged. At the upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share, Coupang will have a market cap of $55-58 billion vs the previous market cap of $46-51 billion. At the mid-point of the IPO price range, the net proceeds from the primary raise are $3.2 billion ($2.8 billion previously). </p></div><div>
<p>In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/coupang-ipo-initiation-delivering-the-goods" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:48125" rel="noopener">Coupang IPO Initiation: Delivering the Goods</a>, we opined that Coupang's fundamentals tick all the right boxes and worth a look, in our view. In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/coupang-ipo-valuation-insights" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:48708" rel="noopener">Coupang IPO: Valuation Insights</a> we noted was attractively priced for its growth potential vs global e-commerce peers at the original IPO price range.</p>
<div class="content-highlight"><p>Our valuation analysis suggests that Coupang remains attractive at the upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share. Our base-case DCF valuation is $39.35 per share and we would participate in the IPO.</p></div>
</div>

Coupang (CPNG US) is the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea, according to Euromonitor. Coupang is best known for Rocket Delivery, which provides free, next-day delivery for orders placed any time of the day.Coupang has increased its IPO price range from $27-30 per share to $32-34 per share. The number of the offer shares remains unchanged at 120 million shares and the primary/secondary split remains unchanged. At the upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share, Coupang will have a market cap of $55-58 billion vs the previous market cap of $46-51 billion. At the mid-point of the IPO price range, the net proceeds from the primary raise are $3.2 billion ($2.8 billion previously). 
In Coupang IPO Initiation: Delivering the Goods, we opined that Coupang's fundamentals tick all the right boxes and worth a look, in our view. In Coupang IPO: Valuation Insights we noted was attractively priced for its growth potential vs global e-commerce peers at the original IPO price range.
Our valuation analysis suggests that Coupang remains attractive at the upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share. Our base-case DCF valuation is $39.35 per share and we would participate in the IPO.


Telco/Internet specialist

Kirk Boodry

Redex Research

<p><a target="_blank"></a>Coupang is by far the leader in one of the most compelling markets for eCommerce globally and one of the most attractive of the Vision Fund portfolio companies. But it is expensive: the $30 max offer price implies a 5x appreciation in value from its last private funding round in 2018 and a FY21 EV/sales multiple of 2.6x almost on par with Amazon which is a global leader in both eCommerce and cloud.  We value Coupang below the range at $26 using a 9-year DCF driven by 17% revenue CAGR and an 8% terminal OP margin.    </p><p>This report includes our initial forecasts, valuation, a summary of the investment highlights and a list of questions we would ask on the roadshow.</p><h2><strong>Highlights</strong></h2><p><strong>Coupang dominates a very attractive eCommerce market. </strong> Korea scores high on two measures of eCommerce predictive success, Internet penetration and population density and Coupang is by-far the leading provider. It helps that global competition has been unable to gain traction whilst traditional retailers are smaller scale relative to other markets.</p><p><strong>eCommerce demand has accelerated as Covid-19 accelerates augments a secular shift in retail sales to online platforms. </strong> Revenue growth expanded from 71% in Q4 19 to 100% in Q4 20 but expanding growth was a feature through 2019 as well. eCommerce penetration of c. 25% may have nearly doubled in FY20 although some of that demand shift may revert as the impact of Covid-19 fades.</p><p><strong>The company is flirting with profitability. </strong>Operating margins have moved from -30% in FY16 to -4% in FY20 with corresponding improvement in EBITDA (-30% to -3%).  In our model, we assume Coupang breaks even in FY21 although higher share-based compensation and/or higher spending as it puts IPO proceeds to work could extend that.</p><p><strong>But it is still burning a lot of cash.  </strong>Coupang might be close to break-even operationally but it has largely spent the money it received from <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/softbank-group-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:315:1" rel="noopener">Softbank Group (9984 JP)</a>  in 2018. Over the last three years, $2.7bn has gone out the door including c. $800mn in FY20 alone (our measure of operating cash flow).</p><p><strong>Comparable valuations and relative changes to valuation highlight the premium valuation. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/coupang" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28425:1" rel="noopener">Coupang (CPNG US)</a> </strong> max offer price values the company similarly to Amazon on FY21 EV/sales (2.7x v 2.8x) but the latter is a global leader and not just in eCommerce but cloud too. Similarly, Coupang’s value appreciation from its last private funding and March 2020 lows has outpaced peer group, sometimes significantly.</p>

Coupang is by far the leader in one of the most compelling markets for eCommerce globally and one of the most attractive of the Vision Fund portfolio companies. But it is expensive: the $30 max offer price implies a 5x appreciation in value from its last private funding round in 2018 and a FY21 EV/sales multiple of 2.6x almost on par with Amazon which is a global leader in both eCommerce and cloud.  We value Coupang below the range at $26 using a 9-year DCF driven by 17% revenue CAGR and an 8% terminal OP margin.    This report includes our initial forecasts, valuation, a summary of the investment highlights and a list of questions we would ask on the roadshow.HighlightsCoupang dominates a very attractive eCommerce market.  Korea scores high on two measures of eCommerce predictive success, Internet penetration and population density and Coupang is by-far the leading provider. It helps that global competition has been unable to gain traction whilst traditional retailers are smaller scale relative to other markets.eCommerce demand has accelerated as Covid-19 accelerates augments a secular shift in retail sales to online platforms.  Revenue growth expanded from 71% in Q4 19 to 100% in Q4 20 but expanding growth was a feature through 2019 as well. eCommerce penetration of c. 25% may have nearly doubled in FY20 although some of that demand shift may revert as the impact of Covid-19 fades.The company is flirting with profitability. Operating margins have moved from -30% in FY16 to -4% in FY20 with corresponding improvement in EBITDA (-30% to -3%).  In our model, we assume Coupang breaks even in FY21 although higher share-based compensation and/or higher spending as it puts IPO proceeds to work could extend that.But it is still burning a lot of cash.  Coupang might be close to break-even operationally but it has largely spent the money it received from Softbank Group (9984 JP)  in 2018. Over the last three years, $2.7bn has gone out the door including c. $800mn in FY20 alone (our measure of operating cash flow).Comparable valuations and relative changes to valuation highlight the premium valuation. Coupang (CPNG US)  max offer price values the company similarly to Amazon on FY21 EV/sales (2.7x v 2.8x) but the latter is a global leader and not just in eCommerce but cloud too. Similarly, Coupang’s value appreciation from its last private funding and March 2020 lows has outpaced peer group, sometimes significantly.

Coupang IPO and Softbank Group - A Vision Fund Jewel Emerges but It Is Pricey

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>The following is a review of how physical retailers are progressing online and includes a unique ranking of the TOP 50 Online Retailers by sales, platforms sold on and growth.</p>
<p>Japanese retailers were famously behind peers in other markets to tackle e-commerce but many have caught up and become world class such as <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fast-retailing-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:751:1" rel="noopener">Fast Retailing (9983 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nitori-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20386:1" rel="noopener">Nitori Holdings (9843 JP). </a></p>
<p>More worrying for those lagging behind such as <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/seven-i-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1041:1" rel="noopener">Seven &amp; I Holdings (3382 JP)</a>, estimates suggest that online will have some role in 50% of purchasing transactions by 2025.</p>
<p>Despite retailers' efforts, the big three online malls, Amazon, Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping still control half of the e-commerce market for merchandise.</p>

The following is a review of how physical retailers are progressing online and includes a unique ranking of the TOP 50 Online Retailers by sales, platforms sold on and growth.
Japanese retailers were famously behind peers in other markets to tackle e-commerce but many have caught up and become world class such as Fast Retailing (9983 JP) and Nitori Holdings (9843 JP). 
More worrying for those lagging behind such as Seven &amp; I Holdings (3382 JP), estimates suggest that online will have some role in 50% of purchasing transactions by 2025.
Despite retailers' efforts, the big three online malls, Amazon, Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping still control half of the e-commerce market for merchandise.

Tip of the Iceberg: Omnichannel 50% of Japan Retail in 2025

United States

eBay Inc. operates an online trading community.  The Company's service is used by buyers and sellers for the exchange of products and services such as coins, collectibles, computers, memorabilia, stamps and toys, as well as concert and sporting tickets.  eBay also offers, through a subsidiary, secure online payment services.

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Ebay Inc (EBAY US)

Coupang (CPNG US): Going Mano E Mano with JD.com

Coupang (CPNG US) is set for IPO on 11 March 2021 at a revised-up range of USD32-34. Our unique one-on-one comparison with JD.com should help...

Mitchell Kim

Coupang IPO: Trading Debut

Coupang has priced its IPO at $35 per share, above the previously upsized IPO price range of $32-34 per share. Our DCF sensitivity analysis shows...

Arun George

Coupang IPO: Upsized Deal Size

Coupang has increased its IPO price range from $27-30 per share to $32-34 per share. Our base-case DCF valuation is $39.35 per share and we would...

Arun George

Coupang IPO and Softbank Group - A Vision Fund Jewel Emerges but It Is Pricey

Coupang's IPO is a win for the company and its largest holder Softbank but the max offer price of $30 is too pricey - we think it is worth closer...

Kirk Boodry

Tip of the Iceberg: Omnichannel 50% of Japan Retail in 2025

We have compiled a unique ranking of the top 50 E-commerce retailers in Japan and provide an analysis of winners and losers among retailers now and...

Michael Causton

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