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>iQIYI's first-quarter 2025 results exhibited growth across several key business segments, though certain challenges remain.</li><li>The company experienced sequential growth in total revenues, largely attributed to their emphasis on premium content production and strong performance in long-form and micro-dramas.</li><li>This focus has effectively positioned iQIYI as a leading platform for both long-form and short-form entertainment content, contributing positively to user engagement and content consumption.</li></ul>

iQIYI's first-quarter 2025 results exhibited growth across several key business segments, though certain challenges remain.The company experienced sequential growth in total revenues, largely attributed to their emphasis on premium content production and strong performance in long-form and micro-dramas.This focus has effectively positioned iQIYI as a leading platform for both long-form and short-form entertainment content, contributing positively to user engagement and content consumption.

iQIYI Inc.: Growing Its Content Ecosystem & Executing Overseas Market Expansion to Help Alter The Playing Field?

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

<ul><li>iQiyi announced 1Q25 results: total revenue declined by 9% YoY but grew by 9% QoQ to RMB7.19bn, in line with Bloomberg consensus estimate; non-GAAP operating income was down by 58% YoY but recovered by 13% QoQ to RMB459mn, also in line with the consensus estimate.</li><li>Looking ahead in 2Q25E, we model total revenue to be largely flat QoQ, but non-GAAP OPM to decline QoQ, as the company has stepped up investment in content ecosystem and micro-drama user acquisition.</li><li>We expect investment in micro dramas to impact margins in the short term, but in the long term, it will complement iQiyi content ecosystem and generate incremental monetization opportunities. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

iQiyi announced 1Q25 results: total revenue declined by 9% YoY but grew by 9% QoQ to RMB7.19bn, in line with Bloomberg consensus estimate; non-GAAP operating income was down by 58% YoY but recovered by 13% QoQ to RMB459mn, also in line with the consensus estimate.Looking ahead in 2Q25E, we model total revenue to be largely flat QoQ, but non-GAAP OPM to decline QoQ, as the company has stepped up investment in content ecosystem and micro-drama user acquisition.We expect investment in micro dramas to impact margins in the short term, but in the long term, it will complement iQiyi content ecosystem and generate incremental monetization opportunities. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

IQIYI (IQ US) - Inline 1Q25 Results; Stepped-Up Content & Marketing Investment Impacts ST Margin

<ul><li>iQIYI reported a mixed set of results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024.</li><li>The company observed significant improvements in several operational metrics towards the end of the quarter, fueled by the strong performance of its top-tier content.</li><li>This uptick in content performance led to an increase in subscribing members and higher user engagement.</li></ul>

iQIYI reported a mixed set of results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024.The company observed significant improvements in several operational metrics towards the end of the quarter, fueled by the strong performance of its top-tier content.This uptick in content performance led to an increase in subscribing members and higher user engagement.

IQIYI Inc.: How Is Its Competitive Positioning Against Tencent Video & Short-Form Platforms?

<ul><li>iQiyi reported inline 4Q24 results: total revenue declined by 14% YoY to RMB6.61bn, in line with our/Bloomberg consensus estimate; non-GAAP operating income declined by 56% YoY but grew by 10% QoQ to RMB406mn, vs our estimate of RMB395mn.</li><li>FY24 total revenue declined by 9% YoY to RMB29.2bn, with non-GAAP operating margin down by 3.8ppt YoY to 8.1% primarily due to operating deleverage and content investment.</li><li>Management saw QoQ recovery of business performance in 1Q25, driven by the launch of several quality drama series. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

iQiyi reported inline 4Q24 results: total revenue declined by 14% YoY to RMB6.61bn, in line with our/Bloomberg consensus estimate; non-GAAP operating income declined by 56% YoY but grew by 10% QoQ to RMB406mn, vs our estimate of RMB395mn.FY24 total revenue declined by 9% YoY to RMB29.2bn, with non-GAAP operating margin down by 3.8ppt YoY to 8.1% primarily due to operating deleverage and content investment.Management saw QoQ recovery of business performance in 1Q25, driven by the launch of several quality drama series. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

IQIYI (IQ US) - Inline 4Q24 Results; Increase Quality Content Supply to Revitalize Business Growth

<ul><li>We expect iQiyi’s 4Q24E total revenue to decline by 14% YoY to RMB6.6bn, largely in line with our previous expectation and consensus.</li><li>The decrease was primarily due to the light content slate in Oct 2024 and the decline in revenue from barter transactions (minor impact on gross profit); but overall content performance started to recover after the launch of several key dramas like Wo Shi Xing Jing in Nov.</li><li>We forecast non-GAAP operating profit to grow by 7% QoQ to RMB395mn in 4Q24E, ahead of our previous expectation (RMB360mn) thanks to the stringent content cost control. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

We expect iQiyi’s 4Q24E total revenue to decline by 14% YoY to RMB6.6bn, largely in line with our previous expectation and consensus.The decrease was primarily due to the light content slate in Oct 2024 and the decline in revenue from barter transactions (minor impact on gross profit); but overall content performance started to recover after the launch of several key dramas like Wo Shi Xing Jing in Nov.We forecast non-GAAP operating profit to grow by 7% QoQ to RMB395mn in 4Q24E, ahead of our previous expectation (RMB360mn) thanks to the stringent content cost control. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

IQIYI (IQ US) - Membership and Ad Businesses Remain Under Pressure; Eye on Short-Drama Development

China

iQIYI, Inc. offers video entertainment services. The Company provides movies, television dramas, variety shows, and other video contents. iQIYI offers services worldwide.

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iQIYI Inc (IQ US)

iQIYI Inc.: Growing Its Content Ecosystem & Executing Overseas Market Expansion to Help Alter The Playing Field?

iQIYI's first-quarter 2025 results exhibited growth across several key business segments, though certain challenges remain. The company...

Baptista Research

IQIYI (IQ US) - Inline 1Q25 Results; Stepped-Up Content & Marketing Investment Impacts ST Margin

The company currently trades at 8x FY26E PE, which still has a safety margin compared to peers in our view. Maintain BUY.

CMB International

IQIYI Inc.: How Is Its Competitive Positioning Against Tencent Video & Short-Form Platforms?

iQIYI reported a mixed set of results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024. The company observed significant improvements in several...

Baptista Research

IQIYI (IQ US) - Inline 4Q24 Results; Increase Quality Content Supply to Revitalize Business Growth

We trim our target price to US$2.80 based on 13x FY25E non-GAAP PE (previous: US$3.00 based on 12x FY25E PE). Maintain BUY.

CMB International

IQIYI (IQ US) - Membership and Ad Businesses Remain Under Pressure; Eye on Short-Drama Development

We expect iQiyi’s 4Q24E total revenue to decline by 14% YoY to RMB6.6bn, largely in line with our previous expectation and consensus.

CMB International

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