Global Emerging Market Equities, Propitious Research

Wium Malan, CFA

Global Emerging Market Equities

Independent, Fundamental Quantitative Research

Propitious Research

Fully independent, fundamental and quantitative equity research, focused on companies in the Telecommunication, Media, Technology, Internet and Healthcare sectors in the Global Emerging Markets. Idea generation focused on Quality stocks, trading below their intrinsic Value, with sound Corporate Governance.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Since late 2020, Search’s share of digital advertising revenue has stabilised at around 8-10%, seemingly retaining its core advertising customers and industries.</li>
<li>Baidu management expects AI Cloud to maintain strong revenue growth momentum in the upcoming quarters.</li>
<li>Baidu trades on a 3.6x NTM EV/EBITDA multiple, well below one standard deviation lower than its 5-year historical average trading range and the lowest it has ever been.</li>
</ul>


Since late 2020, Search’s share of digital advertising revenue has stabilised at around 8-10%, seemingly retaining its core advertising customers and industries.
Baidu management expects AI Cloud to maintain strong revenue growth momentum in the upcoming quarters.
Baidu trades on a 3.6x NTM EV/EBITDA multiple, well below one standard deviation lower than its 5-year historical average trading range and the lowest it has ever been.


Blue Lotus China New Economy Research, Blue Lotus Research Institute

Eric Wen

Blue Lotus China New Economy Research

China growth and global non-US Internet equities

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Blue Lotus Research is a Hong Kong Type 4 Licensed investment advisory firm focusing on Chinese growth equities and global non-US Internet equities

<ul>
<li>Generative AI (GAI) helps capex, no doubt. But key question is whether capex can yield to revenue and profits;</li>
<li>Content creation industry is sure to realize revenue and profits. iQiyi and NetEase already said so with concreate examples;</li>
<li>Advertising can realize revenue by better matching of ads inventory and perhaps improve inventory utilization.</li>
</ul>


Generative AI (GAI) helps capex, no doubt. But key question is whether capex can yield to revenue and profits;
Content creation industry is sure to realize revenue and profits. iQiyi and NetEase already said so with concreate examples;
Advertising can realize revenue by better matching of ads inventory and perhaps improve inventory utilization.


GAI-Related Numbers and Quotes from C1Q24 Earnings

<ul>
<li>The key takeaway from this earning season on the topic of generative AI (GAI) is that in-house generated content has the greatest potential for cost savings;</li>
<li>Taking a step further, mid-sized video platforms can also use AI to skip the curator layer, similar to Pinduoduo using algorithm to bypass small merchants to connect directly to factories;</li>
<li>We also notice that general media platforms with ample advertising inventories tend to perform better with AI's help, which is why ads of Tencent's advertising performed better than Baidu's.</li>
</ul>


The key takeaway from this earning season on the topic of generative AI (GAI) is that in-house generated content has the greatest potential for cost savings;
Taking a step further, mid-sized video platforms can also use AI to skip the curator layer, similar to Pinduoduo using algorithm to bypass small merchants to connect directly to factories;
We also notice that general media platforms with ample advertising inventories tend to perform better with AI's help, which is why ads of Tencent's advertising performed better than Baidu's.


A Few Generative AI Takeaways From C1Q24 Earnings

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 (IQ) delivered better-than-feared 4Q23 results with inline topline and upbeat margin.</li><li>Looking into 1Q24E, we expect both revenue and earnings to see sequential growth, with solid ARM trend.</li><li>We keep confident on IQ’s previous FY24E OP target (at RMB5bn), with disciplined content cost and ARM expansion. </li></ul><p><em>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.</em></p>

iQIYI (IQ) delivered better-than-feared 4Q23 results with inline topline and upbeat margin.Looking into 1Q24E, we expect both revenue and earnings to see sequential growth, with solid ARM trend.We keep confident on IQ’s previous FY24E OP target (at RMB5bn), with disciplined content cost and ARM expansion. 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) - Improving Profitability with Solid Guidance

Blue Lotus Non US Internet research, Blue Lotus Research Institute

Ying Pan

Blue Lotus Non US Internet research

<ul>
<li>On February 15, OpenAI, Google and Amazon launched respective AI advances in video LLM (SORA), long text (Gemini 1.5), and text-to-speech (BASE) abilities. The evolution speed of AI inspired awe;</li>
<li>We estimate rival equivalent of SORA, delivered over cloud, will appear in 4-6 months of time but on-device version will take years.</li>
<li>We suggest 2C AI applications, especially video, will be the prime beneficiary</li>
</ul>


On February 15, OpenAI, Google and Amazon launched respective AI advances in video LLM (SORA), long text (Gemini 1.5), and text-to-speech (BASE) abilities. The evolution speed of AI inspired awe;
We estimate rival equivalent of SORA, delivered over cloud, will appear in 4-6 months of time but on-device version will take years.
We suggest 2C AI applications, especially video, will be the prime beneficiary


[Blue Lotus Technology Sector Update]: LLM Advances Give China and US Both Opportunities

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)

Baidu: Priced to Fail

In this insight, we analyse Baidu’s search query and digital advertising revenue market share trends, revenue growth outlook, margin expansion...

Wium Malan, CFA

A Few Generative AI Takeaways From C1Q24 Earnings

C1Q24 generative AI has made explicit impact on listco earnings. We summarized the observed trends and found China has a great deal of potential to...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

IQIYI (IQ US) - Improving Profitability with Solid Guidance

iQIYI (IQ) delivered better-than-feared 4Q23 results with inline topline and upbeat margin. Looking into 1Q24E, we expect both revenue and earnings...

CMB International

[Blue Lotus Technology Sector Update]: LLM Advances Give China and US Both Opportunities

OpenAI, Google and Amazon launched respective AI advances in video LLM (SORA), long text (Gemini 1.5), and text-to-speech (BASE) abilities.We...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Baidu: Priced to Fail

In this insight, we analyse Baidu’s search query and digital advertising revenue market share trends, revenue growth outlook, margin expansion...

Wium Malan, CFA

GAI-Related Numbers and Quotes from C1Q24 Earnings

Generative AI (GAI) is already contributing revenues in content creation (game) and ad load optimization (advertising). But the bigger pay off must...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

A Few Generative AI Takeaways From C1Q24 Earnings

C1Q24 generative AI has made explicit impact on listco earnings. We summarized the observed trends and found China has a great deal of potential to...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

IQIYI (IQ US) - Improving Profitability with Solid Guidance

iQIYI (IQ) delivered better-than-feared 4Q23 results with inline topline and upbeat margin. Looking into 1Q24E, we expect both revenue and earnings...

CMB International

[Blue Lotus Technology Sector Update]: LLM Advances Give China and US Both Opportunities

OpenAI, Google and Amazon launched respective AI advances in video LLM (SORA), long text (Gemini 1.5), and text-to-speech (BASE) abilities.We...

Blue Lotus Research Institute