Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>PCAOB officials concluded their Hong Kong visit last month and PCAOB is due to announce its annual judgment on whether it had adequate access to US listed China companies.</li>
<li>The Hong Kong visit was on the back of the 26th Aug 2022 announcement by PCAOB and CSRC that they had entered into an agreement with US authorities for access.</li>
<li>In this note, we'll talk about the latest developments, possible outcomes and implications.</li>
</ul>


PCAOB officials concluded their Hong Kong visit last month and PCAOB is due to announce its annual judgment on whether it had adequate access to US listed China companies.
The Hong Kong visit was on the back of the 26th Aug 2022 announcement by PCAOB and CSRC that they had entered into an agreement with US authorities for access.
In this note, we'll talk about the latest developments, possible outcomes and implications.


China ADRs Delisting - Friday Could Be Judgment Day for over US$800bn Mcap of Stocks

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF / Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>The PCAOB has not, despite a cooperation agreement with the CSRC signed in 2013, been able to conduct on-site investigations of a HK or mainland-based company since 2010.</li>
<li>On Friday, the CSRC published a new Strengthening Confidentiality and File Management Related to Overseas Issuance to replace 2009 rules. </li>
<li>Importantly, the revised Provisions deletes the stipulation that “on-site inspections shall be dominated by domestic regulators or depend on the conclusions of inspections by domestic regulators.” Will it be enough?</li>
</ul>


The PCAOB has not, despite a cooperation agreement with the CSRC signed in 2013, been able to conduct on-site investigations of a HK or mainland-based company since 2010.
On Friday, the CSRC published a new Strengthening Confidentiality and File Management Related to Overseas Issuance to replace 2009 rules. 
Importantly, the revised Provisions deletes the stipulation that “on-site inspections shall be dominated by domestic regulators or depend on the conclusions of inspections by domestic regulators.” Will it be enough?


New CSRC "Provisions" Take a Step Towards Meeting PCAOB Requirements

China/Asia TMT

Shawn Yang

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

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>IQ reported 2Q23 revenue and non-GAAP net income 0.2%/28.5% vs cons.</li>
<li>We cut our projections for 3Q23's membership services revenue, but increased estimations for online ads services revenue, and raised margin forecasts for 2023.  </li>
<li>We maintain our US$ 6.25 TP, implying 16.2X PE in 2023.</li>
</ul>


IQ reported 2Q23 revenue and non-GAAP net income 0.2%/28.5% vs cons.
We cut our projections for 3Q23's membership services revenue, but increased estimations for online ads services revenue, and raised margin forecasts for 2023.  
We maintain our US$ 6.25 TP, implying 16.2X PE in 2023.


[iQIYI, Lnc. (IQ US, BUY, TP US$6.25) Review]: Ads Revenue Will Continue to Have Fair Growth

Greater China Equity Long/Short Analyst

Eric Chen

<ul>
<li>IQiyi failed to give its share price a lift with  stronger-than-expected 2Q results except for slight miss in paying subscribers .</li>
<li>We believe that investors are expecting the end of its remarkable turnaround story and embracing a stable and moderate growth stage.</li>
<li>While iQiyi trades at ~10x our FY23 earnings, the cheap valuation by itself doesn’t stand out among China internet peers as a group. We would wait for better entry points.</li>
</ul>


IQiyi failed to give its share price a lift with  stronger-than-expected 2Q results except for slight miss in paying subscribers .
We believe that investors are expecting the end of its remarkable turnaround story and embracing a stable and moderate growth stage.
While iQiyi trades at ~10x our FY23 earnings, the cheap valuation by itself doesn’t stand out among China internet peers as a group. We would wait for better entry points.


IQIYI (IQ US): Embracing Moderate yet Stable Growth

<ul>
<li>We raise iQIYI’s membership/ads growth in 2Q23 from 12.9%/10.6% to 15.7%/22.4% YoY because of high quality content and recovery of major advertisers.</li>
<li>We upgrade iQIYI’s rating to BUY because:1) iQIYI exhibits advantages in content quality and production capabilities. 2) Major advertisers are expected to increase their advertising budgets continuously.</li>
<li>Emergency of mini drama is another variable for the Chinese online video industry. However, we anticipate the impact on iQIYI is relatively limited currently.</li>
</ul>


We raise iQIYI’s membership/ads growth in 2Q23 from 12.9%/10.6% to 15.7%/22.4% YoY because of high quality content and recovery of major advertisers.
We upgrade iQIYI’s rating to BUY because:1) iQIYI exhibits advantages in content quality and production capabilities. 2) Major advertisers are expected to increase their advertising budgets continuously.
Emergency of mini drama is another variable for the Chinese online video industry. However, we anticipate the impact on iQIYI is relatively limited currently.


[iQIYI (IQ US, BUY, TP US$6.25) Rating Change]: Competitive Advantage Is Established, Raise to BUY

China

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

iQIYI Inc (IQ US)

China ADRs Delisting - Friday Could Be Judgment Day for over US$800bn Mcap of Stocks

PCAOB officials concluded their Hong Kong visit last month and PCAOB is due to announce its annual judgment on whether it had adequate access to US...

Sumeet Singh

New CSRC "Provisions" Take a Step Towards Meeting PCAOB Requirements

CSRC has published new Provisions putting the onus of info management on companies, making it easier for the PCAOB to conduct on-site audits. It...

Travis Lundy

[iQIYI, Lnc. (IQ US, BUY, TP US$6.25) Review]: Ads Revenue Will Continue to Have Fair Growth

We cut our projections for 3Q23's membership services revenue, but increased estimations for online ads services revenue, and raised margin...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

IQIYI (IQ US): Embracing Moderate yet Stable Growth

IQ reported stronger-than-expected 2Q results, yet investors are expecting the end of remarkable turnaround and embracing moderate growth.

Eric Chen

[iQIYI (IQ US, BUY, TP US$6.25) Rating Change]: Competitive Advantage Is Established, Raise to BUY

We upgrade iQIYI’s rating to BUY:1) iQIYI exhibits advantages in content quality and production capabilities. 2) Major advertisers are expected to...

Blue Lotus Research Institute