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.

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hesai-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36743:1" rel="noopener">Hesai Group (HSAI US)</a>  is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming US IPO.</li>
<li>HSAI is a manufacturer of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (Lidar) solutions. It has shipped over 103,000 Lidar units from 2017 to the end of 2022.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the not-so-positive aspects of the deal.</li>
</ul>



Hesai Group (HSAI US)  is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming US IPO.
HSAI is a manufacturer of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (Lidar) solutions. It has shipped over 103,000 Lidar units from 2017 to the end of 2022.
In this note, we will talk about the not-so-positive aspects of the deal.


Hesai Group Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Margins Remain Under Pressure

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.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Our top pick. We project Li Auto’s net profit to be RMB 205mn in 4Q22E amid record-high quarterly sales volume.</li><li>We also expect Li Auto’s profitability to be more sustainable in FY23E, although we are more conservative than consensus by accounting for the overall industry headwinds.</li><li>We believe Li Auto is still best positioned among the NEV trio to be a long-term winner, in terms of sales and profitability</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>

Our top pick. We project Li Auto’s net profit to be RMB 205mn in 4Q22E amid record-high quarterly sales volume.We also expect Li Auto’s profitability to be more sustainable in FY23E, although we are more conservative than consensus by accounting for the overall industry headwinds.We believe Li Auto is still best positioned among the NEV trio to be a long-term winner, in terms of sales and profitabilityContent 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.

Li Auto Inc. (LI US) – 4Q22E net profit likely to turn positive

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hesai-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36743:1" rel="noopener">Hesai Group (HSAI US)</a> is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming US IPO.</li>
<li>HSAI is a manufacturer of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (Lidar) solutions. It has shipped over 103,000 Lidar units from 2017 to the end of 2022.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the positive aspects of the deal.</li>
</ul>



Hesai Group (HSAI US) is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming US IPO.
HSAI is a manufacturer of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (Lidar) solutions. It has shipped over 103,000 Lidar units from 2017 to the end of 2022.
In this note, we will talk about the positive aspects of the deal.


Hesai Group Pre-IPO - The Positives - Has a Lot of Potential

Covering IPOs, Healthcare and Technology Stocks

Andrei Zakharov

Algosun Global

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hesai-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36743:1" rel="noopener">Hesai Group (HSAI US)</a> , a global leader in LiDAR technology for autonomous driving and ADAS, filed for a $100M placeholder IPO with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the offering.</li>
<li>The company’s last round was a $70M Series D+ at a $3B pre-money valuation, implying EV/LTM Rev multiple of 19x today, a significant premium to comparable companies in the space.</li>
<li>We remain cautious about buying into the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hesai-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36743:1" rel="noopener">Hesai Group (HSAI US)</a>  IPO due to rich valuation, negative free cash flows, loss-making business, intense competition, and developments in alternative technologies.</li>
</ul>



Hesai Group (HSAI US) , a global leader in LiDAR technology for autonomous driving and ADAS, filed for a $100M placeholder IPO with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading the offering.
The company’s last round was a $70M Series D+ at a $3B pre-money valuation, implying EV/LTM Rev multiple of 19x today, a significant premium to comparable companies in the space.
We remain cautious about buying into the Hesai Group (HSAI US)  IPO due to rich valuation, negative free cash flows, loss-making business, intense competition, and developments in alternative technologies.


Hesai Group IPO Preview: Will Rich Valuation Worry Long-Term Investors?

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

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>CPCA reported China’s 2022 EV sales of 6.49mn units, + 96.1% YoY, primarily driven by better market acceptance of EVs and favourable EV policies. </li>
<li>We think the fiercer competition will lead to divergence, which is already proven by Tesla’s price war. The followers such as Xpeng, could only be price takers and sacrifice margin.</li>
<li>We reiterate Li Auto as our top pick, as 1) better profitability; 2) positive growth outlook in 2023. We cut NIO’s TP to US$ 18.</li>
</ul>


CPCA reported China’s 2022 EV sales of 6.49mn units, + 96.1% YoY, primarily driven by better market acceptance of EVs and favourable EV policies. 
We think the fiercer competition will lead to divergence, which is already proven by Tesla’s price war. The followers such as Xpeng, could only be price takers and sacrifice margin.
We reiterate Li Auto as our top pick, as 1) better profitability; 2) positive growth outlook in 2023. We cut NIO’s TP to US$ 18.


China EV Outlook: 2023 Will Be a Year of Divergence

China

Li Auto Inc. manufactures automobiles. The Company designs, develops, and sells smart new energy electric sport utility vehicles. Li Auto conducts businesses in China.

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Li Auto (LI US)

Hesai Group Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Margins Remain Under Pressure

Hesai Group (HSAI US) is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming US IPO. In this note, we talk about the not-so-positive aspects of the...

Sumeet Singh

Li Auto Inc. (LI US) – 4Q22E net profit likely to turn positive

We also expect Li Auto’s profitability to be more sustainable in FY23E, although we are more conservative than consensus by accounting for the...

CMB International

Hesai Group Pre-IPO - The Positives - Has a Lot of Potential

Hesai Group (HSAI US), a China based Lidar solutions provider, is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming US IPO. In this note, we will...

Sumeet Singh

Hesai Group IPO Preview: Will Rich Valuation Worry Long-Term Investors?

We remain very cautious about buying into the upcoming Hesai Group IPO and believe the stock may present investors with a better entry point later...

Andrei Zakharov

China EV Outlook: 2023 Will Be a Year of Divergence

We think the fiercer competition in 2023 will inevitably lead to divergence. The followers such as Xpeng, could only sacrifice margin. We reiterate...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

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