A Value Investing Journal, Acid Investments

Acid Investments

A Value Investing Journal

I love stonks and I love rambling. Sometimes, I feel it unfair to subject those around me with the inundation of my thoughts, so I tweet and I spill ink on here. Jokes aside, I love investing and edgy ideas; I hope to become a better investor and this is my journal to that end. I will be sharing value/special situations I come across organically or through other blogs/13F and I hope to provide a variant analytical view to said situations. I hope to receive constructive feedback and let’s grab some of dem benjamins together!

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Last week, I wrote a quick article flagging the seemingly absurd valuation discrepancy of Chagee vis-a-vis beverage peers on the HK stock exchange i.e. Mixue and Guming, as well as Luckin Coffee on the OTC markets.</li><li>Chagee currently trades around ~31 (doing extremely poorly on a good day), and at the bottom of its recent trading range; there is no analyst coverage and the firm has yet to report its Q1 25 results so it’s just really stuck in no-man’s land.</li><li>I postulated then that delisting risk was an overhang on Chagee, a Chinese ADR, but lo and behold, it appears that the market has shrugged off a large portion of it for the large cap Chinese tech companies.</li></ul>

Last week, I wrote a quick article flagging the seemingly absurd valuation discrepancy of Chagee vis-a-vis beverage peers on the HK stock exchange i.e. Mixue and Guming, as well as Luckin Coffee on the OTC markets.Chagee currently trades around ~31 (doing extremely poorly on a good day), and at the bottom of its recent trading range; there is no analyst coverage and the firm has yet to report its Q1 25 results so it’s just really stuck in no-man’s land.I postulated then that delisting risk was an overhang on Chagee, a Chinese ADR, but lo and behold, it appears that the market has shrugged off a large portion of it for the large cap Chinese tech companies.

Part 2: What Could Go Wrong at Chagee (CHA)

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

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>BEKE US: Post-May Holiday Slowdown in Existing Home Transactions, Stabilized New Home Sales. (/)</li>
<li>1810 HK : Several Xiaomi Car Owners Demand Refunds (-)</li>
<li>ZK US: Zeekr Launches Channel Reform, Introduces Agent-Based Partnership Model(+)</li>
</ul>


BEKE US: Post-May Holiday Slowdown in Existing Home Transactions, Stabilized New Home Sales. (/)
1810 HK : Several Xiaomi Car Owners Demand Refunds (-)
ZK US: Zeekr Launches Channel Reform, Introduces Agent-Based Partnership Model(+)


[Blue Lotus Daily]:BEKE US/1810 HK/ZK US/LKNCY US/Macro/New Energy Vehicles

HK/China Healthcare Analyst (ex-Fosun Pharma)

Xinyao (Criss) Wang

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>The core reason for the success of Chagee lies in the Company finding an effective "shortcut" of business model – “minimalism”, but this model does not imply a high moat.</li>
<li>A likely situation is Chagee's future growth in domestic market would be limited, and the overseas expansion could be unsatisfactory.So, we recommend investors to be cautious about the valuation prospects.</li>
<li>If domestic competition intensifies or overseas expansion falls short of expectations, it is highly likely that the stock price will fall back to the range of US$25-30/share or even lower.</li>
</ul>


The core reason for the success of Chagee lies in the Company finding an effective "shortcut" of business model – “minimalism”, but this model does not imply a high moat.
A likely situation is Chagee's future growth in domestic market would be limited, and the overseas expansion could be unsatisfactory.So, we recommend investors to be cautious about the valuation prospects.
If domestic competition intensifies or overseas expansion falls short of expectations, it is highly likely that the stock price will fall back to the range of US$25-30/share or even lower.


Chagee Holdings - Debut Is the Peak, and Then It Wanes?

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>The consumption trend in Apr 2025 improved MoM across most sub-sectors compared to Mar 2025.</li><li>Numbers during the 2025 5-1 holidays either maintained this trend or further improved, mainly thanks to: 1) a low base, 2) improving weather conditions, 3) longer holidays compared to last year, and 4) fairly robust inbound tourism growth.</li><li>By subsector, apparel and tourism-hotel outperformed our expectations, sportswear and home appliances met expectations, while catering lagged behind. </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>

The consumption trend in Apr 2025 improved MoM across most sub-sectors compared to Mar 2025.Numbers during the 2025 5-1 holidays either maintained this trend or further improved, mainly thanks to: 1) a low base, 2) improving weather conditions, 3) longer holidays compared to last year, and 4) fairly robust inbound tourism growth.By subsector, apparel and tourism-hotel outperformed our expectations, sportswear and home appliances met expectations, while catering lagged behind. 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.

Consumer Discretionary - Constructive trend in S-R but cautious in L-R

<ul><li>As Peter Lynch famously promulgated, one really fun thing about investing is noticing trends, “flowers” that are blooming around you, and finding ways to cash in on that “insight”, the caveat being you have to be right about the trend of course.</li><li>Fad cycles may or may not have legs - see Funko in US and PopMart in HK.</li><li>Not too long ago, I noticed PopMart replacing a local major bank outlet in a central shopping mall near to where I live and heedlessly dismissing it with a mere “wth is this?”, to my chagrin of course as the stock has gone parabolic ever since.</li></ul>

As Peter Lynch famously promulgated, one really fun thing about investing is noticing trends, “flowers” that are blooming around you, and finding ways to cash in on that “insight”, the caveat being you have to be right about the trend of course.Fad cycles may or may not have legs - see Funko in US and PopMart in HK.Not too long ago, I noticed PopMart replacing a local major bank outlet in a central shopping mall near to where I live and heedlessly dismissing it with a mere “wth is this?”, to my chagrin of course as the stock has gone parabolic ever since.

Flagging a Recent IPO - Chagee (CHA) - Orphaned Security Trading at a Large Spread to Peers

China

Luckin Coffee Inc. provides non-alcoholic beverages. The Company offers various types of coffee. Luckin Coffee serves customers in China.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Luckin Coffee (LKNCY US)

Part 2: What Could Go Wrong at Chagee (CHA)

Chagee currently trades around ~31 (doing extremely poorly on a good day), and at the bottom of its recent trading range; there is no analyst...

Acid Investments

[Blue Lotus Daily]:BEKE US/1810 HK/ZK US/LKNCY US/Macro/New Energy Vehicles

Post-holiday slowdown in existing home transactions but stabilized new home sales; Xiaomi car owners demand refunds; Zeekr launches channel reform...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Chagee Holdings - Debut Is the Peak, and Then It Wanes?

Chagee's success is attributed to a minimalist business model, but caution is advised for investors due to limited growth potential/uncertain...

Xinyao (Criss) Wang

Consumer Discretionary - Constructive trend in S-R but cautious in L-R

Numbers during the 2025 5-1 holidays either maintained this trend or further improved, mainly thanks to: 1) a low base, 2) improving weather...

CMB International

Flagging a Recent IPO - Chagee (CHA) - Orphaned Security Trading at a Large Spread to Peers

As Peter Lynch famously promulgated, one really fun thing about investing is noticing trends, “flowers” that are blooming around you, and finding...

Acid Investments

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Part 2: What Could Go Wrong at Chagee (CHA)

Chagee currently trades around ~31 (doing extremely poorly on a good day), and at the bottom of its recent trading range; there is no analyst...

Acid Investments

[Blue Lotus Daily]:BEKE US/1810 HK/ZK US/LKNCY US/Macro/New Energy Vehicles

​Post-holiday slowdown in existing home transactions but stabilized new home sales; Xiaomi car owners demand refunds; Zeekr launches channel reform...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Chagee Holdings - Debut Is the Peak, and Then It Wanes?

​Chagee's success is attributed to a minimalist business model, but caution is advised for investors due to limited growth potential/uncertain...

Xinyao (Criss) Wang

Consumer Discretionary - Constructive trend in S-R but cautious in L-R

Numbers during the 2025 5-1 holidays either maintained this trend or further improved, mainly thanks to: 1) a low base, 2) improving weather...

CMB International

Flagging a Recent IPO - Chagee (CHA) - Orphaned Security Trading at a Large Spread to Peers

As Peter Lynch famously promulgated, one really fun thing about investing is noticing trends, “flowers” that are blooming around you, and finding...

Acid Investments

Post-holiday slowdown in existing home transactions but stabilized new home sales; Xiaomi car owners demand refunds; Zeekr launches channel reform...

Chagee's success is attributed to a minimalist business model, but caution is advised for investors due to limited growth potential/uncertain...