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

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE / Equity Bottom-Up

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (MC FP)

<ul><li>LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported its financial results for the first half of 2025, reflecting a mixed performance across various divisions and geographies.</li><li>The group recorded a revenue of EUR 40 billion, down 3% on an organic basis compared to the first half of 2024, with disparities by region and division.</li><li>Profit from recurring operations stood at EUR 9 billion, marking a 15% decrease from the prior year, though the operating margin remained robust at 22.6%.</li></ul>

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported its financial results for the first half of 2025, reflecting a mixed performance across various divisions and geographies.The group recorded a revenue of EUR 40 billion, down 3% on an organic basis compared to the first half of 2024, with disparities by region and division.Profit from recurring operations stood at EUR 9 billion, marking a 15% decrease from the prior year, though the operating margin remained robust at 22.6%.

LVMH Eyes Exit From Marc Jacobs: What’s Driving The $1 Billion Divestiture?

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Technology dominates global active portfolios, with 8 of the 11 most widely held stocks coming from the sector.</li>
<li>TSMC hits record ownership at 65.7% of funds, becoming the second most widely held stock globally.</li>
<li>Broadcom, Tencent and Alibaba see rising adoption, while Novo Nordisk and UnitedHealth face sharp ownership declines.</li>
</ul>


Technology dominates global active portfolios, with 8 of the 11 most widely held stocks coming from the sector.
TSMC hits record ownership at 65.7% of funds, becoming the second most widely held stock globally.
Broadcom, Tencent and Alibaba see rising adoption, while Novo Nordisk and UnitedHealth face sharp ownership declines.


Global Stock Positioning: Tech Dominance, China Rotation, and Record TSMC Ownership

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Record tourism in Japan is feeding the coffers of hotels, holiday lets and restaurants but retailers are benefiting less because Chinese make up a declining proportion. </li>
<li>This is a huge problem because Chinese spend more than double other nations on shopping despite spending fewer days there on holiday.</li>
<li>With the Chinese government recommending its citizens stay away from Japan, the outlook for duty-free shopping is not as rosy as it could be.</li>
</ul>


Record tourism in Japan is feeding the coffers of hotels, holiday lets and restaurants but retailers are benefiting less because Chinese make up a declining proportion. 
This is a huge problem because Chinese spend more than double other nations on shopping despite spending fewer days there on holiday.
With the Chinese government recommending its citizens stay away from Japan, the outlook for duty-free shopping is not as rosy as it could be.


Record Tourism Not Boosting Japanese Retailers as Chinese Stay Away

Writing about Companies with an Unfair Advantage, Unfair Advantage

Unfair Advantage

Writing about Companies with an Unfair Advantage

I write about companies that have an unfair advantage. I might invest in them as well.

<ul><li>Luxury stocks are quietly having a midlife crisis.</li><li>Despite looking optically expensive on a trailing earnings basis, luxury names are trading at their cheapest levels in the last five years.</li><li>Stocks like LVMH, Hermès, and Ferrari are all down 20%+ over the past year. Not exactly what you’d expect from brands that sell handbags for the price of a car.</li></ul>

Luxury stocks are quietly having a midlife crisis.Despite looking optically expensive on a trailing earnings basis, luxury names are trading at their cheapest levels in the last five years.Stocks like LVMH, Hermès, and Ferrari are all down 20%+ over the past year. Not exactly what you’d expect from brands that sell handbags for the price of a car.

What Happened to My Rolexes, Champagnes and Birkins? Luxury Is Not so Pricey Anymore $MC.PA, $RM...

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We had a near-term bullish outlook on MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US) and the S&amp;P 500 (SPX) from 4/22/25 to 11/18/25.</li>
<li>After being near-term neutral for a week, we flipped back to bullish in our 11/25/25 Compass, all while maintaining our intermediate-term bullish outlook (as of our 5/14/25 Compass).</li>
<li>We will stay near-term bullish as long as crucial support levels of 6480-6520 on SPX and $134-135.70 on ACWI-US continue to hold</li>
</ul>


We had a near-term bullish outlook on MSCI ACWI (ACWI-US) and the S&amp;P 500 (SPX) from 4/22/25 to 11/18/25.
After being near-term neutral for a week, we flipped back to bullish in our 11/25/25 Compass, all while maintaining our intermediate-term bullish outlook (as of our 5/14/25 Compass).
We will stay near-term bullish as long as crucial support levels of 6480-6520 on SPX and $134-135.70 on ACWI-US continue to hold


Upgrading Spain to Overweight; EM Uptrend Break; Buys in Discretionary, Financials, Materials

France

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE is a diversified luxury goods group. The Company produces and sells wine, cognac, perfumes, cosmetics, luggage, and watches and jewelry.

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LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (MC FP)

LVMH Eyes Exit From Marc Jacobs: What’s Driving The $1 Billion Divestiture?

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported its financial results for the first half of 2025, reflecting a mixed performance across various...

Baptista Research

Global Stock Positioning: Tech Dominance, China Rotation, and Record TSMC Ownership

Technology continues to anchor global active portfolios, with TSMC at record ownership. Rotation persists across regions as managers selectively...

Steven Holden

Record Tourism Not Boosting Japanese Retailers as Chinese Stay Away

Record tourism in Japan is boosting services, but retailers are suffering as Chinese tourists, who spend the most on shopping, are declining due...

Michael Causton

What Happened to My Rolexes, Champagnes and Birkins? Luxury Is Not so Pricey Anymore $MC.PA, $RM...

Luxury stocks are quietly having a midlife crisis. Despite looking optically expensive on a trailing earnings basis, luxury names are trading...

Unfair Advantage

Upgrading Spain to Overweight; EM Uptrend Break; Buys in Discretionary, Financials, Materials

Upgrading Spain $EWP to Overweight; EM Uptrend Break $EEM $VWO; Lows likely "in" on $SPX and $ACWI; Buys Focused in global Discretionary,...

Vermilion Research

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

LVMH Eyes Exit From Marc Jacobs: What’s Driving The $1 Billion Divestiture?

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported its financial results for the first half of 2025, reflecting a mixed performance across various...

Baptista Research

Global Stock Positioning: Tech Dominance, China Rotation, and Record TSMC Ownership

Technology continues to anchor global active portfolios, with TSMC at record ownership. Rotation persists across regions as managers selectively...

Steven Holden

Record Tourism Not Boosting Japanese Retailers as Chinese Stay Away

​Record tourism in Japan is boosting services, but retailers are suffering as Chinese tourists, who spend the most on shopping, are declining due...

Michael Causton

What Happened to My Rolexes, Champagnes and Birkins? Luxury Is Not so Pricey Anymore $MC.PA, $RM...

Luxury stocks are quietly having a midlife crisis. Despite looking optically expensive on a trailing earnings basis, luxury names are trading...

Unfair Advantage

Upgrading Spain to Overweight; EM Uptrend Break; Buys in Discretionary, Financials, Materials

Upgrading Spain $EWP to Overweight; EM Uptrend Break $EEM $VWO; Lows likely "in" on $SPX and $ACWI; Buys Focused in global Discretionary,...

Vermilion Research

Record tourism in Japan is boosting services, but retailers are suffering as Chinese tourists, who spend the most on shopping, are declining due...