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

<ul><li>Medtronic presented its Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings, reporting a notable quarter with revenue and EPS exceeding market expectations.</li><li>The company recorded revenue growth of 6.6% on a reported basis and an organic increase of 5.5%, driven by solid performance across key business areas.</li><li>Specifically, Cardiac Ablations led the way with a 71% growth, largely attributed to the expansion of its Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) franchise.</li></ul>

Medtronic presented its Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings, reporting a notable quarter with revenue and EPS exceeding market expectations.The company recorded revenue growth of 6.6% on a reported basis and an organic increase of 5.5%, driven by solid performance across key business areas.Specifically, Cardiac Ablations led the way with a 71% growth, largely attributed to the expansion of its Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) franchise.

Medtronic: Is Symplicity Renal Denervation the Next Breakout Growth Engine?

Quality-first, Business-perspective, Long-term, Urbem (HK) Limited

Urbem Capital

Quality-first, Business-perspective, Long-term

Quality-first, Business-perspective Strategy

Urbem (HK) Limited

<ul>
<li>Eighteen S&amp;P 500 giants earned 20%-plus ROE through the 1990s; fourteen then trailed the index into 2026, the median by about 2.7 points a year.</li>
<li>Rich starting multiples, maturing runways, eroding moats and costly deals did the damage, while leverage and buybacks had flattered some of the returns on capital.</li>
<li>Microsoft renewed its runway and Altria started cheap; today's high-return screens should ask whether returns are still rising and whether the price still allows low-teens returns.</li>
</ul>


Eighteen S&amp;P 500 giants earned 20%-plus ROE through the 1990s; fourteen then trailed the index into 2026, the median by about 2.7 points a year.
Rich starting multiples, maturing runways, eroding moats and costly deals did the damage, while leverage and buybacks had flattered some of the returns on capital.
Microsoft renewed its runway and Altria started cheap; today's high-return screens should ask whether returns are still rising and whether the price still allows low-teens returns.


After They Were Giants: Why 2000's High-Return Stocks Mostly Lagged for 25 Years

Founder at Stock Spin-off Investing, Stock Spin-Off Investing

Richard Howe

Founder at Stock Spin-off Investing

Stock Spin-Off Investing

Generate attractive returns by taking advantage of inefficiencies in the stock spin-off market.

Stock Spin-offs

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>This week, Corteva and Vylor hosted their respective analyst days.</li>
<li>Corteva also set the distribution ratio (1:1) for the spin-off, announced a ticker (VYLR), and confirmed expected regular way trading (10/1/2026).</li>
<li>Meanwhile, Medtronic announced it would distribute its ~90% stake in its diabetes business, MiniMed (MMED), through an exchange offer (MDT shareholders get to decide which stock they want to own).</li>
</ul>


This week, Corteva and Vylor hosted their respective analyst days.
Corteva also set the distribution ratio (1:1) for the spin-off, announced a ticker (VYLR), and confirmed expected regular way trading (10/1/2026).
Meanwhile, Medtronic announced it would distribute its ~90% stake in its diabetes business, MiniMed (MMED), through an exchange offer (MDT shareholders get to decide which stock they want to own).


Deep Dives, Special Situations, Generals and Workouts

Generals and Workouts

Deep Dives, Special Situations

Deep dives on net-nets, special situations and other mispriced opportunities in the stock market.

<ul><li>I haven’t written up an idea for a while, and this is a fairly simple one.</li><li>It isn’t going to make anybody rich, but it could be valuable for those readers with smaller accounts. </li><li>MiniMed (NASDAQ:MMED) is offering to exchange Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) shares for its own shares at a discount of 7%, subject to an upper limit of 4.5939 shares of Minimed per Medtronic share. </li></ul>

I haven’t written up an idea for a while, and this is a fairly simple one.It isn’t going to make anybody rich, but it could be valuable for those readers with smaller accounts. MiniMed (NASDAQ:MMED) is offering to exchange Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) shares for its own shares at a discount of 7%, subject to an upper limit of 4.5939 shares of Minimed per Medtronic share. 

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

Adtalem Global Education  / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>As discussed throughout January, we believe that tariffs will mostly be used as a negotiation tactic, and much like Trump's prior presidency, will be much less impactful than feared.</li>
<li>We reiterated this in yesterday's pre-market ETF Pathfinder (Feb.3), also noting "we anticipate the Canada/Mexico tariffs to be resolved quickly, and we view the latest pullback as a buying opportunity."</li>
<li>Sure enough, both Mexico and, later, Canada, came to an agreement with Trump to delay tariffs for 30 days. Short-term support remains at the prior 1-month downtrend on the SPX.</li>
</ul>


As discussed throughout January, we believe that tariffs will mostly be used as a negotiation tactic, and much like Trump's prior presidency, will be much less impactful than feared.
We reiterated this in yesterday's pre-market ETF Pathfinder (Feb.3), also noting "we anticipate the Canada/Mexico tariffs to be resolved quickly, and we view the latest pullback as a buying opportunity."
Sure enough, both Mexico and, later, Canada, came to an agreement with Trump to delay tariffs for 30 days. Short-term support remains at the prior 1-month downtrend on the SPX.


S&P 500 Holding Above Prior Breakout Level Yet Again; Market Dynamics Remain Risk-On; Still Bullish

United States

Medtronic, PLC develops therapeutic and diagnostic medical products. The Company's principal products include those for bradycardia pacing, tachyarrhythmia management, atrial fibrillation management, heart failure management, heart valve replacement, malignant and non-malignant pain, and movement disorders. Medtronic's products are sold worldwide.

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

Medtronic Plc (MDT US)

Medtronic: Is Symplicity Renal Denervation the Next Breakout Growth Engine?

Medtronic presented its Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings, reporting a notable quarter with revenue and EPS exceeding market expectations. The company...

Baptista Research

After They Were Giants: Why 2000's High-Return Stocks Mostly Lagged for 25 Years

In 2000, America's highest-return giants looked like the safest quality stocks. Most then lagged the market for 25 years. Several warning signs...

Urbem Capital

Weekly Update (MMED, MDT, ZD)

This week, Corteva and Vylor hosted their respective analyst days. Corteva also set the distribution ratio (1:1) for the spin-off...

Richard Howe

MDT/MMED Exchange Offer

I haven’t written up an idea for a while, and this is a fairly simple one. It isn’t going to make anybody rich, but it could be valuable for those...

Generals and Workouts

S&P 500 Holding Above Prior Breakout Level Yet Again; Market Dynamics Remain Risk-On; Still Bullish

S&P 500 $SPX Holding Above Prior Breakout Level Yet Again, as are most indexes $QQQ $ARKK $IJH $DJI $RSP; Market Dynamics Remain Risk-On; Bullish...

Vermilion Research

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)