Alpha-Centric ESG Research

Kyle Rudden

COVID-19 vaccines figure into Biden's recently-announced COVID-19 response plan, though with a clear emphasis on distribution versus development (as was Trump's focus). Biden's prioritisation of vaccine distribution – and the US$25 billion earmarked for it – is a gift for "cold chain" stocks."Cold chain" refers to a complex temperature-controlled supply chain that is mission-critical to the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Critical, because vaccines require consistent ultra-cold storage from manufacture to needle-stick, otherwise those expensive vaccines become medical waste.This Insight looks at cold chain stocks as an investment theme inherent in Biden's COVID-19 plan (see <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/biden-covid-19-response-plan-overview-of-its-inherent-investment-themes" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:45631" rel="noopener">Biden COVID-19 Response Plan: Overview of Its Inherent Investment Themes</a>). Although the cold chain is fragmented and largely privately-held, but there are opportunities in three areas:<ol>
<li>
Freight and Logistics: Most listed companies fall into this category, including both integrated cold chain freight and logistics stocks, as well as niche players in either of freight or logistics.</li>
<li>
Freezer Manufacturers: Ultra-cold freezer boxes and related industrial components of various shapes and sizes are needed for the cold chain to function. Several stocks serve this segment.</li>
<li>
Specialty Chemicals: Dry ice gets all the headlines, as massive amounts are needed but supply is short, but other specialty chemicals and industrial gases are also needed in the cold chain.</li>
</ol>

COVID-19 vaccines figure into Biden's recently-announced COVID-19 response plan, though with a clear emphasis on distribution versus development (as was Trump's focus). Biden's prioritisation of vaccine distribution – and the US$25 billion earmarked for it – is a gift for "cold chain" stocks."Cold chain" refers to a complex temperature-controlled supply chain that is mission-critical to the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Critical, because vaccines require consistent ultra-cold storage from manufacture to needle-stick, otherwise those expensive vaccines become medical waste.This Insight looks at cold chain stocks as an investment theme inherent in Biden's COVID-19 plan (see Biden COVID-19 Response Plan: Overview of Its Inherent Investment Themes). Although the cold chain is fragmented and largely privately-held, but there are opportunities in three areas:

Freight and Logistics: Most listed companies fall into this category, including both integrated cold chain freight and logistics stocks, as well as niche players in either of freight or logistics.

Freezer Manufacturers: Ultra-cold freezer boxes and related industrial components of various shapes and sizes are needed for the cold chain to function. Several stocks serve this segment.

Specialty Chemicals: Dry ice gets all the headlines, as massive amounts are needed but supply is short, but other specialty chemicals and industrial gases are also needed in the cold chain.


Biden COVID-19 Response Plan: Cold Chain Transportation and Logistics Stocks Benefit

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 downgraded our near-term outlook on SPX and QQQ to neutral last week (11/19/25), after being bullish since 4/22/25, while we maintained our intermediate-term bullish outlook (as of 5/14/25).</li>
<li>Crucial support levels of 6480-6520 on SPX and $580-$583 on QQQ held last week, and we are back to being near-term bullish as long as these supports continue to hold</li>
<li>The latest pullback offers an attractive entry point into all the speculative growth areas that we were pounding the table on since May, WITH A STOP AT LAST WEEKS LOWS</li>
</ul>


We downgraded our near-term outlook on SPX and QQQ to neutral last week (11/19/25), after being bullish since 4/22/25, while we maintained our intermediate-term bullish outlook (as of 5/14/25).
Crucial support levels of 6480-6520 on SPX and $580-$583 on QQQ held last week, and we are back to being near-term bullish as long as these supports continue to hold
The latest pullback offers an attractive entry point into all the speculative growth areas that we were pounding the table on since May, WITH A STOP AT LAST WEEKS LOWS


Back to Near-Term Bullish on SPX and Nasdaq 100; Supports Held at SPX 6480-6520 and QQQ $580-583

Covering IPOs, Healthcare and Technology Stocks

Andrei Zakharov

Equity Capital Markets

MegaRobo Technologies / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>MegaRobo Technologies, AI &amp; robotics unicorn with focus on lab automation in life sciences and intelligent manufacturing, files to list IPO on Hong Kong Stock Exchange.</li>
<li>Founder led, AI native company was backed by Sinovation Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Asia Investment Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, GGV Capital, and Joy Capital, among others.</li>
<li>The business is growing fast and increases the number of use cases across new verticals. However, negative free cash flows and operating losses are a headwind.</li>
</ul>


MegaRobo Technologies, AI &amp; robotics unicorn with focus on lab automation in life sciences and intelligent manufacturing, files to list IPO on Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Founder led, AI native company was backed by Sinovation Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Asia Investment Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, GGV Capital, and Joy Capital, among others.
The business is growing fast and increases the number of use cases across new verticals. However, negative free cash flows and operating losses are a headwind.


MegaRobo Technologies IPO Preview: AI-Driven Robotics Unicorn With Strong IP Moat In Automation

Global Healthcare Analyst

Tina Banerjee

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/as-one-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13040:1" rel="noopener">AS ONE Corporation (7476 JP)</a>'s revenue rose 9% YoY to ¥104B as growth was witnessed across segments in FY25. Operating profit grew 11% YoY to ¥11.6B (margin: 11.2%, up 30bps).  </li>
<li>E-Commerce revenue was ¥34B (up 22% YoY) contributing 33% of total sales. Product offering increased by 1.8M SKUs YoY to 12.4M SKUs.</li>
<li>For FY26, As One expects consistent growth in revenue and profits. The company unveiled new medium-term plan, with an aim to maintain an average annual growth rate of 7–8%.</li>
</ul>



AS ONE Corporation (7476 JP)'s revenue rose 9% YoY to ¥104B as growth was witnessed across segments in FY25. Operating profit grew 11% YoY to ¥11.6B (margin: 11.2%, up 30bps).  
E-Commerce revenue was ¥34B (up 22% YoY) contributing 33% of total sales. Product offering increased by 1.8M SKUs YoY to 12.4M SKUs.
For FY26, As One expects consistent growth in revenue and profits. The company unveiled new medium-term plan, with an aim to maintain an average annual growth rate of 7–8%.


As One Corp (7476 JP): Nothing Unscientific About the Growth Prospects, As One Precedes

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

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.

Axbio International / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>Axbio, a China-based technology company, is looking to raise at least USD 100 million via a Hong Kong listing. CICC and SPDB are the joint sponsors.</li>
<li>In this note, we took a quick look at the core products and key products, as well as its management team.</li>
<li>Although there are interesting takes from the prospectus, we are not convinced on the prospect of the deal yet.</li>
</ul>


Axbio, a China-based technology company, is looking to raise at least USD 100 million via a Hong Kong listing. CICC and SPDB are the joint sponsors.
In this note, we took a quick look at the core products and key products, as well as its management team.
Although there are interesting takes from the prospectus, we are not convinced on the prospect of the deal yet.


Axbio (安序源) Pre-IPO: First Take of the Deal

United States

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. manufactures scientific instruments, consumables, and chemicals. The Company offers analytical instruments, laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables, reagents, chemicals, and supplies to pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions, and government agencies.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO UN)

Biden COVID-19 Response Plan: Cold Chain Transportation and Logistics Stocks Benefit

Biden's COVID-19 response plan earmarks US$25 billion to vaccines, but with a twist. His emphasis is vaccine distribution, not development. That...

Kyle Rudden

Back to Near-Term Bullish on SPX and Nasdaq 100; Supports Held at SPX 6480-6520 and QQQ $580-583

Back to Near-Term Bullish on $SPX and Nasdaq 100 $NDX; Crucial Supports Held at 6480-6520 on SPX and $580-$583 on $QQQ, we are near-term bullish as...

Vermilion Research

MegaRobo Technologies IPO Preview: AI-Driven Robotics Unicorn With Strong IP Moat In Automation

MegaRobo Technologies, AI & robotics unicorn, files for IPO in Hong Kong with strong backing but faces challenges with negative cash flows and...

Andrei Zakharov

As One Corp (7476 JP): Nothing Unscientific About the Growth Prospects, As One Precedes

AS ONE Corp's revenue and operating profit grew in FY25, with E-Commerce revenue up 22% YoY. The company unveiled new medium-term plan, with an...

Tina Banerjee

Axbio (安序源) Pre-IPO: First Take of the Deal

China's Axbio plans to raise $100 million in Hong Kong listing with CICC and SPDB as joint sponsors, but doubts remain on deal prospects after...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Biden COVID-19 Response Plan: Cold Chain Transportation and Logistics Stocks Benefit

Biden's COVID-19 response plan earmarks US$25 billion to vaccines, but with a twist. His emphasis is vaccine distribution, not development. That...

Kyle Rudden

Back to Near-Term Bullish on SPX and Nasdaq 100; Supports Held at SPX 6480-6520 and QQQ $580-583

Back to Near-Term Bullish on $SPX and Nasdaq 100 $NDX; Crucial Supports Held at 6480-6520 on SPX and $580-$583 on $QQQ, we are near-term bullish as...

Vermilion Research

MegaRobo Technologies IPO Preview: AI-Driven Robotics Unicorn With Strong IP Moat In Automation

​MegaRobo Technologies, AI & robotics unicorn, files for IPO in Hong Kong with strong backing but faces challenges with negative cash flows and...

Andrei Zakharov

As One Corp (7476 JP): Nothing Unscientific About the Growth Prospects, As One Precedes

​AS ONE Corp's revenue and operating profit grew in FY25, with E-Commerce revenue up 22% YoY. The company unveiled new medium-term plan, with an...

Tina Banerjee

Axbio (安序源) Pre-IPO: First Take of the Deal

​China's Axbio plans to raise $100 million in Hong Kong listing with CICC and SPDB as joint sponsors, but doubts remain on deal prospects after...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

MegaRobo Technologies, AI & robotics unicorn, files for IPO in Hong Kong with strong backing but faces challenges with negative cash flows and...

AS ONE Corp's revenue and operating profit grew in FY25, with E-Commerce revenue up 22% YoY. The company unveiled new medium-term plan, with an...

China's Axbio plans to raise $100 million in Hong Kong listing with CICC and SPDB as joint sponsors, but doubts remain on deal prospects after...