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>This is our first report on cloud- based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform operator, Upstart Holdings, Inc.</li><li>Its recent results reveal a diverse picture as substantial growth and progress are achieved in the midst of a challenging lending environment.</li><li>The positives are the company's rapid strides in advancing its artificial intelligence lending platform, achievement as a financially sound company, growth in fee revenue, increase in team size, and AI platform expansion.</li></ul>

This is our first report on cloud- based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform operator, Upstart Holdings, Inc.Its recent results reveal a diverse picture as substantial growth and progress are achieved in the midst of a challenging lending environment.The positives are the company's rapid strides in advancing its artificial intelligence lending platform, achievement as a financially sound company, growth in fee revenue, increase in team size, and AI platform expansion.

Upstart Holdings: Initiation of Coverage - Inside Look at Upstart's Plan to Secure Game-Changing Partnerships and Fuel Growth! - Major Drivers

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>Since early November 2023 we have laid out our bullish expectations for a year-end rally that we anticipated would continue into the early part of 2024. </li>
<li>Here we are in the early part of 2024, and we see every reason to continue riding this bull market higher. We see small- and mid-caps resuming uptrends $IWM $VXF</li>
<li>Downgrading Staples (XLP) to underweight after brief stint at market weight. Highlighting several buys within Financials: Property &amp; Casualty Insurance BRK.B, PGR, CB, TRV, ALL, CINF, ERIE, and more</li>
</ul>


Since early November 2023 we have laid out our bullish expectations for a year-end rally that we anticipated would continue into the early part of 2024. 
Here we are in the early part of 2024, and we see every reason to continue riding this bull market higher. We see small- and mid-caps resuming uptrends $IWM $VXF
Downgrading Staples (XLP) to underweight after brief stint at market weight. Highlighting several buys within Financials: Property &amp; Casualty Insurance BRK.B, PGR, CB, TRV, ALL, CINF, ERIE, and more


Continue Riding This Bull Market Higher; Small- And Mid-Caps Resuming Uptrends; Downgrading Staples

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

J&T Global Express  / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/j-t-global-express-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36819:1" rel="noopener">J&amp;T Global Express</a>, a global logistics service provider, is looking to raise about US$500m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO.</li>
<li>As per Frost &amp; Sullivan (F&amp;S), the firm is the leading express delivery business in Southeast Asia, with a 22.5% market share as per 2022 parcel volume.</li>
<li>We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier notes. In this note we will look at its PHIP updates.</li>
</ul>



J&amp;T Global Express, a global logistics service provider, is looking to raise about US$500m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO.
As per Frost &amp; Sullivan (F&amp;S), the firm is the leading express delivery business in Southeast Asia, with a 22.5% market share as per 2022 parcel volume.
We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier notes. In this note we will look at its PHIP updates.


J&T Global Express Pre-IPO - PHIP Updates - Managed to Grow but Isn’t Sustainable Yet

Fundamental Short Selling Research

Eric Fernandez, CFA

TwoRiversAnalytics

<ul>
<li>We normally write these “Workbench” reports in between our larger initiation pieces.  They are intended to offer a window into our short investment process and to highlight potentially interesting names.</li>
<li>This Workbench focuses exclusively on earnings quality shorts.  We continue to work on these names. Today we highlight:</li>
<li>Moderna (MRNA),  Knowles (KN)    Juniper Networks (JNPR)  Upstart Holdings (UPST)  Beauty Health Co (SKIN), Sonos (SONO). Kraft Heinz (KHC), AZEK Co. (AZEK), Energizer Holdings (ENR),  Fox Factory Holding  (FOXF)</li>
</ul>


We normally write these “Workbench” reports in between our larger initiation pieces.  They are intended to offer a window into our short investment process and to highlight potentially interesting names.
This Workbench focuses exclusively on earnings quality shorts.  We continue to work on these names. Today we highlight:
Moderna (MRNA),  Knowles (KN)    Juniper Networks (JNPR)  Upstart Holdings (UPST)  Beauty Health Co (SKIN), Sonos (SONO). Kraft Heinz (KHC), AZEK Co. (AZEK), Energizer Holdings (ENR),  Fox Factory Holding  (FOXF)


Short Ideas on Our Workbench:  Earnings Quality

<ul>
<li>This model finds companies facing recent sharp cuts in estimates. These shorts can have very disparate characteristics.</li>
<li>The key judgement involves whether the negative revisions are temporary or if they are indications of ongoing weakness in the business. </li>
<li>Breaking Estimates stocks often continue to decline after the cuts.  This week we flag:  Upstart, Cerence, Zillow, Trex</li>
</ul>


This model finds companies facing recent sharp cuts in estimates. These shorts can have very disparate characteristics.
The key judgement involves whether the negative revisions are temporary or if they are indications of ongoing weakness in the business. 
Breaking Estimates stocks often continue to decline after the cuts.  This week we flag:  Upstart, Cerence, Zillow, Trex


Breaking Estimate Short Candidates: Upstart, Cerence, Zillow, Trex

United States

Upstart Holdings, Inc. operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform to improve access of credit while reducing the risk and costs of lending for bank partners.

Upstart Holdings (UPST US)

Upstart Holdings: Initiation of Coverage - Inside Look at Upstart's Plan to Secure Game-Changing Partnerships and Fuel Growth! - Major Drivers

This is our first report on cloud- based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform operator, Upstart Holdings, Inc. Its recent results reveal...

Baptista Research

Continue Riding This Bull Market Higher; Small- And Mid-Caps Resuming Uptrends; Downgrading Staples

Continue Riding This Bull Market Higher; Small- and Mid-Caps Resuming Uptrends $IWM $RTY $VXF; Downgrading Consumer Staples $XLP to Underweight...

Vermilion Research

J&T Global Express Pre-IPO - PHIP Updates - Managed to Grow but Isn’t Sustainable Yet

J&T Global Express, a global logistics service provider, is looking to raise about US$500m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO. In this note, we talk...

Sumeet Singh

Short Ideas on Our Workbench: Earnings Quality

Our "Workbench" focuses exclusively on potential earnings quality shorts. We continue to work on these names. Today we highlight ten names of...

Eric Fernandez, CFA

Breaking Estimate Short Candidates: Upstart, Cerence, Zillow, Trex

This model uncovers companies facing recent declines in estimates. This week we flag: : Upstart, Cerence, Zillow, and Trex

Eric Fernandez, CFA