Daily Brief Equity Bottom-Up: SK Hynix (000660): Dispute Resolved and more

• The dispute between SK Hynix (000660 KS) management and the labor union has been resolved; thus, production halt risks have been avoided at a critical time.
• Paying 50% of the bonus pool in treasury shares allows SK Hynix to retain billions in cash compared to paying 100% in cash. 
• The investment thesis remains intact with major hyperscalers locked into multi-year contracts with Sk Hynix while PER remains at 6x. 

• In this insight, I provide an investment thesis on Doosan Enerbility (034020 KS) which is a Korean nuclear powerhouse. 
• In addition, I highlight the likely pre-IPO investment in Westinghouse Electric (US) which is likely to occur in 4Q 2026/1Q 2027. 
• Despite the long-term higher demand for nuclear and SMRs made by Doosan Enerbility, I remain wary of the company’s high valuation multiples and worsening balance sheet.

• CDNS had a record $8.1 billion backlog exiting Q2, with a Current Remaining Performance Obligation coverage ratio of ~58%, providing high visibility into revenue over the next 12 months.
• CDNS launched an agentic AI flow (including ChipStack, RapidFire, Veristack, InnoStack, and AuraStack), which bridges the engineering bottleneck by automating complex tasks like RTL code generation and test bench creation.
• Due to a projected 30-40x increase in design workload over the next 5–6 years, customers indicate willingness to spend >50% of a human designer’s cost on automation, tokens, and tools

• We continue to be bullish about Workman’s back-to-basics strategy which has delivered a second straight year of record sales and profit, with same-store sales up 9%. 
• New president Koji Ouchi has just revamped the business under five core functional categories, as well as moving towards more mass-scale manufacturing and corporate franchising.
• The new strategy is part of a drive toward 1,300 stores by 2030.

• Benchmark Anchor for South Korean Growth Capital: The KOSDAQ 150 Index serves as the premier liquid equity benchmark representing the top 150 technology, biotechnology, and high-growth industrial companies listed on the KOSDAQ market of the Korea Exchange (KRX), capturing over 70% of total market capitalization while filtering out illiquid small-cap tail risk.
• High-Beta Thematic Concentration: The index offers concentrated fundamental exposure to structural secular trends—notably advanced biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence semiconductor equipment, high-purity battery materials, and robotics—generating elevated upside participation during liquidity expansions and tech capex cycles.
• Institutional Utility and Structural Churn: While serving as the definitive underlying benchmark for KRX-listed index futures, options, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the index faces recurring structural graduation risk as mature mega-cap constituents periodically migrate to the KOSPI main board, maintaining a high-volatility, mid-to-large cap growth profile.

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• Hexagon Nutrition Limited (HEXAGON IN) is a differentiated, research-driven pure-play nutraceutical and clinical nutrition manufacturer operating across three core pillars: Micronutrient Premixes, Branded Clinical & Wellness Nutrition, and Therapeutic Malnutrition Formulations.
• Financial performance has demonstrated strong operating leverage, with revenue growing from INR 2,974.52M in 2024 to INR 3,826.28M in 2026 (a 13.42% 2-year CAGR) and net profit expanding over 3x from INR 122.89M to INR 379.37M, supported by a 1,314 bps expansion in gross margin to 32.15%.
• Trading at an attractive valuation relative to broader healthcare and wellness peers, Hexagon is positioned to capitalize on structural tailwinds including mandatory food fortification policies, expanding clinical nutrition adoption in acute/chronic care, and international expansion across emerging markets.

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• Earnings up, multiple down: FY26 guidance and Energy orders are rising while Fuji’s EV/EBIT has compressed to ~13x.
• Energy is mispriced: High-margin Energy has strong backlog and capacity expansion, yet trades below global electrification peers.
• Catalyst-Rich asymmetry: Results, backlog conversion and data-center growth could drive re-rating; High/Low valuation implies ~2.9x reward-to-risk.

• Autoneum Holding AG (AUTN SW) is the global market and technology leader in acoustic and thermal management solutions for light and commercial vehicles, uniquely positioned to capture structural content-per-vehicle growth as automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) transition toward electric and hybrid powertrains.
• The successful execution of the ‘Level Up’ operational program and the seamless integration of Borgers Automotive have substantially improved structural profitability, lifting EBITDA margins from 7.94% in 2023 to 10.43% in 2025, while sustaining robust free cash flow generation exceeding CHF 107 million annually.
• With strong cash conversion, a solid balance sheet, a top-tier Growth score (5/5), and an expanding dividend profile (DPS raised from CHF 2.50 to CHF 3.20), Autoneum presents an attractive risk-adjusted investment proposition trading at a compelling valuation relative to its cash-generation capability.

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• We think ASL Marine is a differentiated play on the Asia Pacific marine infrastructure and offshore vessel markets with its vertically integrated model.

• Its extensive shipyard infrastructure, chartering fleet, alongside proprietary dredging engineering capabilities, allow the company to capture value across the asset lifecycle.

• ASL Marine’s operating cash flows have  supported an ongoing fleet renewal and deleveraging of its balance sheet.

• Aspirational Luxury Wipeout: A macroeconomic squeeze has erased 50m middle-class luxury consumers, devastating mainland turnover rents as megabrands like Gucci and LVMH report plunging sales.
• Hong Kong Office Contagion: Swire faces a brutal second front, with Grade A office vacancies hitting 17.5% and flagship portfolios suffering negative rental reversions up to 16% amid financial exoduses.
• Dividend Under Threat: With 7.7 bn HKD in fair value losses and sliding recurring profits, reliance on capital recycling masks underlying decay, threatening dividend growth and valuation.