Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• The one-week lemon shortage did not impact the stock price.
• The stock price has plunged for three months to HK$395 from the peak HK$618.
• The revenue growth and the margin were healthy in 1H25.

• Market Leader with Robust Order Book: Larsen & Toubro is a dominant player in India’s engineering and construction (E&C) sector with a record order book of ₹6.1 lakh crore as of June 2025, providing strong revenue visibility. A significant 46% of this order book is from international markets, particularly the Middle East, indicating successful geographical diversification.
• Diversified Business Model Mitigates Risk: The company operates a well-diversified model across Infrastructure, Energy, Hi-Tech Manufacturing, IT & Technology Services (through LTIMindtree and L&T Technology Services), and Financial Services. This structure allows L&T to capture growth across various economic sectors and mitigate risks associated with the cyclicality of the E&C industry.
• Strategic Focus on High-Growth Areas: L&T is strategically positioning itself for future growth by focusing on high-margin areas like green hydrogen, smart city technology, defense manufacturing, and digital services. The company’s new five-year plan emphasizes deepening its strengths in India and the Middle East while exploring these new, technology-driven opportunities.

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• The Trump administration’s announcement of U.S. $100,000 fee for new H-1B petitions  triggered anxiety, travel confusion, and immediate negative market reaction for Indian IT names.
• Tech workers in the US report heightened hostility, reluctance to travel, and SMB clients unable to absorb fees risk reduced sponsorship, higher attrition, and retention challenges.
• While there may be limited short-term P&L impact, but structural threats — including the HIRE Act — could reshape delivery models, near-shoring, and pricing over 6–18 months.

• MetaOptics is a vertically integrated, early-stage company specializing in metalens technology, a revolutionary approach to optics with the potential to disrupt various industries by replacing traditional bulky lenses with ultra-thin, lightweight, and efficient alternatives.
• The company recently debuted on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) Catalist board, making it the first pure-play metalens company to go public. The IPO proceeds are intended to fund research and development, business expansion, and strategic partnerships.
• While MetaOptics holds a strong global market position, ranking 5th by revenue among metalens companies, it faces significant risks, including a history of losses, reliance on a limited number of suppliers, and the nascent stage of mass production for its metalens prototypes.

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• With a 50% tariff imposed on India by the US, Vietnam’s factories have now become the busiest in the region. Our textile stocks have rallied slightly in response to this. 
• Corroborating Vietnam’s strength was Dream International (1126 HK) Post Results Call: Moving Into A Great Peak Season, and now recently Nameson Holdings (1982 HK) and Stella International (1836 HK) 
• Nameson Holdings (1982 HK) trades at 6x PE trailing with a 13% dividend yield. However, as we enter peak season with busy factories, we believe the situation could improve significantly. 

• Context: The Westpac Banking (WBC AU) vs. VanEck Australian Banks (MVB AU) price-ratio has deviated more than two standard deviations from its one-year average.
• Highlights: The dislocation highlights the recent outperformance of Westpac vs. some of its peers, pointing to a potential underweight in a portfolio context.
• Why Read: Essential for quantitative traders seeking mean-reversion opportunities, with detailed execution framework, risk management protocols, and historical simulation showing the statistical basis for this relative value play.

• Nvidia and Intel have announced a $5 billion deal to collaborate on designing CPU GPU systems for data centers and chiplets for PCs.
• Jensen Huang surprisingly praised Intel during a press conference, marking a significant shift in Nvidia’s history of enmity towards Intel.
• The collaboration aims to address the scalability limitations of current systems by offering x86 head nodes with NVLink for data centers, filling a market gap for both companies.

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• Altona Rare Earths is the successor to Altona Energy, which listed on AIM in 2005.
• A new management team has wisely shifted the focus to critical minerals and decided to focus on the Monte Muambe Rare Earth Project, as it could quickly move into production.
• Altona is being led by Africa-based CEO Cédric Simonet, who has an in-depth knowledge of the continent’s resources projects and is a trained geologist.

• Weak travel growth getting weaker, now years out from steepest part of recovery
• Most airlines & hotel chains have benefitted little from improved travel demand
• In recent months, appears momentum shifting back to travel intermediaries 

• AvePoint is a dominant software provider for data management within the Microsoft ecosystem, capitalizing on the global shift to cloud-based collaboration and increasingly stringent data governance requirements.
• The company has demonstrated a strong growth trajectory, marked by consistent double-digit revenue growth and a significant shift towards a recurring SaaS model, which now constitutes the majority of its revenue.
• After a history of net losses, AvePoint has recently achieved quarterly profitability and is generating robust operating and free cash flow, signaling a pivotal inflection point in its financial performance.

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