All Posts By

Smartkarma Daily Briefs

Most Read: Nitori Holdings, Japan Airlines, Kunlun Tech, Lasertec Corp, Tencent, KT Corp, Rakuten Bank, Toyo Construction, Genesis Minerals and more

By | Daily Briefs, Most Read

In today’s briefing:

  • Nikkei 225 Index Rebalance Preview (Sep 2023): Potential Changes & Dark Horses
  • Nikkei 225 Index Rebalance: Passives Trade on Friday
  • Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: MSCI KR, S&P/ASX, SSE50, ChiNext, NIFTY, KQ150, AMFI, Rakuten Bank
  • Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: Nikkei225, KOSDAQ150, KT Corp
  • Last Week in Event SPACE: ANZ/​Suncorp, JCNC, Adani, Khan Bank/HS Holdings, Hong Kong Buybacks
  • A Pair Trade Between KT & LG Uplus
  • Weekly Deals Digest (09 Apr) – Rakuten Bank, ZJLD, Harita, HKBN, Toyo, Estia, Mincor, Pushpay
  • Good Morning Japan |Jobs Galore – Strong NFP; Watch for the Fed Hawks; NUGGET: Kuroda Exits..a Hero?
  • (Mostly) Asia-Pac Weekly Risk Arb Wrap: Mincor, Toyo Construction, Pushpay, Breaker Resources
  • Merger Arb Mondays (10 Apr) – Genesis, Estia, Newcrest, Pushpay, Mincor, Golden Energy, Toyo

Nikkei 225 Index Rebalance Preview (Sep 2023): Potential Changes & Dark Horses

By Brian Freitas

  • The review period for the Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX) September rebalance ends end July. We highlight 3 potential inclusions and exclusions for the index.
  • There are a few alternate adds that are interesting and their inclusion in the index could move things around a fair bit.
  • Due to the large size difference between the potential adds/deletes, there will be a large funding trade with passive trackers needing to sell over 0.5x ADV on many index constituents.

Nikkei 225 Index Rebalance: Passives Trade on Friday

By Brian Freitas


Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: MSCI KR, S&P/ASX, SSE50, ChiNext, NIFTY, KQ150, AMFI, Rakuten Bank

By Brian Freitas


Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: Nikkei225, KOSDAQ150, KT Corp

By Brian Freitas


Last Week in Event SPACE: ANZ/​Suncorp, JCNC, Adani, Khan Bank/HS Holdings, Hong Kong Buybacks

By David Blennerhassett

  • In a dealbreak, ANZ (ANZ AU) will either have enough capital in a downturn or excess capital it could use to buy back stock. If behavioural remedies, SunCorp is cheaper. 
  • Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JCNC SP)‘s implied stub value is around its highest-ever level, dating back to 2004.
  • There is no good reason to be long Adani names, even if GQG is up 25% on his money so far.

A Pair Trade Between KT & LG Uplus

By Douglas Kim

  • In this insight, we discuss a pair trade between KT Corp (030200 KS) (go long) and LG Uplus Corp (032640 KS) (go short).
  • The three major reasons for going long on KT Corp include a) the potential inclusion in MSCI Korea Standard index, b) attractive valuations, and c) a new CEO. 
  • KT Corp is a potential inclusion candidate for MSCI Korea Standard index in May 2023. With foreign room at 17%, it is comfortably above the 15% level threshold requirement.

Weekly Deals Digest (09 Apr) – Rakuten Bank, ZJLD, Harita, HKBN, Toyo, Estia, Mincor, Pushpay

By Arun George


Good Morning Japan |Jobs Galore – Strong NFP; Watch for the Fed Hawks; NUGGET: Kuroda Exits..a Hero?

By Mark Chadwick

  • OVERSEAS. Good Friday holidays. US Economy proving to be pretty resilient. Non-farm payrolls showed hiring continued to be strong in March. NFP was 236k vs Cons 230k. Telsa cuts prices(again)
  • JAPAN. NKY Futs +0.5% vs Cash as US Equity(Cash) markets closed. USDJPY 132.2. Likely see some beta led reversals of losses seen in the latter half of last week.
  • NUGGET.  Kuroda bids Farewell after 10 years as BOJ Governor. He created a new playbook on monetary policy that will be studied for years. Net-net, positive outcome.

(Mostly) Asia-Pac Weekly Risk Arb Wrap: Mincor, Toyo Construction, Pushpay, Breaker Resources

By David Blennerhassett


Merger Arb Mondays (10 Apr) – Genesis, Estia, Newcrest, Pushpay, Mincor, Golden Energy, Toyo

By Arun George


💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief TMT/Internet: Tencent, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) – ADR, OpenAI and more

By | Daily Briefs, TMT/Internet

In today’s briefing:

  • Last Week in Event SPACE: ANZ/​Suncorp, JCNC, Adani, Khan Bank/HS Holdings, Hong Kong Buybacks
  • Taiwan Tech Weekly: Samsung Finally Announces Chip Production Cuts; Hon Hai’s New EV Factory
  • AI minus the BS (Part 2)

Last Week in Event SPACE: ANZ/​Suncorp, JCNC, Adani, Khan Bank/HS Holdings, Hong Kong Buybacks

By David Blennerhassett

  • In a dealbreak, ANZ (ANZ AU) will either have enough capital in a downturn or excess capital it could use to buy back stock. If behavioural remedies, SunCorp is cheaper. 
  • Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JCNC SP)‘s implied stub value is around its highest-ever level, dating back to 2004.
  • There is no good reason to be long Adani names, even if GQG is up 25% on his money so far.

Taiwan Tech Weekly: Samsung Finally Announces Chip Production Cuts; Hon Hai’s New EV Factory

By Vincent Fernando, CFA

  • Samsung announced that it would reduce memory chip production in light of crashing profits, this is after the company had previously said it would not reduce production. Memory names rallied.
  • Hon Hai announced a $820m investment plan for EV manufacturing in southern Taiwan.
  • Japan’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment export restrictions targeting China will take effect starting in July.

AI minus the BS (Part 2)

By Value Punks

  • In Part 1 of this series, we emphasized that despite the considerable hype and fear-mongering surrounding it, ChatGPT and recent development in the field of AI deserves a closer look.
  • Then we explored ChatGPT’s basic capabilities.
  • If you just look at the summary of what it can do, you might conclude that we have just invented a magical unicorn that spews rainbows across the sky as it flies.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief Energy/Materials: Genesis Minerals and more

By | Daily Briefs, Energy & Materials Sector

In today’s briefing:

  • Merger Arb Mondays (10 Apr) – Genesis, Estia, Newcrest, Pushpay, Mincor, Golden Energy, Toyo

Merger Arb Mondays (10 Apr) – Genesis, Estia, Newcrest, Pushpay, Mincor, Golden Energy, Toyo

By Arun George


💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief Consumer: Pop Mart International Group Limited, ZJLD Group, Tokyo Stock Exchange Tokyo Price Index Topix, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc and more

By | Consumer, Daily Briefs

In today’s briefing:

  • Popmart (9992 HK): Long Term Constraints Cloud Near Term Recovery
  • ZJLD Group Pre-IPO – Thoughts on Valuation
  • ROE up Modestly, but ROE Plus DOE Is Expected to Reach a Record High This Fiscal Year
  • Keurig Dr Pepper: The Recent Share Price Drop Might Not Last For Long

Popmart (9992 HK): Long Term Constraints Cloud Near Term Recovery

By Eric Chen

  • Markets expect Popmart to deliver fast growth for years to come, yet we are skeptical because the pop toy business, by definition, is a niche market.
  • Blaming COVID for Popmart’s weak results risks focusing too much on near-term cyclical recovery but overlooking structural bottlenecks to growth.
  • While we are cautious for long term, continued improvement in business and news flow leading to 1H results will likely result in share price rebound and provide tactical trading opportunity.

ZJLD Group Pre-IPO – Thoughts on Valuation

By Clarence Chu

  • ZJLD Group (ZJLD HK) is looking to raise up to US$500m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO.
  • ZJLD Group (ZJLD) is a Chinese liquor company primarily producing baijiu.
  • In this note, we discuss our earnings assumptions and share our thoughts on ZJLD’s valuation.

ROE up Modestly, but ROE Plus DOE Is Expected to Reach a Record High This Fiscal Year

By Aki Matsumoto

  • ROE has not risen at the pace expected, but dividends have begun to increase, and in FY2021 DOE rose to the 3% range for the first time.
  • While ROE alone will not surpass the record high of FY2017, ROE plus DOE (ROE+DOE) is expected to slightly surpass the record high of FY2017 in FY2022.
  • Even in FY2021, when DOE increased, Equity Ratio increased (and total assets also increased), so there is still room to increase shareholder returns, given that cash on hand increased.

Keurig Dr Pepper: The Recent Share Price Drop Might Not Last For Long

By Vladimir Dimitrov, CFA

  • Keurig Dr Pepper share price has been under pressure over the recent months due to higher than expected drop in profitability.
  • Beverage segments, however, continue to perform well and would most likely offset weaknesses in coffee.
  • Investors should not expect a quick rebound in the company’s free cash flow.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief Health Care: Bundamedik Tbk PT and more

By | Daily Briefs, Healthcare

In today’s briefing:

  • PT Bundamedik Tbk (BMHS IJ): Growing Core Business; Eyeing Mid-Teens Revenue Growth in 2023

PT Bundamedik Tbk (BMHS IJ): Growing Core Business; Eyeing Mid-Teens Revenue Growth in 2023

By Tina Banerjee

  • Bundamedik Tbk PT (BMHS IJ) reported 15% decline in revenue in 2022. However, non-COVID business recorded revenue growth of 17%. Contribution of core business to total revenue increased to 92%.
  • All the key operating parameters improved significantly from pre-COVID level. Occupancy rate of the existing hospitals improved to 66% in 2022 from 58% in 2021. New hospitals recorded 71% occupancy.
  • The company aims to achieve revenue growth of ~17% YoY and EBITDA growth of 23–24% YoY in 2023, supported by the significant development of the company’s core business.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief Quantitative Analysis: A-H Premium Weekly (Apr 7th): China Vanke and more

By | Daily Briefs, Quantitative Analysis

In today’s briefing:

  • A-H Premium Weekly (Apr 7th): China Vanke, China Rail Group, Huatai Securities, Yankuang Energy
  • Northbound Flows (Apr 6th): East Money, Muyuan Foods, CTG, Ping An Insurance, Hundsun, CMB, Foxconn

A-H Premium Weekly (Apr 7th): China Vanke, China Rail Group, Huatai Securities, Yankuang Energy

By Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

  • We analyse the changes of A-H premium on 143 stocks over the last week. The average A-H premium was 117.4% as of Apr 7th.
  • The average A-H premium changed by 3.5ppt week on week, led by communication services, health care, real estate and offset by utilities.
  • We highlight weekly changes in A-H premium for China Vanke, China Rail Group, Huatai Securities, Yankuang Energy, CRRC, CICC, GWM.

Northbound Flows (Apr 6th): East Money, Muyuan Foods, CTG, Ping An Insurance, Hundsun, CMB, Foxconn

By Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

  • We analyze the weekly Shanghai/Shenzhen northbound Connect flows with our data engine for holding position as of April 6th.
  • We estimate the weekly outflows to be US$412.5 million, led by information technology, materials, and offset by financials, consumer staples, industrials.
  • We highlight flows for East Money Information, Muyuan Foods, China Tourism Group Duty Free, Ping An Insurance, Hundsun Technologies, China Merchants Bank, Foxconn Industrial Internet.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief ESG: ROE up Modestly and more

By | Daily Briefs, ESG

In today’s briefing:

  • ROE up Modestly, but ROE Plus DOE Is Expected to Reach a Record High This Fiscal Year

ROE up Modestly, but ROE Plus DOE Is Expected to Reach a Record High This Fiscal Year

By Aki Matsumoto

  • ROE has not risen at the pace expected, but dividends have begun to increase, and in FY2021 DOE rose to the 3% range for the first time.
  • While ROE alone will not surpass the record high of FY2017, ROE plus DOE (ROE+DOE) is expected to slightly surpass the record high of FY2017 in FY2022.
  • Even in FY2021, when DOE increased, Equity Ratio increased (and total assets also increased), so there is still room to increase shareholder returns, given that cash on hand increased.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief ECM: ZJLD Group Pre-IPO – Thoughts on Valuation and more

By | Daily Briefs, ECM

In today’s briefing:

  • ZJLD Group Pre-IPO – Thoughts on Valuation

ZJLD Group Pre-IPO – Thoughts on Valuation

By Clarence Chu

  • ZJLD Group (ZJLD HK) is looking to raise up to US$500m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO.
  • ZJLD Group (ZJLD) is a Chinese liquor company primarily producing baijiu.
  • In this note, we discuss our earnings assumptions and share our thoughts on ZJLD’s valuation.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief Macro: Why You Should Fade the Breadth Thrust and more

By | Daily Briefs, Macro

In today’s briefing:

  • Why You Should Fade the Breadth Thrust
  • The Fire & Ice Challenge to Risk Assets
  • Can the Yield Curve Predict the Future of the Economy? An Updated Analysis Using Granger Causality
  • TPW Advisory April Monthly: Look Behind The Curtain

Why You Should Fade the Breadth Thrust

By Cam Hui

  • The stock market was higher a year later in every instance of out-of-sample Zweig Breadth Thrust buy signals since 1986, though it did pause and pull back on two occasions.
  • We think that the latest signal will resolve in a pullback.
  • The market structure of the S&P 500 indicates it’s undergoing a bottoming process. Our base case calls for breadth to recover in a choppy manner for the next few months.

The Fire & Ice Challenge to Risk Assets

By Cam Hui

  • The stock market and other risk assets are facing a fire and ice challenge.
  • Fire in the form of still overly hot inflation readings and ice in the form of a deteriorating economy.
  • We believe current conditions are only bearish warnings and not outright bearish signals and offer several tripwires to watch.

Can the Yield Curve Predict the Future of the Economy? An Updated Analysis Using Granger Causality

By Albert Maass

  • Does the yield curve predict the US economy? Debate continues if the difference between short and long-term rates reliably indicates future GDP growth or if it’s just a coincidence.
  • If the yield curve spread accurately forecasted changes in GDP growth, it could help predict booms and recessions, offering a more informed basis for economic policy and decision-making.
  • An updated Granger causality analysis provides new evidence to settle the debate between correlation and causation.

TPW Advisory April Monthly: Look Behind The Curtain

By TPW Advisory

  • We go back to one of our favorite movies: The Wizard of Oz, to discuss what happens when investors pull back the curtain on the Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (FUD) hype machine.
  • We believe that what lies behind the curtain is not a big, bad, brown Kodiak bear but rather a series of important policy changes that are in process of unfolding across the Tri Polar World.
  • These include: Central Bank acceptance of higher inflation targets; the return of US Industrial Policy after a 70 year absence; Europe’s push for integration across energy, tech, defense and climate; Japan’s shift off YCC and China’s adoption of a domestic demand led growth strategy.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars

Daily Brief Thematic (Sector/Industry): Good Morning Japan |Jobs Galore – Strong NFP; Watch for the Fed Hawks; NUGGET: Kuroda Exits..a Hero? and more

By | Daily Briefs, Thematic (Sector/Industry)

In today’s briefing:

  • Good Morning Japan |Jobs Galore – Strong NFP; Watch for the Fed Hawks; NUGGET: Kuroda Exits..a Hero?
  • China Healthcare Weekly (Apr.7)- Pacemaker VBP, FDA Changes Game Rule, Industry Beta Vs Fundamentals

Good Morning Japan |Jobs Galore – Strong NFP; Watch for the Fed Hawks; NUGGET: Kuroda Exits..a Hero?

By Mark Chadwick

  • OVERSEAS. Good Friday holidays. US Economy proving to be pretty resilient. Non-farm payrolls showed hiring continued to be strong in March. NFP was 236k vs Cons 230k. Telsa cuts prices(again)
  • JAPAN. NKY Futs +0.5% vs Cash as US Equity(Cash) markets closed. USDJPY 132.2. Likely see some beta led reversals of losses seen in the latter half of last week.
  • NUGGET.  Kuroda bids Farewell after 10 years as BOJ Governor. He created a new playbook on monetary policy that will be studied for years. Net-net, positive outcome.

China Healthcare Weekly (Apr.7)- Pacemaker VBP, FDA Changes Game Rule, Industry Beta Vs Fundamentals

By Xinyao (Criss) Wang

  • Investors should note that even when there’re technical bottlenecks and domestic enterprises’ products are not yet mature, the government would still start centralized procurement, such as cardiac pacemaker.
  • The FDA has changed game rules and tighten the standards for accelerated approval. Together with the IRA, will the US really start limiting drug prices due to economic/financial pressure?
  • The relationship between fundamentals and stock prices is complicated. Beta would disappear without fundamentals, because fundamentals include not only objective facts, but also those generated by consensus brought by cognition.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars