Smartkarma Daily Briefs

• Constituent changes to the S&P500 INDEX and capping changes will result in a round-trip trade of US$16.3bn across the Select Sector indices and the S&P500 Equal Weight Index.
• The Select Sector index trackers and S&P500 Equal Weight trackers will need to buy the adds to the S&P500 INDEX and sell the deletes, further increasing flow for the stocks.
• The flows will change over the next week as stock prices move around, and final capping is done after the close on 14 March.

• We believe all business, including smartphone and vehicle, will grow strongly in 4Q24 and 2025.
• We expect EPS will increase by 15% YoY in 4Q24 and 41% in 2025.
• However, we believe the market overvalues the newly launched vehicle business.

• Sea Ltd booked a blowout set of results, with strong growth and profitability across all three divisions, surpassing previous guidance and bringing about the second profitable year for the company. 
• E-Commerce was the key feature, with GMV surpassing US$100bn with increasing take rates, with core marketplace GAAP Revenues booking nearly +50% YoY growth in 4Q2024, confirming Shopee’s lead position. 
• Digital Financial Services and Digital Entertainment also booked strong growth, with management highlighting a positive outlook for all three segments in 2025. Sea Ltd remains a core holding. 

• Global smartphone market expected to see substantial growth in 4th quarter of 2024, indicating a positive trend for the industry.
• TSMC experiences a drop in revenue in Q1, as AI sector continues to expand and company addresses discrimination allegations.
• AMD CEO recognizes value of open-source technology in DeepSeek, while HP announces plans to reduce workforce by cutting 2,000 jobs, reflecting industry challenges.

Bharti Airtel is the second-largest telecom player in India, with a c. 30% market share. It also has significant operations in Africa, and to a smaller extent Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The largest shareholders are Bharti Enterprises (42%) and Singtel (14%). Bharti Enterprises was founded/owned by Sunil Bharti Mittal. It is one of India’s first conglomerates, with interests in telecommunications, space, insurance, real estate, hospitality and food.

We view Bharti Airtel as “Low Risk” on the LARA scale, mainly given its strong market position as the second-largest player in India’s telecom industry. The company owns robust network infrastructure across the country, with a broad customer base. We also note positively the improving industry outlook, with rationalising competition and industry consolidation benefiting Bharti Airtel, along with improving regulatory conditions. The company is committed to prudent balance-sheet management and stable leverage. However, capex requirements will likely remain substantial given Bharti Airtel’s 5G rollout, with a risk that capex will be higher than projected.

• Xiaomi Corp. aims to expand its electric vehicle sales outside China by 2027, while accelerating the international rollout of its other consumer electronics, company president William Lu said at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Monday.
• During the event, Xiaomi unveiled its high-end Xiaomi 15 Ultra smartphone series to the global market, priced at 1,499 euros. The company also showcased its premium electric sedan, the SU7 Ultra, and the Xiaomi SU7, though these vehicles have yet to be launched outside China.
• “After MWC, I plan to visit several European countries with the goal of officially introducing Xiaomi cars overseas by 2027,” Lu said on the sidelines of the event. He revealed that Xiaomi will begin offering its home appliance products in international markets next year.

• The blockchain technology Company announced that it entered into a non-binding term sheet for up to $40m in senior secured convertible loans on 25 February 2025.
• The initial tranche of the Financing would be $15m with follow on tranches of up to $25m advanced over the next 18 months.
• The proceeds of the Financing are to be used to refresh Argo’s Baie Comeau, Quebec mining fleet, to strengthen the balance sheet, and to assess a pipeline of merger and acquisition possibilities. 

• Greenidge pre-announced solid 4Q24 results, beating on both revenue ($14.8 million versus consensus of $13.6 million) and adjusted EBITDA ($3.1 million at the midpoint versus consensus of $1.0 million).
• CEO Jordan Kovler said, “Throughout 2024, we took significant steps to further right-size the business and stabilize our operations, reducing SG&A expenses by almost $9 million.
• We also implemented important new growth strategies, including the acquisition and successful buildouts of sites in Mississippi and North Dakota that represented 15MW of additional mining capacity.”

• Geniee delivered accelerating double-digit growth in sales (+40.6% YoY) and normalized OP (+50.8% YoY) with its Q1-3 FY3/25 results.
• The new Digital PR business (formed following the Social Wire acquisition) is in its early days, but there are signs that it is performing above. forecasts.
• Coupled with accelerating growth and improving profitability in the Company’s Overseas and Marketing SaaS segment, we think Geniee is turning a corner on its growth trend.