Daily Brief Equity Bottom-Up: An Update of Our 2025 High Conviction Pick: Samsung Electronics and more

• Back on 6 November 2024, we published an insight called 2025 High Conviction: Samsung Electronics. In this insight, we provide an update of Samsung Electronics.
• Samsung Electronics reported operating profit of 12.1 trillion won (up 31.8% YoY and 18.7% higher than consensus) in 3Q 2025.
• The final installment of the 12 trillion won+ inheritance tax is due in April 2026.

• Chinese government’s efforts to ban Hanwha Ocean’s five U.S. subsidiaries from conducting any transactions with organizations or individuals in China is likely to have material Negative impact on Hanwha Ocean.
• If Hanwha’s U.S. subsidiaries are banned from Chinese suppliers, they’ll need to source alternatives (Japan, Europe, or domestic U.S. firms), that could involve 20–50% higher costs with longer lead times.
• Basically, what’s going on is that the Chinese government wants to slow down the United States’ efforts to rebuild its shipbuilding sector with the help of Korean shipbuilders.

• The commerce landscape is about to undergo a structural transformation as PayPal and Alphabet’s Google join forces in a multi-pronged AI-driven payments partnership launching in Q4 2025.
• Announced in September, the alliance will embed PayPal’s checkout experience directly into Google’s ecosystem—across Google Cloud, Google Ads, Google Play, and select consumer-facing properties.
• At the same time, the two companies are co-developing AI frameworks to power agent-led transactions, where autonomous digital agents make purchases on a user’s behalf using PayPal data.

• Tata Consultancy Services has announced a bold USD 6–7 billion investment to build a 1 GW sovereign AI data center network across India, its most capital-intensive project to date.
• This move shifts TCS from labor-based IT services to AI-driven infrastructure, aligning it with global compute leaders and advancing India’s AI and data-sovereignty goals.
• TCS’s initiative could reshape India’s digital backbone, driving investment across allied sectors and marking a long-term re-rating opportunity for Indian tech toward infrastructure-led growth.

• Shares of fertilizer giant Mosaic Co. have been under significant pressure as the company grapples with dual setbacks — unplanned phosphate plant outages and ongoing macroeconomic headwinds tied to U.S. trade tariffs.
• On October 10, the company disclosed a meaningful production shortfall in its phosphate segment for Q3 2025, citing mechanical issues and utility interruptions that pushed preliminary volumes down to just 1.7 million tons, well below expectations.
• This comes on top of a challenging landscape in which U.S. tariffs have eroded the competitiveness of American fertilizer exports.

• Along with political turbulence, expectations of a near term BoJ rate hike may be diminishing; nonetheless, we believe that these rate hikes will, at worst, be delayed and not derailed
• We take profits on Mizuho in big caps and on Hirogin Holdings in mid-caps, downgrading these names from buy to neutral whilst generally retaining banks with higher levels of cross-holdings
• We maintain the following Japanese banks on buy ratings; in the big-caps, we keep Resona and Shizuoka and in the mid-caps we stick with Iyogin Holdings, Hokuhoku and Hachijuni

• Nanya Tech 3Q25: Rebounds to Profit Thanks to DDR4 Price Surge Windfall… But Underlying Structural Drivers Remain Unsteady
• The World’s DDR4 Shortage to Extends Pricing Spike Through 4Q25
• Nanya Technology vs SK Hynix — We Expect Relative Strength Ahead for SK Hynix Over Nanya Tech

• Peel Hunt is a UK-based investment bank specializing in mid-cap and growth companies, offering a diversified suite of services across investment banking, research and distribution, and execution services. This integrated model provides some resilience against market cyclicality.
• The company’s financial performance has been impacted by challenging UK capital market conditions, characterized by a downturn in IPOs and M&A activity. This has led to recent net losses and a declining revenue trend over the past three years.
• Management is focused on strategic initiatives to drive future growth, including expanding its client base, particularly within the FTSE 350, diversifying revenue streams with a greater emphasis on M&A advisory, and investing in technology to enhance efficiency and client offerings.

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• Microsoft is making a bold move into the healthcare AI space, partnering with Harvard Medical School to improve the reliability of medical advice generated by its Copilot assistant.
• The collaboration, set to be unveiled with an update to Copilot as early as this month, integrates health content from Harvard Health Publishing.
• This step reflects Microsoft’s broader ambitions to establish Copilot as a leading AI assistant not just in productivity software but in areas demanding high accuracy and trust—like healthcare.

• As Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) faces intensifying competition in the immunology landscape, recent reports indicate the healthcare behemoth is exploring the acquisition of Protagonist Therapeutics, a biotechnology firm currently collaborating with JNJ on the development of icotrokinra, a novel oral therapy targeting immune diseases like plaque psoriasis and ulcerative colitis.
• The news has driven Protagonist’s stock up nearly 30%, valuing the company at around $4.2 billion.
• JNJ already holds exclusive commercialization rights to icotrokinra, which analysts at Leerink Partners project could generate peak global sales of $9.5 billion.