Best Foreign Stocks

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>>> Japanese trading houses rise as Warren Buffett raises stakes and says he may buy more


CNBC

APR 11 2023


https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/berkshire-japan.html


KEY POINTS

Warren Buffett told Nikkei he is considering additional investment in Japan’s five major trading houses.

Berkshire Hathaway has raised its stakes in all five trading houses to 7.4%.
Shares of Mitsubishi Corp. rose 2.1% in Japan’s afternoon trade, Mitsui & Co. gained 2.7% and Itochu Corp climbed 3%.

Shares of Japanese trading houses rose on Tuesday after Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, raised his stakes in the firms and said he may increase his holdings even further.

In an interview with Nikkei, Buffett said he is considering additional investment in five major Japanese trading houses, adding that he was “very proud” of his existing investments in them.

Shares of Mitsubishi Corp. rose 2.08% in Japan’s afternoon trade, Mitsui & Co. gained 2.66%, Itochu Corp climbed 2.98% and Marubeni Corp. advanced 4.55%. Sumitomo Corp. also rose 3.19%.

Berkshire Hathaway has raised its stakes in all five trading houses to 7.4%, according to CNBC’s Becky Quick. That’s up from positions of 6.6% in Mitsubishi Corp., 6.6% in Mitsui & Co., 6.2% in Itochu Corp., 6.8% in Marubeni Corp. and 6.6% in Sumitomo Corp, according to November filings.

Buffett told Nikkei that he is planning to meet with the companies later in the week “to really just have a discussion around their businesses and emphasize our support,” according to the report.

Japan’s five largest trading companies — known as sogo shosha — are conglomerates that import everything from energy and metals to food and textiles into resource-scarce Japan. They also provide services to manufacturers. The trading houses have helped grow the Japanese economy and contributed to the globalization of its business.

Late last year, Berkshire Hathaway increased its positions in the five leading trading houses in Japan by at least 1 percentage point to more than 6% each — after its initial purchase in August, when Buffett acquired stakes worth more than $6 billion in total on his 90th birthday.

Nikkei separately reported that Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is preparing another issuance of yen-denominated bonds, which was seen as a signal the conglomerate would increase its investments in Japan.

Buffett will be live from Japan on CNBC’s U.S. “Squawk Box” on Wednesday to discuss his investments in the country.

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>>> L'Oréal S.A. (LRLCY), through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cosmetic products for women and men worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Consumer Products, L'oréal Luxe, Professional Products, and Active Cosmetics. It offers shampoos, hair care products, shower gels, skin care products, cleansers, hair colors, styling products, deodorants, sun care products, make-up, perfumes, etc. The company provides its products under the L'Oréal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, NYX Professional Makeup, Essie, Niely, Dark and Lovely, Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, Giorgio Armani Beauty, Kiehl's, Urban Decay, Biotherm, Ralph Lauren, IT Cosmetics, L'Oréal Professionnel, Kérastase, Redken, Matrix, Biolage, Pureology, Decléor, Carita, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, SkinCeuticals, Roger&Gallet, CeraVe, Stylenanda, Mixa, Magic Mask, Prada, Helena Rubinstein, Valentino, Mugler, Shu Uemura, Viktor&Rolf, Azzaro, Diesel, Atelier Cologne, Cacharel, and Yue Sai brands. It sells its products through distribution channels, such as hair salons, mass-market retail channels, perfumeries, department stores, pharmacies, drugstores, medispas, branded retail, travel retail, and e-commerce. L'Oréal S.A. was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Clichy, France.

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>>> Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL), together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, reinsurance, and mortgage insurance products worldwide. The company's Insurance segment offers primary and excess casualty coverages; loss sensitive primary casualty insurance programs; collateral protection, debt cancellation, and service contract reimbursement products; directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions liability, employment practices and fiduciary liability, crime, professional indemnity, and other financial related coverages; medical professional and general liability insurance coverages; and workers' compensation and umbrella liability, as well as commercial automobile and inland marine products. It also provides property, energy, marine, and aviation insurance; travel insurance; accident, disability, and medical plan insurance coverages; captive insurance programs; employer's liability; and contract and commercial surety coverages. This segment markets its products through a group of licensed independent retail and wholesale brokers. Its Reinsurance segment provides casualty reinsurance for third party liability and workers' compensation exposures; marine and aviation; surety, accident and health, workers' compensation catastrophe, agriculture, trade credit, and political risk products; reinsurance protection for catastrophic losses, and personal lines and commercial property exposures; life reinsurance; casualty clash; and risk management solutions. This segment markets its reinsurance products through brokers. The company's Mortgage segment offers direct mortgage insurance and mortgage reinsurance. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.

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>>> Linde Inaugurates World's First Hydrogen Refueling System for Passenger Trains


Accesswire

Linde plc

August 24, 2022


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/linde-inaugurates-worlds-first-hydrogen-085000823.html


WOKING, UK / ACCESSWIRE / August 24, 2022 / Linde (NYSE: LIN; FWB: LIN) today announced it has inaugurated the world's first hydrogen refueling system for passenger trains in Bremervörde, Germany.

Linde's hydrogen refueling system, which it built, owns and operates, will refuel 14 hydrogen-powered passenger trains, enabling each train to run for 1,000 km emission-free on a single refueling. It has a total capacity of around 1,600 kg of hydrogen per day, making it one of the largest hydrogen refueling systems ever built. Linde's future-ready hydrogen refueling system has been designed and constructed with the ability to integrate future on-site green hydrogen generation. The new hydrogen trains will replace existing diesel-powered trains.

"Linde is committed to making a significant contribution towards decarbonizing transport in Europe," said Veerle Slenders, President Region Europe West, Linde. "We are proud that Linde's innovative technology plays a key role in supporting this project and establishing a blueprint for cleaner public transport systems around the world."

"The world's first hydrogen train, the Coradia iLint, demonstrates a clear commitment to green mobility combined with the latest technology," said Müslüm Yakisan, President of Alstom in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. "We are very proud to see the first series operation in action together with our partners Linde, LNVG and evb."

Linde is a global leader in the production, processing, storage and distribution of hydrogen. It has the largest liquid hydrogen capacity and distribution system in the world. The company operates the world's first high-purity hydrogen storage cavern plus pipeline networks totaling approximately 1,000 kilometers globally, to reliably supply its customers. Linde is at the forefront in the transition to clean hydrogen and has installed over 200 hydrogen fueling stations and 80 hydrogen electrolysis plants worldwide. The company offers the latest hydrogen technologies through its world class engineering organization, key alliances and partnerships.

About Linde

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2021 sales of $31 billion (€26 billion). We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain and protect our planet.

The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & energy, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and mining. Linde's industrial gases are used in countless applications, from life-saving oxygen for hospitals to high-purity & specialty gases for electronics manufacturing, hydrogen for clean fuels and much more. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.

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>>> Nestle Eyed Biggest-Ever Deal in Aborted Move for GSK Unit


Bloomberg

by Aaron Kirchfeld, Ruth David and Dinesh Nair

May 26, 2022


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nestle-eyed-biggest-ever-deal-165347419.html


(Bloomberg) -- For a fleeting moment, Nestle SA explored what would have been its biggest-ever deal in a move that underscores the consumer giant’s ambition to grow through large acquisitions.

The Swiss company floated the idea in recent months of acquiring GSK Plc’s consumer health arm, people with knowledge of the matter said. It made informal overtures to express interest in the GSK unit around the same time as Unilever Plc’s £50 billion ($63 billion) bid for the business that failed in January, the people said.

As part of its deliberations about a deal, Nestle was considering teaming up with Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc or a similar strategic partner to split up the unit, the people said. However, Nestle quickly dropped its pursuit due to the complexities of a deal and GSK management’s preference for a separate listing of the operations, according to the people.

The revelation comes as GSK pursues one of the largest corporate spinoffs ever attempted in the UK. The unit, now known as Haleon, owns a sprawling portfolio of brands from Advil painkillers to Sensodyne toothpaste. Its plans for a listing come at a time when equity markets globally have been declining amid the war in Ukraine, while new stock offerings have nearly dried up as investors’ risk appetite falls.

Activist Pressure

“Haleon is an attractive consumer asset, which should ultimately be reflected in its independent valuation,” analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. wrote in a note Thursday, citing the potential takeover interest.

The report “suggests” GSK is committed to the spinoff as a tax-free way of crystallizing value for shareholders while also providing £7 billion to pursue pipeline deals, without the potential delays from a sale, according to Jefferies.

Unilever in January abandoned its bid for the GSK business after the UK drugmaker rejected its approaches and it encountered opposition from its own shareholders. GSK Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley has consistently argued that the public markets are the best home for Haleon. She’s been seeking to boost performance amid pressure from activist shareholder Elliott Investment Management.

Mega Listing

GSK has made clear it’s keen on creating a large independent firm and achieving long-term growth, compared with the short-term profit from a sale, the people said. Nestle’s interest was seen as an exploratory idea not backed by committed financing, so GSK never had to seriously evaluate it, the people said.

The British company remains focused on the spinoff, and there aren’t any active negotiations between the two parties, the people said. Nestle is still monitoring the situation, and it could revisit its interest depending on how Haleon trades after its stock market debut, they said.

Haleon is in the process of hiring corporate brokers ahead of the planned UK listing, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. That move raises the prospect that some large investment banks could switch allegiances in order to represent Haleon, which is expected to immediately become one of the London market’s biggest companies.

Representatives for Nestle, Reckitt and GSK declined to comment.

Portfolio Pruning

Since taking the helm at Nestle in 2017, CEO Mark Schneider has made targeted acquisitions and sold off several underperforming units. Nestle, Europe’s biggest listed company by market value, has been expanding its presence in faster-growing health and wellness products by snapping up firms like nutritional supplement provider Bountiful Co. and hydration-tablet maker Nuun & Co.

Schneider said in February the company was more interested in small and mid-sized deals, though it wouldn’t rule out larger purchases.

Reckitt, the maker of Lysol disinfectants and Durex condoms, has also been revamping its portfolio by offloading businesses seen as less profitable. It has divested its Chinese baby formula unit and has been considering a sale of its remaining infant nutrition operations globally, Bloomberg News reported.

Slough, England-based Reckitt considered buying a portion of Pfizer Inc.’s consumer business in 2018. It eventually backed out of the race, a move applauded by investors at the time.

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>>> Accenture Boosts Revenue Forecast. The Stock Is Rising.


Barron's

By Joe Woelfel

March 17, 2022


https://www.barrons.com/articles/accenture-acn-stock-earnings-revenue-forecast-51647506664?siteid=yhoof2


Accenture shares were rising in premarket trading Thursday after the management consulting company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts and boosted its fiscal-year revenue outlook.

Accenture (ticker: ACN) stock was up 5% to $340.99.

Accenture reported second-quarter earnings of $2.54 a share on revenue of $15.05 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected Accenture to report fiscal second-quarter earnings of $2.37 a share on revenue of $14.65 billion. A year earlier, Accenture earned $2.23 a share on revenue of $12.09 billion.

New bookings in the second quarter were a record $19.6 billion.

The company said it expects fiscal-year revenue to rise 24% to 26%, higher than its previous forecast of up 19% to 22%. It expects earnings of $10.61 to $10.81 a share, an increase of 21% to 23% from adjusted profit in fiscal 2021 of $8.80; Accenture previously expected fiscal 2022 earnings of between $10.32 to $10.60.

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>>> European stocks rally on best day in nearly two years as Ukraine’s president cools to NATO membership


MarketWatch

March 9, 2022

By Steve Goldstein


https://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-rally-as-ukraines-president-cools-to-nato-membership-11646814770?siteid=yhoof2


European stocks rallied on Wednesday, buoyed by an interview from Ukraine’s president in which he appeared to make major concessions.

The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +4.68% rose 4.7% to 434.35, helped by a rally in the beleaguered banking sector. It was the strongest one-day rise since March 24, 2020, according to FactSet data.

Even with the rally, the index has dropped 12% this year.

Gainers on Wednesday included BNP Paribas BNP, +9.95%, Adidas ADS, +13.63% and Deutsche Post DPW, +12.45%.

Sportswear manufacturer Adidas set out optimistic guidance for 2022, including a return to growth in China. Deutsche Post announced a new share buyback as it guided for a steady profit excluding the impact of the conflict in Eastern Europe.

Of the major regional indexes, the German DAX DAX, +7.92% surged 7.1%, the French CAC 40 PX1, +7.13% surged 6.6% and the U.K. FTSE 100 UKX, +3.25% gained 2.8%.

Volodymr Zelensky told ABC News on Tuesday that “I have cooled down regarding the question” of NATO membership and said he was open to dialogue on the fate of Eastern Ukraine republics, Donetsk and Lugansky, that Russia recognizes as independent.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week said Ukraine had no “serious prospect” of NATO membership. Russia’s and Ukraine’s foreign ministers are due to meet Thursday in Turkey, Reuters reported.

However, “While the contours of the end of this war are becoming visible, that doesn’t necessarily mean the fighting will stop any time soon,” said Arne Petimezas, senior analyst at AFS Group.

Polymetal International POLY, +69.20%, the Anglo-Russian gold miner, surged 62%. Polymetal said for European Union sanctions purposes, it is not owned by or acting at the direction of a person connected with Russia.

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>>> Adyen N.V. (ADYEY) operates a payments platform in Europe, North America, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and internationally. The company's platform integrates payments stack that include gateway, risk management, processing, acquiring, and settlement services. It offers a back-end infrastructure for authorizing payments across merchants' sales channels, as well as online, mobile, in-store, and APIs. The company's platform services a range of merchants across various verticals, connecting them directly to Visa, Mastercard, and other payment methods and providing data insights. Adyen N.V. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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>>> Bill Gates Just Bought Coupang (CPNG) Stock, Good Investment


Market Realist

BY MOHIT OBEROI, CFA

MAY. 24 2021


https://marketrealist.com/p/should-buy-coupang-cpng-stock-like-bill-gates/


The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has disclosed a new stake in South Korean e-commerce company Coupang (CPNG). However, it has exited the stake in Apple and Twitter. Should you follow the foundation and buy CPNG stock?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has bought 5.71 million shares of CPNG. The stake is valued at around $220 million at the current prices. Coupang went public in March and had a strong listing. However, it fell amid the sell-off in growth names. At one point, Coupang was trading below the IPO price of $35.

Coupang stock and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust is the world’s largest charitable trust with assets of almost $50 billion. The foundation has put its trust in CPNG stock even though it has trimmed stakes in some of the other tech stocks.

CPNG stock valuation

CPNG stock trades at an NTM (next-12 month) EV-to-EBITDA multiple of 2.99x. The multiples have averaged 4.2x since the company went public and hit a high of 5.53x. The current valuation multiples aren't far away from the all-time low multiples of 2.5x. Since the stock only listed recently, we don’t have enough time-series data to arrive at a conclusion.

Is CPNG stock undervalued?

CPNG has backward integrated operations and it doesn't use third-party delivery services like other e-commerce companies. Also, we don’t have a real comp set for the company. While Amazon and Alibaba are also e-commerce plays, they have cloud operations as well. Incidentally, Amazon’s cloud operations account for most of its profitability.

CPNG valuation versus BABA and AMZN

Meanwhile, CPNG’s valuation multiples are at a discount to both Alibaba and Amazon. While Coupang is growing its top line at a faster pace than these companies, it's currently posting losses. Amazon and Alibaba are both posting profits.

Coupang stock forecast

According to the estimates compiled by TipRanks, CPNG has an average target price of $47, which is a premium of 23.6 percent over its closing prices on May 21. The stock’s highest and lowest target prices are $39 and $62, respectively.

Among the six analysts covering the stock, only two have a buy or equivalent rating, while the remaining four analysts have rated CPNG as a hold. Goldman Sachs is the most bullish brokerage on Coupang and has a street-high target price of $62.

Earlier this month, Coupang released its first earnings as a publicly traded company. While its sales were slightly ahead of the expectations, it posted a wider-than-expected loss in the quarter. Citigroup and Mizuho lowered the stock’s target price after the earnings release. Last week, Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock from a hold to a buy.

CPNG stock is a good buy.

Growth stocks have been out of favor with investors and CPNG stock has also been a casualty of the painful sell-off in growth names. However, Coupang has the market-leading position in South Korea and a strong brand in the country. After the IPO, it has enough cash to fund its growth and bridge the cash burn before the business starts generating positive free cash flows.

I think that Coupang stock is an attractive buy at these prices. It looks like a good way to play the e-commerce industry in South Korea at reasonable valuations.

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>>> Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of navigation, communication, and information devices in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Australian Continent, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its Fitness segment offers running and multi-sport watches; cycling products; activity tracking and smartwatch devices; and fitness and cycling accessories. This segment also provides Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect Mobile, which are web and mobile platforms; and Connect IQ, an application development platform. The company's Outdoor segment offers adventure watches, outdoor handhelds, golf devices, and dog tracking and training devices. Its Aviation segment designs, manufactures, and markets various aircraft avionics solutions comprising integrated flight decks, electronic flight displays and instrumentation, navigation and communication products, automatic flight control systems and safety-enhancing technologies, audio control systems, engine indication systems, traffic awareness and avoidance solutions, ADS-B and transponder solutions, weather information and avoidance solutions, datalink and connectivity solutions, portable GPS navigators and wearables, and various services products. The company's Marine segment provides chartplotters and multi-function displays, cartography products, fish finders, sonar products, autopilot systems, radars, compliant instrument displays and sensors, VHF communication radios, handhelds and wearable devices, sailing products, entertainment, digital switching products, and trolling motors. Its Auto segment offers embedded computing models and infotainment systems; personal navigation devices; and cameras. The company sells its products through independent retailers, online retailers, dealers, distributors, installation and repair shops, and original equipment manufacturers, as well as an online webshop, garmin.com. Garmin Ltd. was founded in 1989 and is based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

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>>> CRH plc (CRH), through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes building materials. It operates in three segments: Americas Materials, Europe Materials, and Building Products. The company manufactures and supplies cement, lime, aggregates, precast, ready mixed concrete, and asphalt products; concrete masonry and hardscape products comprising pavers, kerbs, retaining walls, and related patio products; and glass and glazing products, including architectural glass, custom-engineered curtain and window walls, architectural windows, storefront systems, doors, skylights, and architectural hardware. It also offers precast concrete and polymer-based products, such as underground vaults, drainage pipes and structures, utility enclosures, and modular precast structures to the water, energy, communication, transportation, and building structures markets; and construction accessories, such as anchoring, fixing, and connection solutions, as well as lifting systems, formwork accessories, and other accessories used in construction applications. In addition, the company offers network access products, which include composite access chambers, covers, passive safety systems, retention sockets, sealants, and meter boxes; and paving and construction services. Further, it provides building and civil engineering contracting, contract surfacing, operates logistics and owned railway infrastructure; sells and distributes cement; and supplies access chambers and ducting products. It serves governments, contractors, homebuilders, homeowners, and sub-contractors. The company operates primarily in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. CRH plc was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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>>> SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (SEDG), together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and sells direct current (DC) optimized inverter systems for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations worldwide. It offers inverters, power optimizers, communication devices, and smart energy management solutions used in residential, commercial, and small utility-scale solar installations; and a cloud-based monitoring platform that collects and processes information from the power optimizers and inverters, as well as monitors and manages the solar PV system. The company also provides residential, commercial, and large scale photovoltaics, energy storage and backup, electric vehicle charging, and home energy management solutions, as well as grid services; and e-Mobility, automation machines, lithium-ion cells and battery packs, and uninterrupted power supply solutions, as well as virtual power plants, which helps to manage the load on the grid and grid stability. In addition, it offers pre-sales support, ongoing trainings, and technical support and after installation services. The company sells its products to the providers of solar PV systems; and solar installers and distributors, electrical equipment wholesalers, and PV module manufacturers, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction firms. SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.

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>>> Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (MGIC) provides proprietary application development, business process integration, vertical software solutions, and information technologies (IT) outsourcing software services in Israel and internationally. The company's Software Services segment develops, markets, sells, and supports application platform, software applications, and business and process integration solutions and related services. Its IT Professional Services segment offers IT services in the areas of infrastructure design and delivery, application development, technology planning and implementation services, communications services and solutions, and supplemental outsourcing services. The company offers proprietary application platforms, such as Magic xpa for developing and deploying business applications; AppBuilder for building, deploying, and maintaining high-end and mainframe-grade business applications; Magic xpi for application integration; Magic xpc, a hybrid integration platform as a service; Magic SmartUX, a mobile development application platform; and FactoryEye for virtualization of production data. It also provides vertical software solutions comprising Clicks, a software solution for healthcare providers; Leap, a software solution for business support systems; Hermes Solution, a packaged software solution for managing air cargo ground handling; HR Pulse, a customized single-tenant software as a service tool; and MBS Solution, a proprietary system for managing TV broadcast management. In addition, the company provides software maintenance, support, training, and consulting services. It serves oil and gas, telecommunications, financial, healthcare, and industrial sectors; and public institutions and international agencies. The company was formerly known as Mashov Software Export (1983) Ltd. and changed its name to Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. in 1991. Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Or Yehuda, Israel.

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>>> Else Nutrition Reports Second Quarter 2021 Results


Else Nutrition Holdings Inc.

August 27, 2021


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/else-nutrition-reports-second-quarter-162000820.html


Listed with 1,000+ US Natural Food and Grocery Retail Stores


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ELSE NUTRITION HOLDINGS INC. (BABY.V) (BABYF) (0YL.F) ("Else" or the "Company") the plant-based baby, toddler and children nutrition company, today announced results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2021. Management is pleased to announce it achieved significant progress executing its go-to-market plan in the US market, getting listed at more than 1,000 US natural food and grocery retail stores (already on-shelf at 700 of these stores), and continuing the rapid growth of its online sales. The Company also successfully launched its second product line – Complete Nutrition for Kids in Vanilla and Chocolate flavors. The following will summarize our major execution points achieved in the second quarter of 2021, as well as our business. Full financial results can be found in the Company News section of our website at https://elsenutrition.com/pages/investor-relations.

Q2 2021 Financial Highlights

Successfully launched its second product – Complete Nutrition for Kids (3+ years; in powder form). The product was launched online on www.elsenutrition.com and on Amazon.com.

Successfully increased online sales by 40% on Amazon.com and www.elsenutrition.com.

Achieved US retail presence in more than 1,000 listed stores. New Q2 listings include Big-Y (71 stores), Vitamin Cottage (159), PCC Community Markets (15), AFS (32), Mother's Markets (11), Huckleberry's Natural Market (16) and more than 100 co-ops and independent stores. Fulfilled initial retail orders and launched aggressive retail promotion campaigns. Most listed stores are expected to launch the product during the summer, and as retail velocity will grow during the remainder of the year, product shipments to distributors and retailers are expected to grow as well.

Quarterly revenues were C$1,114 thousand, compared to C$210 thousand in the second quarter of 2020, an increase of 430%.

Quarterly operating loss was C$3,772 thousand, compared to C$1,267 thousand in the second quarter of 2020.

Quarterly net loss was C$4,753 thousand, or C$0.05 per share, compared to C$4,495 thousand, or C$0.06 per share in the second quarter of 2020.

Quarterly cash flow used for operating activities was C$3,968 thousand, compared to C$1,427 thousand in the second quarter of 2020.

Cash position was C$17,906 million as of June 30, 2021 (including restricted cash and short-term bank deposit).

The Company had no Loans liability as of June 30, 2021.

Hamutal Yitzhak, Else CEO, commented: “I am very proud of our achievements this quarter. We continued to demonstrate rapid growth in our online business while we successfully launched many more retail stores, reaching 1,000 listed stores. We successfully launched our second product line and grew our product range, and we expect growth to continue and accelerate throughout the remainder of the year.”

Impact of COVID-19

We experience the effect of the pandemic in all areas of our business, from delays in raw material deliveries, to clinical and product development projects and absence of key persons in the company from time to time. Due to lockdowns and other COVID-19 related measures all our business meeting, marketing events, conferences and expos were either canceled or turned virtual, slowing down the pace of our business development efforts.

About Else Nutrition Holdings Inc.

Else Nutrition GH Ltd. is an Israel-based food and nutrition company focused on developing innovative, clean and plant-based food and nutrition products for infants, toddlers, children, and adults. Its revolutionary, plant-based, non-soy, formula is a clean-ingredient alternative to dairy-based formula. Else Nutrition (formerly INDI) won the "2017 Best Health and Diet Solutions" award at the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan. Else Plant-Based Complete Nutrition for Toddlers was recently ranked as the #1 Top seller in the baby and toddler formula category on Amazon. The holding company, Else Nutrition Holdings Inc., is a publicly traded company, listed as TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol BABY and is quoted on the US OTC Markets QX board under the trading symbol BABYF and on the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol 0YL. Else's Executives includes leaders hailing from leading infant nutrition companies. Many of Else advisory board members had past executive roles in companies such as Mead Johnson, Abbott Nutrition, Plum Organics and leading infant nutrition Societies, and some of them currently serve in different roles in leading medical centers and academic institutes such as Boston Children's Hospital, Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, USA, Tel Aviv University, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Rambam Medical Center and Technion, Israel and University Hospital Brussels, Belgium.

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>>> Amcor plc (AMCR) develops, produces, and sells packaging products for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home- and personal-care, and other products worldwide. It operates through two segments, Flexibles and Rigid Packaging. The company provides flexible packaging solutions, special cartons, plastic bottles and jars, and capsules and closures. The company was incorporated in 1926 and is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland.

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>>> Oatly Prices IPO at Top of Range to Raise $1.4 Billion


Yahoo Finance

by Crystal Tse

May 19, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Oatly Group AB, the vegan food and drink maker, priced its initial public offering at the top of a marketed range to raise more than $1.4 billion.

The company and its investors sold more than 84 million American depositary shares for $17 each on Wednesday, according to a statement. The Swedish company had offered the shares for $15 to $17 each.

The listing gives Oatly a market value of about $10 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

U.S. markets dropped for the third day in a row, with the S&P 500 index falling 0.3% Wednesday.

The IPO underscores plant-based products’ jump into the mainstream, as environmental and health concerns spur consumers to seek alternatives to traditional meat and dairy products. Investors have been looking for ways to replicate the public-market success of Beyond Meat Inc., whose shares have surged more than 300% since it went public in May 2019.

Oatly was started in 1994 by brothers Rickard and Bjorn Oste. Using technology based on research from Sweden’s Lund University, the company turns fiber-rich oats into liquid food.

In July, Oatly secured $200 million in new capital from investors led by Blackstone Group Inc. The group also included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, as well as former Starbucks Corp. founder Howard Schultz. The company was valued at about $2 billion in the round.

Oatly’s offering is being led by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG. The shares are expected to begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OTLY.

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Diversey Holdings - >>> This Cleaning Stock Is Loved by Analysts. Why They Say It Could Gain 40%.


Barron's

By Al Root

April 19, 2021


Wall Street is surprisingly high on a new cleaning stock.

Diversey Holdings (ticker: DSEY) provides cleaning chemicals, equipment, and services for industrial and commercial hygiene. Diversey, founded in 1923, was once part of Sealed Air (SEE), which sold the unit to private equity firm Bain Capital in 2017 for about $3.2 billion. Bain cut costs, improved margins, and brought the company public again this past month. Despite weak trading out of the gate, Wall Street almost uniformly recommends buying Diversey stock.

Diversey’s IPO qualifies as a broken deal. That means the stock is trading below its $15 IPO price, not something bankers want to see. Shares closed at $14.98 in their first day of trading. And shares are still trading lower: On Monday, they closed at $14.04.

Ecolab (ECL) is the closest comparable company to Diversey. Diversey’s market cap is roughly $4.3 billion. Ecolab, with its $63 billion valuation, is far larger.

Eight of the nine analysts who launched coverage of Diversey on Monday rated shares Buy. The average price target for Buy-rated analysts is about $19.50 a share, almost 40% above where the stock currently trades.

Those nine ratings arrived on Monday because the brokerages that launched coverage were involved in the IPO. Rules prevent participating brokers from launching coverage of a stock immediately after the public offering.

Barclays' Manav Patnaik was the lone analyst who rated shares Hold, making him all that stood between Diversey and a perfect 100% Buy-rating ratio. Still, his price target for shares is $16, a dollar higher than Diversey’s IPO price.

Baird analyst Andrew Wittmann was one of the Buy-rated analysts who launched coverage on Monday. He said in his initiation presentation that 90% of Diversey sales come from consumable products and most of the company’s products are low costs items that help customers save resources and money.

His target price is $18 based on about 31 times estimated 2021 earnings. Ecolab, for comparison, trades for about 43 times estimated 2021 earnings. Ecolab, of course, is the 800-pound gorilla in the corporate hygiene market. Plus, it has less debt than Diversey does. Being larger and less levered is one reason Ecolab has a higher valuation multiple. Still, with Diversey stock trading at about 24 times Wittmann’s estimated 2021 earnings, he sees an opportunity.

Most of Wittmann’s peers agree but, despite the bullish views, Diversey stock was down 2% in Monday trading. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.

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>>> Diversey Holdings, Ltd. (DSEY), through its subsidiaries, provides infection prevention and cleaning solutions in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Institutional, and Food and Beverage. The company manufactures, markets, and sells infection prevention and personal care products; floor and building care chemicals; kitchen and mechanical ware wash chemicals, and machines; dosing and dispensing equipment; and floor care machines to healthcare, education, food service, retail and grocery, hospitality, and building service contractor industries. It also provides a range of engineering, consulting, and training services related to productivity management, water and energy management, and risk management. In addition, the company offers chemical products; engineering and equipment solutions; training; and knowledge-based services, as well as water treatment services to brewing, beverage, dairy, processed foods, pharmaceutical, and agriculture industries. Diversey Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Northampton, United Kingdom. <<<

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>>> Here’s how trendy ETFs can do double-duty in your portfolio


MarketWatch

Dec. 15, 2020

By Andrea Riquier


https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-how-trendy-etfs-can-do-double-duty-in-your-portfolio-11607954528?siteid=yhoof2


Think global, act… thematic?

For a portfolio that spans the globe, look no further than some of the thematic ETFs that have been popular throughout 2020.

Borders may be closed and travel plans relegated to bucket lists for now, but there’s never been a better time for investors to be thinking globally.

After a years-long streak of outperformance by U.S. equities, many analysts say it’s time to seek out better returns abroad. Luckily, there may be an easy way to accomplish that, while also investing in some of the most compelling themes of 2020 and the future.

An analysis by Todd Rosenbluth, head of mutual fund and ETF research for CFRA, finds that many of the exchange-traded funds and ETF categories that are hot right now have exposure that’s more global in nature than many investors may realize – more global, in fact, than popular benchmarks. That makes some of these ETFs a two-fer, Rosenbluth believes: they offer strong investment theses and diversified exposure.

“There’s no border for great companies,” Rosenbluth said in an interview. “There’s no border for great ideas or themes. A compelling investment theme makes sense globally.”

Rosenbluth’s analysis compares the widely-tracked MSCI All-World Index, which has a 57.7% weighting of U.S. stocks, with several popular strategies.

Clean energy ETFs, which have gotten a boost over the past few months on expectations of a Democratic, and thus climate-friendly, administration, have broad international exposure, Rosenbluth found. The Invesco Solar ETF TAN, +3.23% allocates only 45% of its portfolio to U.S. companies, a metric which falls to 32% of the portfolio of the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF. ICLN, +1.37% In the iShares fund, the second-largest represented country is New Zealand, a country Rosenbluth said he was surprised to see weighted so heavily.

“The research of these ETF managers means they’re finding the leaders within these investment themes regardless of where they’re domiciled even if someone like me wouldn’t have thought of them,” he said.

His research found similar patterns across different themes. The Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF BOTZ, -0.36%, for example, has its biggest geographic concentration from Japan, at 45%, with the U.S. in second place at 35%.

That’s not to be confused with BETZ, the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF, BETZ, -0.61% which MarketWatch profiled when it launched in June. BETZ has only 34% exposure to U.S. stocks, followed by Britain and Australia. In a sign investors believe in its thesis, the fund has pulled in $178 million in its six months of existence.

It’s ultimately up to each investor to decide what kind of geographic exposure he or she wants, but Rosenbluth argues that “the long-term trend is favorable” for the themes represented here. The coronavirus pandemic may have sped up adoption of some high-tech lifestyle transitions, and the 2020 presidential election goosed interest in clean energy, but all these technologies are here to stay, he said.

“Investors will likely continue to show interest in these in the future because the themes make sense,” he said.

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New Oriental Education (EDU) -- Ray Dalio - >>> 10 Best Growth Stocks To Buy Now According To Ray Dalio


Yahoo Finance

Sorina Solonaru

November 26, 2020


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-best-growth-stocks-buy-220447261.html


New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU)

We begin with New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE::EDU), the most recognized brand in Chinese private education, currently valued at $3.7 billion. Having previously said that “not investing in China is risky”, Bridgewater expects great performance from the stock. Dalio's EDU position was worth $42 million at the end of September after boosting his EDU holdings by 46.3% in Q3.

The most recent news is New Oriental’s secondary listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, closing on its first day of trading at HK$1,365, a 14.7% increase from its offer price. The company plans to invest the net proceeds in its business growth and geographic expansion. According to Yahoo Finance, EDU is trading at a trailing P/E of 72. The Chinese education company had total revenues of $2.45 billion in FY2018 and managed to increase this to $3.6 billion in FY2020.

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>>> Sea Limited (SE) -


https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/12/06/3-stocks-that-can-double-again-in-2021/


One of this year's hottest stocks is still not a household name for most U.S. investors. Sea Limited is a fast-growing provider of online platforms in Southeast Asia. It started out as a gaming company a little more than a decade ago, but it now also operates the region's top e-commerce hub, Shopee. Its Sea Money digital payment and wallet platform isn't moving the needle just yet, but it is the fastest growing business for Sea Limited.

Things could get interesting on the fintech front in 2021. Sea Limited was awarded a digital bank license in its home country of Singapore on Friday. Revenue nearly doubled in its latest quarter, and Sea Limited is running on all cylinders. Its flagship online gaming platform was the relative laggard, and even there it came through with a 73% year-over-year revenue surge. There are now 572.4 million players on the platform. The stock has soared nearly fivefold in 2020, but until it becomes a household name outside of its home turf the ceiling remains high. <<<


>>> Sea Limited (SE) engages in the digital entertainment, e-commerce, and digital financial service businesses in Southeast Asia, Latin America, rest of Asia, and internationally. It provides Garena digital entertainment platform for users to access mobile and PC online games, as well as eSports operations; and access to other entertainment content, such as livestreaming of gameplay and social features , such as user chat and online forums. The company also operates Shopee e-commerce platform, a mobile-centric marketplace that offers integrated payment and logistics infrastructure and seller services. In addition, it offers SeaMoney digital financial services to individuals and businesses, including e-wallet and payment services AirPay, ShopeePay, ShopeePayLater, and other digital financial services brands; and payment processing services for Shopee. The company was formerly known as Garena Interactive Holding Limited and changed its name to Sea Limited in April 2017. Sea Limited was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Singapore.

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>>> Eaton Corporation plc (ETN) operates as a power management company worldwide. Its Electrical Products segment offers electrical and industrial components, wiring devices, and structural support systems; and residential, single phase power quality, emergency lighting and fire detection, and circuit protection and lighting products. The company's Electrical Systems and Services segment provides power distribution and assemblies, three phase power quality products, hazardous duty electrical equipment, explosion-proof instrumentation, utility power distribution equipment, power reliability equipment, and services. Its Hydraulics segment offers power, controls and sensing, and fluid conveyance products; and filtration systems solutions, industrial drum and disc brakes, and golf grips. The company's Aerospace segment provides hydraulic power generation and fuel systems, controls and sensing, and fluid and conveyance products for commercial and military use. Its Vehicle segment offers transmissions, clutches, hybrid power systems, superchargers, engine valves and valve actuation systems, cylinder heads, locking and limited slip differentials, transmission controls, and fuel vapor components for vehicle industry. The company's eMobility segment provides voltage inverters, converters, fuses, circuit protection units, vehicle controls, power distribution products, fuel tank isolation valves, and commercial vehicle hybrid systems. It serves industrial, institutional, governmental, utility, commercial, residential, information technology, renewable energy, marine, agriculture, oil and gas, construction, mining, forestry, material handling, truck and bus, machine tools, molding, primary metals, and power generation markets, as well as original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket customers. The company was founded in 1916 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

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>>> TE Connectivity Ltd. (TEL), together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells connectivity and sensor solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the AsiaÂ?Pacific, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communications Solutions. The Transportation Solutions segment provides terminals and connector systems and components, sensors, antennas, relays, application tooling, and wire and heat shrink tubing products for use in the automotive, commercial transportation, and sensor markets. The Industrial Solutions segment offers terminals and connector systems and components; and heat shrink tubing, interventional medical components, relays, and wires and cables for aerospace, defense, oil and gas, industrial equipment, medical, and energy markets. The Communications Solutions segment supplies electronic components, such as terminals and connector systems and components, relays, heat shrink tubing, and antennas for the data and devices, and appliances markets. TE Connectivity Ltd. sells its products to approximately 140 countries primarily through direct selling to manufacturers, as well as through third-party distributors. The company was formerly known as Tyco Electronics Ltd. and changed its name to TE Connectivity Ltd. in March 2011. TE Connectivity Ltd. was incorporated in 2000 and is based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

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Sea Limited (SE) - >>> Forget Amazon. Here's 1 Stock to Hold for the Next Decade

This rising technology stock has outperformed the market in 2020 and could continue to do so in the future.


Motley Fool

by Lawrence Nga

Oct 27, 2020


https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/27/forget-amazon-1-stock-hold-next-decade-sea-limited/


One of the best-performing technology companies over the last decade is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Over the past 10 years, Amazon's share price went up more than 20-fold to reach a market capitalization of $1.6 trillion, thanks to the growth of its e-commerce and cloud computing businesses.

In the coming decade, it's not hard to imagine that Amazon would solidify its leadership in e-commerce and cloud computing segments, and also expand its newer businesses such as advertising and groceries. Yet, given its already huge market capitalization, it's unrealistic to expect Amazon's stock price to sustain the past decade's price trajectory for the next 10 years as well.

If you are looking for comparable stock performance, there are younger companies that have the potential to deliver better stock returns than Amazon by 2030. One of them is Sea Limited (NYSE:SE).

A rising giant with an admirable track record

Founded in Singapore in 2009 as an online gaming company, Sea Limited has since ventured into new business segments, notably e-commerce (Shopee) in 2015 and digital finance (Sea Money) in 2019. Historically, it operates across seven countries in Southeast Asia including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. More recently, it has entered the Latin America and India markets. Its business expansion reflects favorably on its financials: Revenue rose by more than 700% to $2.2 billion between 2015 and 2019.

Many factors contributed toward Sea Limited's rapid rise to become a leading technology company in Asia. Notably, the company's incessant focus on localization has given it an enormous advantage over its peers. For example, Garena curates its games according to taste and also offer those games in local languages to its customers. Similarly, Shopee tailored its app -- in terms of language and product choices -- to address customers' different needs. Sea hires locals to lead its businesses, which results not only in a better understanding of customers in those markets but also a more effective and timely execution of business plans. For instance, Sea launched Shopee App in 2015 across seven markets simultaneously, in seven different versions (and languages), which is a testament to the soundness of its localization strategy.

The other important reason for Sea Limited's strong performance is the support of Tencent Holdings (OTC:TCEHY), both as a shareholder (25.6% share ownership) and partner. The relationship has benefited Sea in numerous ways, which include easy access to financial resources and management know-how, as well as a right of first refusal to publish Tencent's mobile and PC games in certain regions. This arrangement helped Sea become the largest gaming company in its operating regions (as measured by revenue) in 2019.

Though Sea's proven track record does not guarantee future success, it does assure investors that management knows what it's doing. Perhaps even more important is that it helps investors sit tight during tough times -- such as the recent COVID-19 market crash -- to benefit from Sea's long-term growth (more on this later).

Growth opportunities for the next decade

A solid track record ties in nicely with Sea Limited's long-term growth opportunities, and there are plenty of them.

To start with, Garena could grow its revenue for the foreseeable future thanks to its huge user base of 500 million quarterly active users (QAUs), and a low percentage of paying users of only 10% of QAUs (up from 8.4% in the same period last year). It is worth mentioning that Garena is actively growing its user base in newer markets like Latin America and India, which could further increase its already significant QAUs. Moreover, its average revenue per user of $1.40 remained low and could increase over time on the back of strong user engagement in existing games (such as Free Fire), as well as from future game launches. The latter will continue to benefit from Sea Limited's partnership with Tencent.

Similarly, Shopee is in a favorable position to grow at even higher rates than Garena, thanks to its market-leading position. Shopee is ranked No. 1 in terms of app downloads in the shopping category in Southeast Asia, and in the top three worldwide. As a market leader, Shopee benefits from network effects, in which an additional user or seller will add value to all the existing parties in its marketplace. If it can sustain this growth momentum, Shopee has a good shot at becoming the de facto marketplace in these markets. To this end, Shopee is investing heavily to sustain the growth of its sellers and customers, and it remains unprofitable since its inception. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that these investments could last for many years as Shopee tries to cement its leadership. Thus, investors are better off not having any expectations of a quick turnaround. Fortunately, Garena is already a profitable business and would serve as the cash register for Sea Limited's further investments in Shopee.

Also, it's worth mentioning that though Sea's digital finance arm, Sea Money, is still in an early stage of its development, it could quickly expand by leveraging on its sister companies. For example, Sea Money has been integrating its mobile wallet with Shopee, which results in a massive increase in usage. In July, Sea's mobile wallet accounted for 45% of Shopee's gross orders paid in Indonesia. The usage of Sea Money's services could grow even further as it deepens the integration with Garena and Shopee, and should serve as the next leg of Sea's growth.

Is Sea a buy now?

Alphabet subsidiary Google, in a joint report produced with Temasek and Bain, predicted that Southeast Asia's internet economy would triple by 2025, up from $100 billion in 2019. As the leading technology in this region, Sea Limited is nicely positioned to benefit from this tailwind.

One downside to investing in Sea right now is its high valuation. After surging by a monstrous 500%, the company's stock is currently trading at around 36 times 2019 revenue, a high price tag even if you consider all the positive factors mentioned above.

Hence, investing in Sea Limited at its current high valuation is dangerous, especially for investors who have a short investment horizon. But for those who are willing to hold on to the stock for the long term (more than five years), Sea might still be a reasonable buy given its stupendous growth prospects. For perspective, Sea doubled its first-half 2020 revenue to $1.6 billion.

With a market capitalization close to $80 billion, Sea Limited is already a massive company. Still, it will likely be worth much more a decade from now.

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