Category: Business

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Business

Why I Prefer Crocs over Under Armour

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I bought some Crocs stocks (CROX) a while ago; actually I looked at Under Armour (UA) at the same time and I am glad I made the correct decision (so far). Besides the difference of PE ratio, CROX is 42, UA is 76 (supposedly the lower PE means the price is cheaper). I made this decision more based on the business prospects.

From my observation, Crocs are sold in a lot more stores than Under Armour, which are only sold in Sporting Good stores. In other words, Crocs have a wider distribution channel. This is very important for consumer goods. By the same token, I found Crocs have a wider appeal to consumers, especially kids. Under Armour has made efforts to reach women and kids but they are not there yet.

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Business China

Chatea Got 2nd Round VC Fund

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I wrote about Chatea, a Chinese fast food company a while ago. I have been there in my China trip last year. Apparently they are expanding all these years and they just announced a new round of funding. GGV (together with IDGVC, SIG, Neil Shen, TECO and FMCG) invested $10.68 m for 20% stake. Note Neil Shen (co-founder of Ctrip and Home Inns) is on the list again. As suggested in the article, once the estimated market capital reaches $100 m, they will go for IPO (most likely 2008). So stay tuned.

This is another good play for “emergence of Chinese middle class consumers”.

IMG_3974

(Update 02-11-2023) It looks like all Chatea restaurants are closed now.

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Business China

Mindray MR Secondary Offering

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It appears that Mindray started new offering today. I read its SEC filings here. The insiders will sell 9,827,220 shares and the underwriter will have option to buy additional 1,474,083 shares from selling share holders. That alone won’t have dilution effect.

Separately, the company filed S1 form for stock options registration. That will dilute the stocks if option being excercised.

One thing I am not 100% sure is the difference between secondary offering and insider selling after lock up period (usually 180 days after IPO). I think this one belong to “secondary” because it’s not 180 days after its IPO yet (Sept 26, 2006).

(Update 01Feb07) FinanceAsia has more details about this selling.

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Business China

Huiyuan Juice IPO in HKSE

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From The Standard:

“China Huiyuan Juice Group, the mainland’s largest fruit juice maker, is forecast to post 222 million yuan (HK$223.08 million) in net profit in 2006, up 106 percent over a year ago. The company recorded 108 million yuan in net profit in 2005, up 486 percent from the previous year.

Huiyuan is seeking to raise US$250 million (HK$1.95 billion) through an initial public offering next month as it seeks capital for expansion.

…Its peers, milk producer China Mengniu Dairy (2319) and Tingyi Holdings (0322), are trading at 33.8 times and 36.7 times 2007 earnings respectively.”

Comments: like everything else in China, the growth is astonishing. Don’t expect to make quick money on this one though. The expectation will be reflected on the price when it debuts…

huiyuan juice

The ticker symbol is 1886.HK.

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Business Stocks

Amazon Endless New Promotion

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I saw this when I was doing some research on Amazon (AMZN). They are giving away $5 for overnight shipping. This is very ineresting because normally the online merchants will do free shipping. But Amazon is always innovative.

On serious note, I think Amazon is interesting because people usually think Google is the king of the Internet, while regard Amazon as nothing more than an online retailer. This could change because Amazon has invested heavily on technology (software) in those years. They are providing technology services to other customers (including retailers). Also from my observation, the Amazon Marketplace, where individuals can list items to sell (similar to eBay), is getting momentum. So don’t think Amazon is nothing more than the online “Wal-Mart”…

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Business China

China Economy Hotel Chains

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Counting the economy hotels in China: 

Jinjiang Inn: 139 hotels in 44 cities (including under development) as of June 2006, owned by Jinjiang Group (HK Stock Exchange, 2006.HK), started in 1996 (Shanghai).

Home Inns (Nasdaq, HMIN): 134 (94 leased, 40 franchised, 39 cities) as of Dec 31 2006, founded by Ctrip founders Ji Qi, Neil Shen and James Liang, started in 2002 (Beijing)

Motel168 (Morgan Stanley invested $20 m for 20% stake): as the name suggested, the room started from CNY 168, they also offer CNY 268 rooms; started in 2002 (Shanghai).

Super 8 (US Chain): all franchised

7Days Inn (Warburg Pincus invested $10 m for 20% stake): founded by Ctrip South China manager Zheng Nanyan (do we see pattern here?), started in Guangzhou.

Another useful source: hostelCN  

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Business Stocks

Home Inns is Getting Expensive

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I mean the stocks, not the motel price. It’s being mentioned by IBD (Investors Business Daily) as No. 1 stock this Monday. IBD publishes 100 stocks every Monday based on its own rating system. Because a lot institutional investors trade stocks based on the IBD (whether there is merits or not is another story), the stock went up again today to $47.

A little background about IBD: IBD was founded by a savvy a stockbroker and writer named William J. O’neil. Here is an introduction about William on wikipedia. He also wrote some books such as “How to make money in stocks”. At one time I took very seriously on IBD’s rating system, but not now. I remember once a friend told me he found the “holy grail” of the stocks: IBD and William O’neal’s books. By the way, I told him at the time I liked to buy Google at about 160 (November 2004), he said “No”.

My point is: I like to read books, newspapers and magazines, listen to radio, or watch TV, but I won’t take all these blindly.      

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Business

Don’t Take Experts Too Seriously

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Because I found those so-called experts are not real “experts”, I am talking about many “experts” appeared on CNBC, the business cable channel. Actually one of my friend who studied in Finance had a worse comment on CNBC (he heard it from his professor). But lately I started to appreciate what he meant. For instance, the wild popular “Mad Money” show done by Jim Cramer, a statistics shows if you act according to his recommending, basically you are stand still because 50% of his recommends turn out to be true. Considering there are people actually act after watching his show, his actual performance is not even 49%. But I do like his straight talk style and some of his analysis though.

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Business

Cingular Back to AT&T

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I don’t know the rationale behind this, but Cingular wireless is going to change back to AT&T name. I am not brand expert, nor marketing major, but this is a dumb move. A little background: when Southwest Bell (SBC) and Bellsouth created this wireless joint venture, they created this cool name “Cingular”, I remember my first wireless carrier was SBC Wireless, which is the ancester of Cingular. For a while I was puzzuled when my cell phone screen changed from “SBC wireless” to “Cingular”, wondering whether my phone is being hacked.

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Business

Cool Teen Brands

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(Update 11-29-2024 Black Friday) A few months ago, my 14 year old told me the 4 brands and her feel (sports) about them.

Lululemon – tennis 🎾 || Personally I like its growth (stock: $LULU).
Nike – running 🏃
Aerie – pilates (note Aerie is a spin off brand from the American Eagle brand below)
Atheleta- yoga (note Atheleta is a spin off brand from Gap)

Also, recent shoe (sneakers) brands that teen likes: HOKA and On Cloud. To be precise, I saw older people are increasingly wearing those two brands too: in addition to the traditional brands – Adidas, Ascis, Brooks Running, New Balance, Nike and Saucony. I guess similar can be said about sports apparel in general, e.g., I saw a gentleman who is a bit older than me was wearing this brand provizsports yesterday at the Olivette Turkey Trot.

I am also aware of two luxury brands Alo and Vuori and they have stores in the Plaza Frontenac.

(04/04/2023 | 10:00:00 AM) Piper Sandler Completes 45th Semi-Annual Generation Z Survey of 5,690 U.S. Teens

(Original 2007) Got it from American Eagle ICR Xchange Investors conference call. Note Nike is the No. 1 brand in American teenagers, which made me recall the comment of salesman at Dick’s Sporting Goods “Nike, the best marketing company in the world.”

cool teen brands