Emerging Market Links + The Week Ahead (June 1, 2026)

The Korean market or rather Korean retail investors have apparently sparked a frenzy with ZeroHedge naturally being the most breathless with their reporting:

These are mostly the Korean AI plays and anyone who has watched Asian markets or knows their history over the past few decades can see where this market is heading…

I will start getting caught up on other posts (plus update my website who’s front page also contains numerous useful links) and will likely in the mean time start doing a more regular/timely stock picks posts (e.g. 🌐 Emerging Market Stock Picks (March 2026) / 🌏 Southeast Asia Stock Picks (March 2026)) given how lengthy these posts get IF I wait a month to do them…

$ = behind a paywall

• 🌐 EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (May 31, 2026) Partially $

  • Dividend surprises across Asian stocks, China for selective investors, CATL, Taiwanese tech returns, SK Hynix, Malacca energy chokepoint, Poland, Hungary, Banca Transilvania, April/Q1 fund updates etc

$ = Behind a paywall / 🗃️ = Link to an archived article (Note: Seeking Alpha earnings/conference etc. presentations are typically not paywalled) / ⛔ = Article archiving may not be working properly

🌏 Asia tightens grip on global wealth as UHNWI ranks swell (The Asset) 🗃️

• Ultra-wealthy more mobile, yet list of markets where they feel comfortable is narrowing

• A powerful surge in global wealth creation is reshaping the global economy, with Asia-Pacific fast becoming the primary engine, and increasingly the centre of gravity, of that growth.

• The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals ( UHNWIs ), those with assets exceeding US$30 million, according to the latest Wealth Report from property consultancy Knight Frank, has climbed by more than 162,000 between 2021 and 2026. That sharp increase equates to roughly 89 new ultra-wealthy individuals created every day, pushing the global total to over 713,000.

🌏 More Asia-Pacific mature investors focus on long term (The Asset) 🗃️

• Amid volatility, continued preference for domestic investments, while tech, AI seen as key structural growth theme

• The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has led to heightened market volatility in recent weeks, driving uncertainty around energy prices, inflation and global growth; and, amid this backdrop, more mature investors in Asia-Pacific are staying focused on long-term outcomes, whereas others tend to temporarily stop investing, according to a recent study.

• One-fifth ( 20% ) of Asia-Pacific investors say market fluctuations do not affect their investment behaviour, as they remain committed to their long-term strategy despite short-term movements; and this is particularly the case for investors aged 55 or above ( 24% ), underlining the relative resilience of older investors, finds global asset manager Fidelity International’s Be Invested Study, which surveyed over 13,000 retail investors across Asia-Pacific and Europe.

🇯🇵 How Inflation is Wiping Out Japan’s National Debt (KonichiValue Japan)

🇯🇵 Japan’s Rare Earths Island (Asianometry) 19:52 Minutes

• In 2010, the People’s Republic of China banned exports of rare earths to Japan due to a territorial dispute. After that, the Japanese government began developing alternate sources of rare earths – signing deals with Australia and Brazil. The most intriguing potential source however lies beneath the deep sea sediments surrounding a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In February 2026, the Japanese government reported the first successful test extraction of this deep sea mud, thousands of meters under the surface. In today’s video, a brief look at Japan’s rare earths island.

🇨🇳 China cracks down on illegal cross-border securities trading (FT) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Chinese Brokerages Post Strong First-Quarter Earnings Despite Stock Slide (Caixin) $

• China’s leading brokerages posted surging first-quarter profits fueled by a massive retail trading boom, yet their shares are tumbling as institutional investors dump the sector in favor of technology stocks.

• The disconnect between record earnings and sinking valuations highlights growing market skepticism over the sustainability of China’s debt-fueled equities rally amid looming regulatory fee cuts.

🇨🇳 China A-Share Earnings Recovery Hinges on Financial Sector (Caixin) $

• Earnings for Chinese mainland-listed companies rebounded modestly in 2025 entirely on the back of the financial sector, while non-financial firms recorded their third consecutive year of profit declines.

• The stark divergence underscores the persistent pressures weighing on China’s broader economy, but a sharper, more broad-based earnings recovery in the first quarter of 2026 suggests corporate fundamentals may finally be finding a floor.

🇨🇳 China’s Mutual Fund Assets Hit Record 39 Trillion Yuan as Stocks Rebound (Caixin) $

• China’s mutual fund assets climbed above 39 trillion yuan ($5.7 trillion) for the first time at the end of April, as a rebound in domestic equities lifted fund valuations following a volatile first quarter.

• Total net assets in China’s mutual fund industry rose 4.9% from a month earlier to 39.36 trillion yuan, according to data from the Asset Management Association of China.

🇨🇳 Analysis: Yuan Rally Exposes Currency Risks for Chinese Companies Expanding Overseas (Caixin) $

• A stronger yuan is eroding the earnings of Chinese exporters, with major companies including BYD Company (SHE: 002594 / HKG: 1211 / SGX: HYDD / OTCMKTS: BYDDY / BYDDF) reporting large foreign-exchange losses.

• The yuan’s rapid appreciation has increased pressure on export-heavy firms with large foreign-currency assets.

• BYD reported a foreign-exchange loss of roughly 2.1 billion yuan ($304 million) in the first quarter, compared with a gain of about 1.9 billion yuan a year earlier, sharply reducing net profit.

🇨🇳 China Inc goes shopping for western consumer brands (FT) $ 🗃️

• Companies seek growth abroad through deals for Everlane and Puma amid domestic competition and deflationary pressures

• Just months after Chinese apparel conglomerate Anta acquired a 29 per cent stake in Puma for €1.5bn, ultra fast-fashion retailer Shein this week struck a deal to acquire “sustainable” US clothing brand Everlane for a reported $100mn.

🇨🇳 EU Business Confidence in China Remains Low Despite Modest Improvement, Survey Shows (Caixin) $

• European companies operating in China are seeing tentative signs of improvement after several difficult years, but business confidence remains fragile and will require deeper reforms to meaningfully recover, according to the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China’s (EUCCC) latest survey.

• Several key indicators, including profitability and growth outlook, rebounded from last year’s historic lows, the EUCCC said in a report published Wednesday. Still, most respondents said operating in China had become harder, and many are still grappling with the country’s economic slowdown, intense competition, regulatory uncertainty and barriers to market access.

🇨🇳 In Depth: As China’s Hidden Local Debts Shrink, a New Challenge Emerges (Caixin) $

• But the arguably more difficult task of tackling the murkier, more sprawling world of operational debt held by thousands of local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) is running into complications, partly in the form of a tangle of high-interest, noncompliant debt that banks are reluctant to touch.

• This stalemate is contributing to a growing liquidity strain for LGFVs, which can roll over their principal but are increasingly struggling to pay the interest, raising concerns about a buildup of default risks.

🇨🇳 Five Things to Know About China’s Expanding Sanctions Shield (Caixin) $

🇨🇳 Analysis: Why China’s Rating Agencies Can’t Stop Inflating Grades (Caixin) $

• China’s effort to rein in inflated credit ratings is running up against a fundamental constraint: they are key to how the country’s bond market functions.

• The downgrade of Qingdao Shanghe Holding Development Group Co. Ltd., a local government financing vehicle (LGFV), from AAA to AA+ in April crystallized the problem. On paper, the trigger was a relatively small 100 million yuan ($14.7 million) trust financing default. But its financial deterioration had been visible for months: the company had accumulated overdue commercial paper since early 2025.

🇨🇳 Kingsoft Cloud Q1: AI Capex Spending Needs To Be Justified Over The Next Few Quarters (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Kingsoft Cloud: Bullish About Q1 Revenue Acceleration And Promising Prospects (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Xunlei Limited: May Be Getting Ready For A Move Higher (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Tencent/Netease: One Game for Netease in Consecutive Months (Smartkarma) $

• China announced game approval for the May batch. The number of games approved remained at a higher level than in 2023 and 2024.

• The pace of China game approval appears to have accelerated to the same level as pre-tightening.

• Of the companies that we are monitoring, NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) and ByteDance got a total of 2 approvals.

🇨🇳 NetEase: Fairly Valued, But China Re-Rating Could Unlock Upside (Rating Downgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🇨🇳 NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) 🇰🇾 – Premium online services centered around content creation. Mobile & PC games. Majority-controlled subs. Youdao (NYSE: DAO), technology-focused intelligent learning company; Cloud Music (HKEX: 9899), online music content community; & Yanxuan, private label consumer lifestyle brand. 🇼 🏷️

🇨🇳 Tencent: The Bull Case Keeps Getting Stronger As The Price Falls (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Baidu: The AI Re-Rating Has Begun (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🇨🇳 Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) 🇰🇾 – Internet-related services, products & AI. Chinese search engine, Baidu Maps, etc. 🇼 🏷️

🇨🇳 Baidu’s AI Assets Are Massively Undervalued

• A lot going on here and the market doesn’t seem to care.

• But the business has also gotten more interesting, which is why I’m writing about it again. And most of that comes down to Kunlunxin.

• Kunlunxin is Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU)’s chip subsidiary. I mentioned it last year but honestly I didn’t spend much time on it. It was making AI chips for Baidu’s own data centers, which was fine, but it wasn’t a real business yet.

🇨🇳 Pinduoduo Q1 ‘26: A shift towards Quality (Sunrise Capital)

• PDD Holdings (NASDAQ: PDD) or Pinduoduo officially introduces its entry into first-party commerce

• The market hated this quarter. The stock sold off, EPS missed, ads revenue grew just ~2%, and management announced a formal push into first-party brands – signalling to investors that the clean, asset-light marketplace model they loved may be over. The narrative wrote itself: Margins are compressing, and the business is deteriorating.

• I think that’s the wrong read.

🇨🇳 Phancy’s revenue growth, lagging margins fail to support its fancy valuation (Bamboo Works)

• The AI company’s latest moves include a share placement to raise new funds and its investment in a media company

• Phancy Group Co Ltd (HKG: 6682) reported its revenue rose over 35% in the first quarter, as its AI services gain traction

• The company’s first-quarter gross margin stood at 35.1%, less than half that for American peer Palantir

🇨🇳 Unisound AI: Pre-IPO/Cornerstone Lockup Expiry Will Likely Weigh On The Stock In The Near Term (Smartkarma) $

• Unisound AI Technology Co Ltd (HKG: 9678), a Beijing-based AI solution provider focusing on the sales of conversational AI products and solutions, completed an initial public offering at HK$205.00/share in June 2025.

• Lock-Up agreements usually prevent pre-IPO shareholders and cornerstone investors from selling shares during the lock-up period after the IPO.

• The company’s IPO lock-up release for pre-IPO and cornerstone investors expires on June 29, 2026 and up to ~46M shares will be available for trading.

🇨🇳 Spending on AI, New Businesses Eats Into Profits of China’s Tech Giants (Caixin) $

• The latest quarterly results from China’s tech giants showed that increased investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and new business initiatives has weighed on profits.

• Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) on Wednesday reported its net profit for the three months through March more than doubled from the previous year to 25.5 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), thanks in part to a low comparison base and some one-time gains from equity investment. However, its non-GAAP net income — a metric more closely watched by investors as an indicator of underlying operations — plunged to 86 million yuan from 29.8 billion in the same period of 2025, far below market expectations of more than 15 billion yuan. Its quarterly revenue was up 3% to 243.4 billion yuan.

🇨🇳 In Depth: Alibaba Overhauls Its AI Strategy in High-Stakes Agent Race (Caixin) $

• As a global frenzy for OpenClaw artificial intelligence (AI) agents drove a massive surge in computing demand, China’s top cloud provider realized it was losing ground to nimble startups. To stem the tide, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) broke its long-standing tradition of year-end corporate shakeups and abruptly overhauled its internal architecture in March.

• At the center of the overhaul is the newly minted Alibaba Token Hub (ATH), established on March 16 by chief executive Eddie Wu. The move centralizes fragmented computing resources and bridges Alibaba’s foundational AI models with end-user applications. It marks a critical, high-stakes pivot for the tech titan as it wages a costly two-front war — dominating the future of AI and aggressively expanding in instant retail — all while navigating sluggish domestic e-commerce growth and a damaging exodus of top engineering talent.

🇨🇳 Alibaba (BABA) March 2026 Earnings (Deepvalue Capital)

• On May 13th Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) reported their FY 2026 March quarter earnings.

• The stock opened negative but ended the day up 8% on cloud and AI growth optimism. Then it sold off in the days after.

• It was more of the same trend we have been seeing. High spend crushing the bottom line, and cloud and AI accelerating the topline.

• In this article I go over what happened in the quarter, if they can keep this investment up, but most importantly if they‘re going to get a good return on all this spending.

🇨🇳 In Depth: China’s Tech Titans Tussle in AI Video Gold Rush (Caixin) $

• A costly chatbot subsidy war dominated China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry in February. AI agents were all the rage in March. By April, the spotlight had shifted again — this time to AI-generated video, where competition has intensified across nearly every layer of the tech and content ecosystem.

• What sets this phase apart is not just technological progress, but commercialization. In China, AI video is emerging as one of the few generative applications with a viable way to generate revenue, supported by strong user demand and a vast content market.

🇨🇳 Kuaishou Weighs Seeking Outside Money for AI Video Unit (Caixin) $

• Hong Kong-listed Kuaishou Technology (HKG: 1024 / 81024 / LON: 0A74 / OTCMKTS: KUASF / KSHTY) said it is considering a restructuring that would introduce external financing for its artificial intelligence video unit, Kling AI.

• The announcement followed media reports that Kuaishou is planning to spin off Kling AI for a separate listing and is seeking a $20 billion valuation in a pre-IPO funding round.

• Morgan Stanley said in a report on Monday that such a deal, if completed, could unlock significant value for Kuaishou because pure-play AI companies are trading at far higher valuation multiples than traditional internet firms.

🇨🇳 Tencent Wins Regulatory Approval to Acquire Audio Platform Ximalaya (Caixin) $

• Tencent (HKG: 0700 / LON: 0LEA / FRA: NNND / SGX: HTCD / OTCMKTS: TCEHY) has secured conditional approval to acquire online audio platform Ximalaya, a move that could help the tech giant expand its library of content to attract more paying users.

• The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on Tuesday cleared the deal which makes Ximalaya a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME), but imposed five conditions to ensure fair competition in the online audio and music market, according to an announcement by the regulator.

🇨🇳 iQIYI: Contrarian Bet On A Strategic Content Pivot (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 JOYY Inc: Getting Back On Track Although Pitfalls Remain (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 JOYY: Mediocre Earnings And Blockbuster Value Plan (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 JOYY Inc.: Positive About Outlook Surprise And Generous Returns (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Monthly Chinese Express Tracker | April Volume Growth Just 2-3% Vs 7% in March/Q126 | EComm Softer? (Smartkarma) $

• Parcel volume growth in April slowed to just 2-3% for the four China-listed express firms

• This is a noticeable softening of the pace of growth seen in March and Q126 (around 7%)

• It suggests that mainstream Chinese e-Commerce activity in early Q226 has slowed

🇨🇳 ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 Agora: A Distressed Valuation With A Buyout Setup (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Agora, Inc. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 Aurora Mobile Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 VNET Group, Inc. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 GDS Holdings: Navigating The Structural Time Lag Of China’s AI Infrastructure Boom (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Initial Thoughts on the Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) IPO (Douglas Research Insights) $

• Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is getting ready to complete its IPO on China’s Star market in 2H 2026.

• In May 2026, CXMT submitted its updated initial public offering (IPO) prospectus to the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market.

• CXMT is seeking to raise 29.5 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) in this IPO in what is poised to be one of the largest IPOs in China in 2026.

🇨🇳 Memory Shortage Works Out for Chinese Chipmaker CXMT (Caixin) $

• Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a Chinese maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips, swung to profit in the first quarter of 2026, driven by strong demand from AI data centers that has spawned a shortage, sending prices soaring.

• The financial turnaround highlights how domestic memory chip companies are leveraging a global AI hardware boom to challenge foreign dominance, with CXMT and Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. trying to make breakthroughs in the DRAM and NAND flash memory markets long dominated by Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930 / 005935 / LON: BC94 / FRA: SSUN / OTCMKTS: SSNLF), SK Hynix (KRX: 000660) and Micron Technology Inc.

🇨🇳 China Chip Stocks Become Magnet for Leveraged Bets (Caixin) $

• Leveraged funds have poured into Chinese semiconductor stocks, making the sector the main target of margin financing even as sharp swings expose rising volatility.

• The move highlights how speculative trading in China’s equity market has shifted from traditional sectors toward technology shares tied to artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.

🇨🇳 Lenovo Group Limited 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌐 Lenovo Group (HKG: 0992 / FRA: LHL / LHL1 / OTCMKTS: LNVGY / LNVGF) 🇭🇰 – Designing, manufacturing & marketing consumer electronics, PCs, software, servers, converged & hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, etc. 🇼 🏷️

🇨🇳 In Depth: Deepening Profit Squeeze Strains Chinese Automakers (Caixin) $

• China’s automotive industry entered 2026 under mounting strain, as a bruising price war, chronic overcapacity and the high cost of an electric-vehicle (EV) transition left many carmakers selling more cars while making less money — or none at all.

• The pressure is visible in the latest annual reports from Chinese carmakers, where strong deliveries no longer guaranteed stronger earnings. Even industry leaders such as BYD Company (SHE: 002594 / HKG: 1211 / SGX: HYDD / OTCMKTS: BYDDY / BYDDF) posted declining profits in 2025, while state-owned giants such as Guangzhou Automobile Group (HKG: 2238 / SHA: 601238 / FRA: 02G / OTCMKTS: GNZUF / GNZUY) (GAC) and SAIC Motor Corp (SHA: 600104) continued to wrestle with the erosion of once-lucrative joint-venture businesses. Newer EV-makers, meanwhile, are struggling to prove they can generate sustainable profits without relying on outside capital or one-off gains.

🇨🇳 Charts of the Day: Huawei Partners’ EV Sales Lead China Upstarts (Caixin) $

• Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s auto alliance led in sales among China’s electric vehicle (EV) upstarts in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring the growing clout of the tech giant’s carmaking ecosystem in the world’s largest EV market.

• Huawei has co-developed five brands with carmakers under its Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA). Combined, they delivered about 112,700 vehicles in the January-March period, a 41.9% year-on-year jump that edged out leading individual upstart Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co Ltd (HKG: 9863)’s 110,155 vehicles, according to data from both companies.

• The figures highlight a growing divide in China’s crowded EV sector. Companies able to differentiate themselves through software capabilities, overseas expansion or distinct business models are gaining market share, while others risk falling behind in a market where a prolonged price war and sluggish consumer demand continue to squeeze margins.

🇨🇳 The next big EV idea for investors? Bethel bets on the intelligent chassis (Bamboo Works)

• The maker of braking systems for Chery’s electric vehicles is looking to accelerate a move into advanced chassis technology, with robotics as a potential spinoff

• Bethel Automotive Safety Systems Co Ltd (SHA: 603596) has filed for a Hong Kong listing with plans to invest the money in developing integrated chassis systems for braking, steering and suspension

• Intelligent electronic control products have become the company’s biggest revenue earner, but margins and cash flow have been tightening

🇨🇳 XPeng’s Robotaxi Dream Doesn’t Save It From EV Market Collapse (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Xiaomi: The Market May Be Missing The EV Potential (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Xiaomi Corporation 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌐 Xiaomi (HKG: 1810 / SGX: HXXD / FRA: 3CP / OTCMKTS: XIACF) 🇰🇾 – Consumer electronics & smart manufacturing company. Smartphones & smart hardware connected by an IoT platform at its core. 🇼 🏷️

🇨🇳 Li Auto: Margin Plunge (Rating Downgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🌐 Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) 🇰🇾 – Designs, develops, manufactures & sells premium smart electric vehicles. 🇼 🏷️

🇨🇳 NIO Finally Looks Like A Real Turnaround Buy (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 NIO: Margin Growth, Profitable, And Cheap (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Analysis: CATL’s Growing Clout Has Automakers Hedging Their Bets (Caixin) $

• At an auto show in Beijing in April, one of the most notable sights was Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) (SHE: 300750) founder Robin Zeng Yuqun making the rounds.

• Over two days, he visited the booths of at least 23 automakers, including Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Hyundai Motor Co., as well as Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) startups such as Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) and NIO Inc (NYSE: NIO). At many, he was personally greeted by chairmen and senior executives eager to showcase their latest models in hopes of securing support from the world’s largest maker of EV batteries.

🇨🇳 Luxshare Pushes Deeper Into Auto Supply Chain With Acquisition (Caixin) $

• Luxshare Precision Industry (SHE: 002475), a major Chinese assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, has agreed to acquire the controlling shareholder of a Hong Kong-listed chassis supplier, deepening its push into the automotive supply chain.

• The acquisition grants the electronics manufacturer a direct entry ticket into the core automotive chassis market, reflecting a broader push by domestic suppliers to challenge foreign giants amid the industry’s shift toward advanced autonomous driving.

🇨🇳 Jinhui Shipping and Transportation Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 Monthly Chinese Tourism Tracker | After Strong March, Data Shows Softer Air Travel Demand in April (Smartkarma) $

• Airline operating data show a softening of travel demand growth in April (after a strong March)

• Although outbound load factors remain high, airlines may struggle to recoup fuel costs

• Possibly due to price issue, domestic activity during May Day holiday period also weak

🇨🇳 China Travel Int’l spinoff spotlights its natural scenery and cultural tourism aspirations (Bamboo Works)

• After divesting its real estate business last year, the company continues to restructure with plans to spin off its HKM Culture Tourism unit for a separate Hong Kong listing

• China Travel International Investment Hong Kong Limited (HKG: 0308 / FRA: CTI / OTCMKTS: CTVIF) will spin off its HKM Culture Tourism business via an in specie stock distribution to its shareholders

• The state-owned tourism company is reorganizing to focus on its theme parks and natural scenery business

🇨🇳 Durex sales hit by China’s condom crackdown (FT) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 China Retail Sales Barely Grow as Consumer Demand Weakens (Caixin) $

• China’s retail sales barely grew in April, posting the weakest expansion since December 2022 as reduced stimulus support weighed on consumer spending.

• Retail sales rose 0.2% year-on-year last month, slowing 1.5 percentage points from March, according to data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics. That missed the 1.9% average forecast in a Caixin survey of economists.

🇨🇳 Yatsen Holding Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 Is Yatsen setting its sights on famous but struggling Erno Laszlo? (Bamboo Works)

• Recent signals hint the Chinese skincare and cosmetics maker could be eying a purchase of the U.S. brand, whose sale to a Chinese investment group was disclosed this week

• Skincare products maker Yatsen Holding (NYSE: YSG) completed the first tranche of a $120 million note issue last week, which it may use to expand into the global marketplace

• The funds could be used to purchase the struggling Erno Laszlo skincare brand, which this week was purchased by a Chinese group for $44 million

🇨🇳 Dingdong (Cayman) Limited: Could Open Up Opportunities Provided The Meituan Sale Is Approved (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🇨🇳 Dingdong (NYSE: DDL) – eCommerce (fresh groceries, etc.). Modernizing China’s traditional agricultural supply chain.

🇨🇳 MINISO Q1 Earnings Review: Too Attractive At These Prices, I’m In (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 MINISO Group Holding Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 RLX Technology: Focus On The Fundamentals (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 ATRenew revenue growth accelerates as it notches record profit (Bamboo Works)

• The company recorded its fastest revenue growth in nearly three years in the first quarter, as it stepped up a campaign to sell more of its recycled products directly to consumers

• ATRenew (NYSE: RERE)’s revenue rose 32.4% in the first quarter, its fastest rate in nearly three years, as it posted a record non-GAAP profit for the period

• The recycler is boosting its margins by doing more direct recycling and reselling, with direct sales to consumers accounting for nearly half of its product sales

🇨🇳 China’s Huaxia Bank Faces Scrutiny Over Property-Linked Loans (Caixin) $

• A regulatory probe into the Shenzhen branch of Huaxia Bank Co Ltd (SHA: 600015) is raising fresh questions about hidden property-related risks in China’s banking system.

• Multiple loans issued by the branch to non-property companies tied to developers were found to have violated credit standards or improperly expanded credit exposure, Caixin has learned from sources with knowledge of the matter.

🇨🇳 China Insurers Buy Stocks Even as Market Falls (Caixin) $

• Chinese insurers kept buying stocks in the first quarter even as equity markets fell, highlighting the tension between state-mandated investment targets and solvency constraints.

• Stock holdings rose to 3.84 trillion yuan ($563 billion) at the end of March, up 102.4 billion yuan from the end of last year, according to data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

🇨🇳 China’s CreditEase Freezes $4.4 Billion Wealth Products as Shadow Banking Risks Reemerge (Caixin) $

• CreditEase, one of China’s earliest internet-finance pioneers, has suspended principal and interest payments on fixed-income-like wealth management products sold by its Heritvest unit, affecting an estimated 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) and reviving concerns about shadow banking risks, Caixin has learned from sources with knowledge of the matter.

• The suspension was confirmed to Caixin by multiple investors and a representative of U.S.-listed Yiren Digital (NYSE: YRD), which is controlled by CreditEase founder Tang Ning.

🇨🇳 Why Futu Holdings Collapsed Nearly 30% And Why The Selling Pressure May Continue (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 For Futu and UP Fintech, regulatory bombshell may finally clear global path forward (Bamboo Works)

• Hefty penalties from China’s securities regulator for operating without necessary licenses remove a long-running overhang for the online brokerages

• Futu Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: FUTU) and UP Fintech Holding (NASDAQ: TIGR) have been fined a combined $331 million for offering unlicensed cross-border stock trading services for Chinese customers

• While the companies will have to wind down their original China services, the removal of a major regulatory overhang will allow them to focus on their international business

🇨🇳 X Financial 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 LexinFintech: Staying Bullish, But Understand The Skepticism (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 FinVolution: International Growth Is Accelerating, Valuation Hasn’t Moved (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 FinVolution Group 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 Waterdrop: A Mix Of Positives And Negatives (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Qfin Holdings, Inc. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇳 So-Young: Revenue Acceleration Is Overshadowed By Widening Losses (Rating Downgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇳 Investors pile onto TenNor IPO with hopes for new type of gastric drug (Bamboo Works)

• The biotech enjoyed a standout Hong Kong share debut after hailing its novel anti-bacterial drug, now undergoing late-stage clinical tests, as a potential gamechanger

• The TenNor Therapeutics (Suzhou) Ltd (HKG: 6872) IPO was oversubscribed more than 9,000 times and surged 179% in its first trading session

• The company remains firmly in the red, with cumulative losses exceeding 490 million yuan over the past three years

🇨🇳 Unitree Fast-Tracks Shanghai IPO With Target Valuation of $6.2 Billion (Caixin) $

• Chinese humanoid robotics startup Unitree Robotics is fast-tracking its initial public offering on Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market, seeking a valuation of roughly 42 billion yuan ($6.2 billion).

• The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s listing committee will review Unitree’s application on June 1, just 73 days after formally accepting it on March 20, according to an exchange filing on Monday.

🇭🇰 Link Real Estate Investment Trust 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌏🇦🇺 🇬🇧 Link REIT (HKG: 0823 / OTCMKTS: LKREF) 🇭🇰 – Most liquid & largest REIT in Asia. Retail facilities, car parks, offices & logistics assets across China, Australia, Singapore & UK. 🇼 🏷️

🇭🇰 Hong Kong Convertible Bonds Surge as Investors Chase Equity Upside (Caixin) $

• Hong Kong’s convertible bond market is having its busiest year on record, with companies raising $14.2 billion so far this year as investors pour into equity-linked debt despite low or negative yields, according to investment bank UBS.

• The boom reflects improving sentiment toward Hong Kong equities, with lower interest rates and a stronger stock market making convertible bonds more attractive than traditional share placements.

🇭🇰 APE broadens offering with Asia-distribution deal for CountR products (GGRAsia)

• Hong Kong-listed Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings Ltd (HKG: 8400) says it has signed a distribution agreement with CountR GmbH, a Germany-based provider of payment automation and cash-handling technology, specialising in the gaming, banking, and retail sectors.

• The deal gives APE distribution rights for CountR’s automated cash-handling products across Asian markets and adds cash management systems to the company’s existing gaming portfolio, according to a Tuesday press release.

🇭🇰 Vtech Holdings Limited 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇲🇴 Galaxy, Sands positive about 2026 mall business as 1Q retail revenues up y-o-y led by high-end segments (GGRAsia)

• Galaxy Entertainment (HKG: 0027 / OTCMKTS: GXYEF) and Sands China (HKG: 1928 / FRA: 599A / OTCMKTS: SCHYY / OTCMKTS: SCHYF) – two Macau casino operators with extensive shopping malls at their Cotai properties – have respectively told GGRAsia they are upbeat about their retail business for the remainder of 2026. That follows year-on-year improvement in first-quarter mall revenues, driven by luxury-product segments.

• Galaxy Macau, Galaxy Entertainment’s flagship Cotai casino resort saw first-quarter mall net revenue up 19.4 percent year-on-year to HKD400 million (US$51.1 million). Judged sequentially, net revenue at its mall (pictured above) rose 11.1 percent. The Hong Kong-listed company had given highlights of its first-quarter trading in mid-May.

🇲🇴 Fitch cuts SJM Holdings rating, cites slower-than-expected deleveraging (GGRAsia)

• Fitch Ratings has downgraded the long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating of Hong Kong-listed casino operator SJM Holdings (HKG: 0880 / FRA: 3MG1 / KRX: 025530 / OTCMKTS: SJMHF / SJMHY) to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’, while assigning it a “stable” outlook. The credit ratings agency cited weaker-than-expected deleveraging prospects and softer earnings recovery for the casino firm.

• A ‘B+’ rating indicates “highly speculative” fundamental credit quality, according to the ratings agency. Fitch also lowered the senior unsecured rating and rating on outstanding notes issued by subsidiary SJM International Ltd to ‘B’ from ‘BB-’.

• “The downgrade reflects Fitch’s view that SJM Holdings’ leverage trajectory is no longer consistent with its previous rating level,” the institution stated in a Friday memo.

🇲🇴 Challenging for Macau to get significant per-capita increase in non-gaming spending: CreditSights (GGRAsia)

• Credit and market research provider CreditSights Inc says it does not expect sizeable near-term growth in non-gaming spending per capita in the Macau market. Any top-line growth in overall non-gaming revenue is likely to come from increased visitor volume, it added.

• “We see a more challenging pathway for average non-gaming spending per capita to significantly increase, following the slower expected growth of China’s economy,” the institution said in a memo published on Thursday.

• It noted that China had lowered its 2026 real gross domestic product growth target to “4.5 percent to 5 percent”, down from “around 5 percent” during the 2023–2025 period.

🇲🇴 Galaxy Macau Phase 4 to open in 2028, targeted at high-value patrons: report (GGRAsia)

• Phase 4 of Galaxy Macau (pictured), the flagship Cotai casino property run by Galaxy Entertainment (HKG: 0027 / OTCMKTS: GXYEF), is expected to open in 2028, with the expansion aimed at attracting high-value consumers, particularly from feeder markets in East and Southeast Asia.

• That is according to a Tuesday report by Hong Kong media outlet Ming Pao, citing a research memo from HSBC, said to be based on guidance from management of the Macau casino operator.

• Phase 4 of the Cotai complex – due to be completed in 2027 and expected to open the following year – is said to focus on non-gaming offerings targeting consumers from Japan, South Korea, as well as from member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Ming Pao reported, citing the HSBC note.

🇲🇴 Galaxy Macau Phase 4 likely to feature ’boutique’ casino venues in individual hotels: Macquarie Capital (GGRAsia)

• The additional gaming facilities at Galaxy Macau Phase 4, an expansion of the Cotai flagship casino resort (pictured) of Galaxy Entertainment (HKG: 0027 / OTCMKTS: GXYEF), are likely to be featured in “boutique” venues “attached to individual hotels,” aimed at meeting premium patrons’ “preference for privacy”.

• That is according to a memo from Macquarie Capital, citing updates from Galaxy Entertainment management during the recent Macquarie Asia Conference.

• “Phase 4 may incorporate boutique casino formats attached to individual hotels rather than a single large centralised floor, reflecting premium customers’ preference for privacy,” Linda Huang, head of consumer research, Asia, at Macquarie Capital, wrote in the report.

🇹🇼 Taiwan’s DRAM Failure (Asianometry) 37:55 Minutes

• We often associate Taiwan with chips. Taiwanese chips. It’s their thing right? But Taiwan’s strength is actually only in logic chips. In the industry’s other big sector, memory and DRAM memory in particular, Taiwan is second-tier. Hardly a player. It’s not that the Taiwanese haven’t tried to break into DRAM before. In fact, they spent billions trying for two decades. They just keep losing at it over and over again. In this video, we look at Vanguard, TI-Acer, Taiwan Memory Corporation and Taiwan’s DRAM failure.

🇹🇼 ASE Technology: The Advanced Packaging Story Is Believable, But The Valuation Might Be Stretched (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇹🇼 Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇰🇷 Korean Bubble Mania: Retail Investors Max Out On Margin Debt, Choose To “Risk Complete Collapse” Than Miss Stock Rally (ZeroHedge) 🗃️

• For many years, Koreans were bitcoin’s best friend.

• After bitcoin emerged about a decade ago as the asset class with the most pronounced momentum – both to the upside and the downside – Korea’s daytrading army, famous for being totally unable to do any fundamental valuation analysis but legendary for its wilnningness to piggyback on any momentum with suicidal leverage, became enamored with bitcoin and the result were face-ripping meltups and heartstopping crashes, a daily breathless rollercoaster where 10% moves in hours if not minutes had become the norm.

• But then, last September something snapped. After bitcoin had tracked Korea’s Kospi index closely for years, the two series – formerly joined at the hips for years – diverged and went their separate ways, the Kospi soaring to never before seen levels, while bitcoin stagnated, shrinking ever lower as its former momentum-addicted traders abandoned it for something shinier, and with much more momentum: memory stocks.

🇰🇷 The Korea AI Mania Is Entering Air Pocket Territory (ZeroHedge) $ 🗃️

• A growing number of Koreans in their 50s and 60s, a generation traditionally associated with conservative investments like fixed deposits and real estate, are now embracing leveraged equity speculation funded through debt.

• According to the Financial Supervisory Service, investors aged 50 and older accounted for more than 60% of the 27.2 trillion won ($18.5 billion) margin loan balance at Korea’s top 10 brokerages during Q1, more than double last year’s level. (Full The Korean Times article from earlier this month: Record-breaking rally draws older Koreans into riskier leveraged investing).

🇰🇷 Spot Up Vol Up Korea Goes Full Panic (ZeroHedge) $ 🗃️

• KOSPI continues behaving like the purest expression of the global AI melt-up. Every tiny wobble keeps getting violently bought, upside panic remains extreme, and the same reflexive flows that powered the vertical squeeze higher still show few signs of exhaustion.

• The remarkable part is that positioning and momentum still do not look fully stretched yet. RSI levels cooled sharply during the brief pullback earlier this week, foreigners continue selling into the rally, and yet KOSPI, SK Hynix (KRX: 000660) and SK Hynix (KRX: 000660) keep ripping higher anyway.

🇰🇷 Korea’s AI-Fueled Stock Boom Sparks Rush by Chinese Investors (Caixin) $

• South Korea’s stock market boom, driven by a global frenzy over artificial intelligence (AI) chips, is delivering hefty gains for Chinese investors piling into cross-border semiconductor funds.

• The benchmark Kospi index has surged more than 80% this year to record highs, powered largely by chip giants c and SK Hynix (KRX: 000660), which together account for more than 40% of the index. The rally has pushed South Korea past the U.K. and Canada to become the world’s seventh-largest equity market.

• The surge has spilled into China’s cross-border investment market, where investors are scrambling for overseas AI exposure through Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) funds.

🇰🇷 AI boom outweighs Iran war pain, Korean central bank chief says (FT) $ 🗃️

🇰🇷 South Korea dominates Asia G3 bond issuance amid Middle East conflict (The Asset) 🗃️

• Deal activity recovers in April but volume plunges in first four months of 2026

• South Korean issuers dominated issuance activity in the Asia G3 bond market, excluding Australasia and Japan, in the first four months of 2026, navigating a volatile market environment amid the conflict in the Middle East. This comes as the issuance volume fell 10.6% to US$97.41 billion during the period, compared with US$108.90 billion in January-April 2025.

• Korea National Oil Corporation printed a three-tranche offering on March 24 totalling US$1.2 billion, which garnered US$4.5 billion in demand. LG Energy Solution (KRX: 373220) followed suit, pricing on March 25 a four-tranche transaction amounting to US$1.6 billion, including a 10-year green bond of US$500 million. The policy bank, Korea Development Bank, accessed the euro bond market on March 31 with a €1 billion ( US$1.8 billion ) deal – the first euro-denominated public offering by an Asian SSA ( sovereign, supranational and agency ) issuer since the conflict broke out.

🇰🇷 KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ 150 Indices Rebalance Announcements for June 2026 (Douglas Research Insights) $

🇰🇷 Starbucks grapples with backlash in South Korea after ‘Tank Day’ marketing mis-step (FT) $ 🗃️

• Promotion offered discounts on May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju massacre

• Formerly a 50/50 joint venture between Starbucks and local supermarket chain E-Mart (KRX: 139480), part of the Shinsegae Group chaebol, Starbucks Korea is now majority owned by Emart with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC holding the remaining 32.5 per cent.

🇰🇷 Korea Electric Power: Consider Both Cost Headwinds And Nuclear Upside (Downgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🇰🇷 KEPCO (NYSE: KEP / KRX: 015760 / FRA: KOP) or Korea Electric Power Corporation – Integrated electric utility company. Generation, transmission & distribution of electricity in Korea where it’s the largest electric utility. 🇼 🏷️

🇰🇷 Samsung workers set for $400,000 bonus after deal to share AI profits (FT) $ 🗃️

🇰🇷 Incheon-Jeju air link for first time in a decade boosts hopes of extra foreign gamblers for S.Korea holiday island (GGRAsia)

• South Korean low-cost carrier JejuAir Co Ltd (KRX: 089590) has restored a direct scheduled air link to the holiday island of Jeju from the country’s main air hub, Incheon International Airport, the first such link for a decade, according to public records.

• The scheduled service linking Jeju International Airport (pictured in a file photo) and Incheon was initiated on May 12, with twice-weekly services: on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

• Data from the Korea Office of Civil Aviation – reviewed by GGRAsia – indicate no airline has offered such a scheduled service via Incheon since 2016. The route had proven to be loss-making, according to media reports at the time such efforts were discontinued,

• Jeju is home to eight foreigner-only casinos. They collectively reported a record of approximately KRW646.50-billion (US$429.7-million currently), in gross gaming revenue for 2025, up circa 40.8-percent from 2024, as tourism and gambling business continued to grow in the post-pandemic period.

🇰🇷 Lotte Tour appears poised for growth as it expands rolling-chip programme: brokerage (GGRAsia)

• Lotte Tour Development (KRX: 032350), promoter of Jeju Dream Tower (pictured), a facility with foreigner-only casino on South Korea’s holiday island of Jeju, could be entering a new phase of earnings growth. That is likely to be supported by structural expansion in the firm’s operations and the expected scaling up of the venue’s rolling-chip gambling business, said South Korea-based Hana Securities Co Ltd.

• The brokerage said in a Wednesday memo that despite weaker earnings over the past two quarters, the company was still anticipated to post record results this year.

🇰🇷 K Bank and Other Stocks in KOSPI With End of Mandatory Lock-Up Period In June (Douglas Research Insights) $

• In this insight, I discuss about KBank (KRX: 279570) and five other stocks in KOSPI that could experience additional selling with end of mandatory lock-up periods in June.

• The end of these lock-up periods could potentially result in additional selling by insiders which could negatively impact the share prices of these companies (on average) in the coming weeks.

• Although K Bank is trading at less than 1x P/B multiple, it also has low ROE. Overall, I am Negative on K Bank.

🇰🇷 A Wild First Day Trading for 2x Single Stock Leveraged Products for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix (Douglas Research Insights) $

• In this insight, I discuss the wild trading of 2x single stock leveraged ETF products for Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930 / 005935 / LON: BC94 / FRA: SSUN / OTCMKTS: SSNLF) and SK Hynix (KRX: 000660) which were launched today.

• In particular, i focus on their trading volume, AUM, and share performances.

• In just one day, the AUM of the 2x single stock leveraged ETF products for Samsung Electornics and SK Hynix has jumped to 5.2 trillion won ($3.5 billion).

🇰🇷 Free Cash Flow Is (Still) The King and the Momentum Change in Free Cash Flow Is the Queen (Douglas Research Insights) $

• In this insight, I compare the free cash flow and changes in free cash flow of the top 20 companies in the world (by market cap).

• From 2024 to TTM (trailing 12 months ending 1Q 2026), the combined free cash flow of Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930 / 005935 / LON: BC94 / FRA: SSUN / OTCMKTS: SSNLF) and SK Hynix (KRX: 000660) surged by 158%.

• On the other hand, the free cash flow of the four U.S. tech titans (Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft) are down 22% in the same period.

🇰🇷 SK Hynix Joins Trillion Dollar Club As Korean Stocks Echo Nasdaq’s 1999 Meltup (ZeroHedge) 🗃️

• The market value of memory-chip maker SK Hynix (KRX: 000660) surged above $1 trillion for the first time as investors bet the AI boom will lead to a sustained revaluation of the industry.

• Both now larger than Berkshire and Eli Lilly.

🇰🇷 E Mart to Increase the Appraisal Rights Price of Shinsegae Food by 30% (Douglas Research Insights) $

• On 21 May, E-Mart (KRX: 139480) announced that it has decided to increase the appraisal rights price of Shinsegae Food Inc (KRX: 031440) by 30% compared to the reference market price.

• The appraisal rights price was raised in response to continued backlash from general shareholders who argued that the exchange price was too low.

• This materially higher appraisal rights price is likely to satisfy the demands of these investors and sets the stage for this deal to get completed successfully.

🇰🇷 Launch of the First CJ Olive Young Cosmetics Store in Pasadena, CA – Why Is This A Key Catalyst? (Douglas Research Insights) $

• The launch of the first CJ Olive Young cosmetics stores in Pasadena, California, could serve as a positive catalyst for the Korean cosmetics industry/CJ Corp for two key reasons.

• First, nearly 80%+ of the cosmetic brands that are sold at the Olive Young stores will be Korean cosmetic brands (especially from SMEs).

• Second, CJ Corp (KRX: 001040) owns a 51.2% of CJ Olive Young. A successful expansion of Olive Young stores in the U.S. will have a major positive impact on CJ Corp.

🇰🇷 Lee Byung Chul’s Famous Quote – “A Labor Union Would Be Recognized Over My Dead Body” (Douglas Research Insights) $

• Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930 / 005935 / LON: BC94 / FRA: SSUN / OTCMKTS: SSNLF)’ management and labor union have yet to reach a deal. The labor union plans to start its strike on 21 May.

• Samsung’s labor union has warned that the strike could cause damages of about 1 trillion won per day.

• My base case – I think the most likely scenario with regards to Samsung Electronics’ labor union dispute is an actual partial shutdown that could last one to several days.

🇰🇷 Samsung Retreats From China’s Appliance Market to Focus on Chips, Phones (Caixin) $

• Samsung (China) Investment Co. Ltd. said that it will stop selling home appliances on the Chinese mainland, abandoning a market it once dominated to focus its operations on mobile phones, semiconductors and medical equipment.

• The retreat underscores how Chinese brands have cut into the market share of their foreign competitors, prompting the South Korean tech giant to double down on its profitable chip and artificial intelligence-powered smartphone businesses.

🇰🇷 Doosan Corp to Acquire 100% Stake in SK Siltron – Positive Impact on SK Inc (Douglas Research Insights) $

• Doosan Corp (KRX: 000150 / 000155 / 000157) has completed the final stage negotiations to acquire SK Siltron and they are expected to sign the stock purchase agreement (SPA) as early as next week.

• The sale of SK Siltron to Doosan Corp is likely to positively impact SK Inc (KRX: 034730 / 03473K) (owns 51%).

• This sale could also result in SK Chairman Chey Tae-Won receiving nearly 1.5 trillion won in cash for his sale of 29.4% stake which could be used for divorce settlement.

🇰🇷 Uber Partners With Naver to Acquire 100% Stake in Baemin (Woowa Brothers) For 8 Trillion Won (Douglas Research Insights) $

• Uber is partnering with Naver to acquire a 100% stake in Baedal Minjok (Baemin) (operated by Woowa Brothers Co.) for about 8 trillion won ($5.3 billion).

• If Delivery Hero is able to sell Woowa Brothers at about 8 trillion won, the market is likely to view this slightly positive for Delivery Hero.

• Market will also likely to view this deal to be negative for Coupang, Inc. (NYSE: CPNG) (due to heightened competition) and slightly negative for Uber (due to valuation/lower profit margins at Baemin).

🇰🇷 Block Deal Sale of 538 Billion Won Worth of Doosan Robotics (Douglas Research Insights) $

• Doosan Robotics (KRX: 454910) completed a block deal sale worth 538 billion won, representing 8.3% of its market cap. Following the block deal sale, Doosan Robotics’ shares closed down 15%.

• I continue to believe Doosan Robotics’ valuations are too high. It is currently trading at P/S of 232x which is one of the highest P/S multiples among companies in KOSPI.

• In fact, it is even higher than SpaceX whose IPO could be valued at close to the 100x P/S multiple range.

🇰🇷 LG Corp: NAV + An Indirect Beneficiary of Growing Demand for AI Data Center Cooling Systems and Physical AI (Douglas Research Insights) $

• In this insight, I provide an updated NAV analysis of LG Corp (KRX: 003550 / 003555) which is an indirect beneficiary of AI data center cooling system and the physical AI products/services.

• My base case valuation of LG Corp is market cap of 33.4 trillion won or NAV per share of 216,627 won, which is 48% higher than current share price.

• LG Electronics is a key beneficiary of higher demand for AI driven data center cooling business and LG CNS Co Ltd (KRX: 064400)/LG Electronics are key beneficiaries of growing demand for Physical AI.

🇰🇷 Eoflow: Stayin’ Alive [U.S. Court of Appeals Overturns $59.4 Mn Trade Secret Verdict Vs Insulet] (Douglas Research Insights) $

• On 28 May, the the U.S. Court of Appeals completely overturned the $59.4 million trade secret verdict that Insulet (NASDAQ: PODD) had previously won against its South Korean rival, Eoflow (KOSDAQ: 294090).

• This is likely to have a major positive impact on Eoflow and negatively impact Insulet, which earned $781.8 million from sales of the Omnipod, its flagship product, in 2025.

• Eoflow’s shares trading has been temporarily suspended. Once it does start trading again, its share price is likely to APPRECIATE SEVERAL TIMES its current value.

🇰🇷 OliX Pharm: Capital Raise of 111 Billion Won from Investors Including L’Oreal’s Venture Fund (Douglas Research Insights) $

• OliX Pharmaceuticals Inc (KOSDAQ: 226950) announced that it plans to conduct a capital raise through a third-party allocation worth approximately 111 billion won to raise operating funds, including for research and development.

• The investors participating in this capital raise include L’Oréal Group’s venture fund, Weiss Asset Management, and Brookdale International Partners.

• Overall, I have a Positive View of this capital raise. OliX is raising a capital of 111 billion won from top-tier investor base including L’Oréal Group’s venture fund.

🇰🇷 Asian Dividend Gems: INVENI (Asian Dividend Stocks)

• Major reasons why I like INVENI Co Ltd (KRX: 015360) include consistent dividend yield of 6%+, attractive valuations (P/E of 3.1x and EV/EBITDA of 1.9x), insiders are buying, and improving corporate governance.

• The company competes in an oligopoly city gas business in Korea. The company primarily operates regulated city gas distribution businesses serving roughly 1.14 million households in the Seoul metropolitan area.

• INVENI had excellent results in 2025 and 1Q26. It had sales of 1.3 trillion won (up 14.4% YoY) and operating income of 111.7 billion won (up 360% YoY) in 2025.

🇰🇷 Initial Thoughts on the OpenAI IPO and the Key Korean Stocks to Benefit from the OpenAI IPO (Douglas Research Insights) $

• I discuss my initial thoughts on the OpenAI IPO (expected to be completed in 2H26) as well as provide key Korean stocks that could outperform and benefit from this IPO.

• OpenAI is expected to raise about $60 billion to $75 billion in this IPO, at a valuation of $1 trillion or more.

• Samsung SDS (KRX: 018260) and LG CNS Co Ltd (KRX: 064400) are two of the key beneficiaries in the Korean stock market of the OpenAI IPO.

🌏 Southeast Asia PE recovery uneven as investors turn selective (The Asset) 🗃️

• Weak exit activity, fewer opportunities constrain dealmaking, but early signs of stabilization

• Southeast Asia’s private equity ( PE ) market is showing early signs of stabilization, but a meaningful recovery remains constrained by weak exit activity and a narrowing pool of investable opportunities, according to a recent report.

• Dealmaking in the region declined in 2025, with total value falling about 10% year on year to US$14 billion across 84 transactions, finds Bain & Company’s SEA PE Report 2026. And, while this figure suggests continued investor engagement, the underlying picture is more uneven.

🇲🇾 RGB declares first dividend of 2026 as 1Q revenue rises, but profit down 27pct (GGRAsia)

• Gaming equipment supplier RGB International Bhd (KLSE: RGB) reported first-quarter profit attributable to the owners that was down 26.8 percent year-on-year, to just under MYR9.1 million (US$2.3 million).

• The company’s revenue for the three months to March 31 was up 18.8 percent from a year earlier, at nearly MYR87.4 million, according to a Friday filing to Bursa Malaysia.

• The firm’s first-quarter cost of sales rose 32.5 percent year-on-year, to MYR67.2 million.

• RGB announced a “first interim single tier dividend” of MYR0.002 per share, for the financial year ending 31 December 2026, to be paid on July 16.

🇲🇾 AMMB Holdings Berhad 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇲🇾 CIMB Group Holdings Berhad 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇲🇾 Tenaga Nasional Berhad 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇲🇾 Axiata Group Berhad 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌏 Axiata Group Bhd (KLSE: AXIATA / OTCMKTS: AXXTF) – Telecommunications & digital conglomerate (digital telcos, infrastructure, & digital businesses). 🇼

🇲🇾 Electoral landscape looking clearer as GE16 draws nearer (Murray Hunter)

🇲🇾 Explained: Why Does Malaysia Import Oil & Gas Despite Producing Its Own? (Says)

🇲🇾 Genting Malaysia posts 1Q loss, despite revenue growth (GGRAsia)

• Global casino operator Genting Malaysia (KLSE: GENM OTCMKTS: GMALY / GMALF) reported a loss of MYR25.2-million (US$6.4 million) for the first three months of 2025, compared with a MYR51.9-million profit a year earlier. Most of the loss, to the tune of MYR21.4 million, was attributable to non-controlling interests, the company said in a Thursday filing to Bursa Malaysia.

• The quarterly loss was despite a 10.5-percent year-on-year increase in group-wide revenue during the period, to nearly MYR2.87 billion

• In Thursday’s filing, Genting Malaysia said “global growth momentum” was “expected to soften amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and broader macroeconomic uncertainties, although certain economies, such as the U.S., demonstrated resilience to-date”.

• The firm said it remained “cautious” about the business outlook in Malaysia, “as growth may moderate due to inflationary pressures, geopolitical uncertainties and external headwinds weighing on the broader domestic economy”.

🇲🇾 A lower gaming machine tax at RWNYC could boost Genting Malaysia earnings: Maybank (GGRAsia)

• An applicable gaming machine tax rate for Resorts World New York City (RWNYC), downstate New York’s first full-service casino, has been cut by 12 percentage points with effect from April 28, as it switched from video lottery terminals to commercial-casino slot machines. That is according to a Thursday note from Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.

• The institution said it could boost 12-month earnings for the property’s controller, Genting Malaysia (KLSE: GENM OTCMKTS: GMALY / GMALF), by as much as US$100 million. Genting Malaysia had on Thursday reported a first-quarter loss, despite higher revenue.

• Analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang stated in a memo after Genting Malaysia’s results: “The gaming machine tax rates at RWNYC have been reduced to 56 percent from 68 percent when Genting Malaysia converted them to slot machines from video lottery terminals on 28 Apr 2026,” as part of the property’s move to being a full-service casino, from an electronic gaming venue.

🇵🇭 S&P cuts Universal Ent’s outlook to ‘negative’ on Okada Manila weakness (GGRAsia)

• S&P Global Ratings has revised its outlook on Japan-listed gaming and entertainment group Universal Entertainment Corp (TYO: 6425 / FRA: RUZ / OTCMKTS: UETMF) to “negative” from “stable”, while affirming its long-term issuer credit rating at “B-”.

• The credit ratings agency cited continued weak performance at the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippines, controlled by the Japanese group’s unit, Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc.

• S&P said in a Monday memo that the downturn in the group’s casino resort segment was “highly likely to continue”, pointing to intense competition in the Philippine market and inflationary pressure linked to the conflict in the Middle East.

🇸🇬 Singapore’s April visitor tally fell 5.1pct y-o-y to 1.33mln, as Indonesia market shrinks by 31pct (GGRAsia)

• Singapore saw a 5.1-percent year-on-year decline in visitor arrivals from abroad in April, led by a drop in volume of visitors from the key inbound markets including Indonesia, Australia, India and Malaysia, show the latest data from Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

• Neighbouring Indonesia showed the sharpest year-on-year downturn in volume, at nearly 31 percent, though the aggregate from the Chinese mainland rose year-on-year.

• Singapore’s overall April arrivals tallied 1.33 million, the lowest monthly figure so far this year. April overnight visitors accounted for 933,840 arrivals, a 7.9-percent year-on-year decline.

• Average stay length across all international markets was 3.36 days in April, a 2.1-percent shortening year-on-year.

🇸🇬 Why 2026 Could Be the Strongest Year Yet for Singapore Investors (The Smart Investor)

• After years of inflation fears, interest rate shocks, and market uncertainty, 2026 could mark a turning point for Singapore investors.

• We check out whether 2026 could be the strongest year that patient investors are waiting for.

  • Why the Backdrop Is Improving

  • The Sectors That Could Lead the Market Higher

  • Why Singapore Investors May Be Better Positioned Than Before

  • What Could Still Go Wrong

  • How Investors Can Position for 2026

  • Why This Cycle Feels Different

  • Get Smart: Bull Markets Often Begin Before Confidence Fully Returns

🇸🇬 TIGR: Chinese Regulator Strikes Ahead Of The Company’s Earnings Release (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇸🇬 BitFuFu: A Buy Is Becoming Difficult To Justify (Rating Downgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇸🇬 SATS Ltd. 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇸🇬 China Yuchai: Encouraging Insights From Recent Events (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇸🇬 Grab: The Super-App Cash Flow Story Is Just Beginning (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇸🇬 Grab: Impressive Resilience Amid Oil Price Shocks (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇸🇬 Grab Holdings: My Asian Experience Warrants A Strong Buy With Conviction (Rating Upgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇸🇬 Top Stock Market Highlights of the Week: SGX RegCo 3-Year Rule, 2026 IPO Boom, China’s Cross-Border Crackdown and One Raffles Place (The Smart Investor)

• We look at tighter rules for suspended companies, Singapore’s growing IPO pipeline, Beijing’s clampdown on illicit cross-border stock trading and a landmark office complex attracting billion-dollar interest.

  • SGX RegCo imposes three-year limit on cure period for suspended companies

    • Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), the independent regulatory arm of Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68 / FRA: SOU / SOUU / OTCMKTS: SPXCF / SPXCY), has introduced a firm three-year deadline for suspended companies to resolve the issues that triggered their trading halt.

    • Failure to demonstrate sufficient progress within that window will result in delisting.

  • Singapore’s IPO market gathers pace as SGX targets nearly 30 listings in 2026

    • Singapore’s initial public offering market is building momentum, with SGX on track for close to 30 new listings in 2026.

    • The pipeline marks a significant acceleration from the four IPOs recorded in 2024 and follows a strong 2025 in which listings on the bourse raised approximately US$2.15 billion, the highest since 2017.

  • China traders rush for the exit after cross-border flow crackdown

  • One Raffles Place attracts interest from IOI Properties, CapitaLand Investment and property tycoons

    • Interested parties reportedly include Singapore father-and-son property tycoons Raj Kumar and Kishin RK, Malaysian developer IOI Properties Group, and Singapore asset manager CapitaLand Investment Limited (SGX: 9CI).

    • OUE Real Estate Investment Trust (SGX: TS0U / OTCMKTS: OUECF), backed by the Indonesian Riady family, controls an 81.54% interest in the property, which comprises two office towers and a retail mall with 65,309 square metres of lettable space.

🇸🇬 Stronger Singdollar, Weaker Dividends? The Impact of Currency Policy on Your REITs (The Smart Investor)

• A stronger Singapore dollar can quietly reduce overseas income from REITs, making currency movements an important but often overlooked risk for dividend investors.

  • Why the Singapore Dollar Matters for REIT Investors

  • How Currency Movements Affect REITs

  • Which REITs Are Most Exposed?

    • REITs With Large Overseas Portfolios

    • REITs With Purely Domestic Focus

  • How REIT Managers Handle Currency Risk

  • Why Currency Risk Matters More Today

  • Does a Stronger SGD Always Mean Bad News?

  • Get Smart: Don’t Let Currency Risk Hide in Plain Sight

🇸🇬 June 2026 Watchlist: 3 Small-Cap SGX Stocks for Retirement Income (The Smart Investor)

• High yields grab attention, but for retirement portfolios, it’s the cash backing those dividends that keeps the income flowing.

• Here are three small-cap SGX stocks that pass both tests.

  • Vicom Ltd (SGX: WJP)

    • VICOM is a testing and inspection services provider in Singapore and a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation (SGX: C52).

    • The company had a cracking start to 2026.

  • Micro-Mechanics (Holdings) Ltd (SGX: 5DD / OTCMKTS: MCRNF)

  • Delfi Limited (SGX: P34 / OTCMKTS: PEFDF)

    • Delfi manufactures and distributes chocolate confectionery products across 17 markets.

    • Its flagship brands – SilverQueen, Ceres, and Delfi – are household names in Indonesia.

    • The group’s 1Q2026 numbers were a mixed bag.

  • Get Smart: What retirement income investors should look for

🇸🇬 5 SGX Blue-Chip Stocks Rewarding Investors in June (The Smart Investor)

• Dividend payouts from five SGX blue-chip REITs arrive this June, but investors should look beyond headline DPU declines to understand sustainability.

• Here is what their latest earnings tell us.

🇸🇬 SGX Stocks 2026: 3 Debt-Free Dividend Stocks with Growing Yields (The Smart Investor)

• Three SGX-listed stocks carry zero debt, hold plenty of cash, and raised their dividends for FY2025. We break down what’s behind each payout increase — and what dividend investors should watch for.

• Here are three SGX-listed stocks that carry zero debt, sit on sizable cash piles, and raised their dividends for FY2025.

  • Sheng Siong Group (SGX: OV8 / OTCMKTS: SHSGF)

    • Sheng Siong is one of Singapore’s largest supermarket operators, with 93 stores across Singapore and China as at 31 March 2026.

    • The retailer had a good FY2025.

  • Venture Corporation (SGX: V03 / FRA: VEM / OTCMKTS: VEMLF)

    • Venture is a technology solutions provider serving customers across life sciences, networking, semiconductor equipment, and lifestyle consumer domains.

    • FY2025 was a tougher year.

  • SBS Transit (SGX: S61)

    • As Singapore’s largest bus operator, SBS Transit runs around 200 bus services and a fleet of some 3,400 buses, as well as rail services through the North East Line, Downtown Line, and two LRT systems.

    • The headline number for FY2025 is eye-catching: total dividends jumped 73.0% YoY to S$0.4960 per share.

    • But look closer.

  • Get Smart: What zero debt really means for dividends

🇸🇬 3 Singapore Blue-Chip Stocks Announcing Higher Profits and Dividends (The Smart Investor)

• Three Singapore blue chips reported both higher profits and higher dividends — but the path from profit to payout was different in each case. Here’s what matters for income investors.

• Here are three Singapore blue-chip stocks that recently reported both higher profits and higher dividends.

🇸🇬 Beyond STI: 3 Small-Cap Stocks Rewarding Dividend Investors in June 2026 (The Smart Investor)

• Three SGX-listed small-caps are paying dividends – but each faces a very different test ahead. Here’s what to watch in their upcoming earnings.

• Three small-cap stocks caught my eye – not just because they’re paying dividends, but because each one is at a turning point that could reshape its investment case entirely.

  • First Real Estate Investment Trust (SGX: AW9U / OTCMKTS: FESNF): Exiting Indonesia, But Then What?

    • First REIT’s 1Q2026 distribution per unit (DPU) dropped 13.8% year on year (YoY) to S$0.00500. That’s not a number dividend investors want to see.

    • But dig into the details and the picture shifts.

    • Three small-cap stocks caught my eye – not just because they’re paying dividends, but because each one is at a turning point that could reshape its investment case entirely.

  • MoneyMax Financial Services (SGX: 5WJ): Profits Are Booming — Cash Flow Isn’t

    • MoneyMax had a standout FY2025.

    • Revenue climbed 38.9% YoY to S$541.9 million.

    • Profit attributable to owners jumped 87.6% to S$71.7 million.

    • And total dividends rose to S$0.020 per share – up from S$0.014 – including a special dividend of S$0.005.

    • So what’s the worry? Free cash flow.

  • Union Gas Holdings Ltd (SGX: 1F2): Short-Term Pain, Long-Term Gain?

  • Get Smart: Cash Flow Tells the Real Story

🇸🇬 On the Radar for June: 3 Companies with Strong Cash Flows and Stable Dividends (The Smart Investor)

• As June approaches, these three companies stand out for generating reliable cash flow and maintaining stable dividend payouts despite ongoing market uncertainty.

• Heading into June 2026, we highlight some Singapore companies that have been able to generate solid income for investors.

  • Why Cash Flow Matters More Than Headlines

  • Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68 / FRA: SOU / SOUU / OTCMKTS: SPXCF / SPXCY), or SGX — The Defensive Cash Flow Generator

  • HRNetGroup (SGX: CHZ), or HRnet — The Dividend Growth Blue Chip

    • The next company on our list, HRnet, has also seen earnings growth that could potentially support increasing dividends.

    • The recruitment specialist wrapped up 2025 with net profits climbing 14.3% year on year (YoY) to S$52.9 million.

  • Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SGX: Z74 / FRA: SIT / SIT4 / OTCMKTS: SGAPY / SNGNF) or Singtel — The Infrastructure Income Play

    • Last on our list is an infrastructure name that provides consistent dividend income.

    • Backed by the provision of broadband and mobile services, Singtel has generated positive cash flows over the past five years.

  • What Investors Should Still Watch

  • Get Smart: Reliable Income Starts with Reliable Businesses

🇸🇬 3 Blue-Chip REITs to Watch in June 2026 (The Smart Investor)

• Singapore’s largest REITs are spending billions to reshape their portfolios. But will these deals actually grow your DPU?

• Here are three REITs worth keeping an eye on.

🇸🇬 AEM’s Share Price Is Soaring — Is It Too Late To Buy? (The Smart Investor)

• AEM’s shares have surged sharply as semiconductor optimism returns, but investors now face a familiar dilemma: chase the rally or wait for reality to catch up?

• As of 24 May 2026, AEM Holdings (SGX: AWX) is up a staggering 450% year to date, with a 52-week range between S$1.19 and S$10.68 per share.

• In this article, we find out if the rally is justified by improved fundamentals or whether the stock has outpaced its underlying fundamentals.

  • Why AEM’s Share Price Is Rising Again

  • What Does AEM Actually Do?

  • The Bull Case: Why Investors Are Excited

  • The Bear Case: Why Investors Should Stay Careful

  • Valuation: Expensive or Still Reasonable?

  • Should Investors Buy Now or Wait?

  • What Investors Should Watch Next

  • Get Smart: Given the sharp rally, plenty of optimistic expectations are embedded in AEM’s stock price

🇹🇭 Electricity Generating Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Central Pattana Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Central Pattana Public Company Limited (CPNNF) Presents at SET Digital roadshow Q1/2026 – Slideshow (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Ratch Group Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 PTT Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Electricity Generating Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 IRPC Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Digital Telecommunications Infrastructure FD 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Banpu Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌏🇺🇸 Banpu PCL (BKK: BANPU / BANPU-R / FRA: NVAC / OTCMKTS: BAPUF) – Energy resources (coal & gas); energy generation (conventional & renewable); & energy technology (wind & solar, storage systems & energy technologies). 🇼 🏷️

🇹🇭 Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EYGPF) Presents at SET Digital roadshow Q1/2026 – Slideshow (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 IRPC Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇹🇭 Berli Jucker Public Company Limited 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌏 Berli Jucker PCL (BKK: BJC / BJC-F / OTCMKTS: BLJZY) – Manufactures, distributes & services for packaging, consumer, healthcare & technical & modern retail supply chain businesses. 🏷️

🇻🇳 Moody’s raises Vietnam outlook to positive on reform gains (The Asset) 🗃️

• Formal rating upgrade likely if efforts to declog bottlenecks make headway or strong FDI in high-value sectors sustains

• Moody’s Ratings has upgraded its outlook on Vietnam to positive from stable, signalling a potential sovereign rating hike as the Southeast Asian manufacturing powerhouse accelerates institutional reforms and cements its position in global technology supply chains.

• The ratings agency affirmed Vietnam’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings at Ba2 on May 4. The shift to a positive outlook reflects growing analyst confidence that the country’s recent push to streamline its bureaucracy and modernize its economy will yield a more robust credit profile over the medium term.

🇻🇳 North Carolina sues Vietnamese EV maker VinFast (The Asset) 🗃️

• US state demands repayment of US$80 million and land rights following years of construction delays at plant site

• North Carolina is suing Vietnamese electric-vehicle ( EV ) manufacturer VinFast Auto Ltd. (NASDAQ: VFS) over its alleged failure to fulfil commitments to build a major EV and battery manufacturing facility in the US state.

• According to a statement issued by North Carolina attorney general Jeff Jackson, the automaker has abandoned work on the 712-hectare site in Chatham County for more than a year. Under the original agreement, VinFast was licensed to construct the plant with the promise of creating 7,500 jobs and investing more than US$3 billion in the US state.

• “VinFast agreed to build a factory and create jobs for North Carolinians – it didn’t do either,” Jackson says in a statement, dated May 21. “When North Carolina makes a deal, we build in protection for taxpayers. VinFast broke the deal, so we’re using that protection to find a project for this site that will create jobs.”

🇮🇳 India: From Generics Giant To Innovation Powerhouse? (ING Think)

🇮🇳 HDFC Bank Faces A New Banking Reality (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇮🇳 Yatra Online, Inc. 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌐 Yatra Online (NASDAQ: YTRA) – Corporate travel services provider. Airline tickets, hotel & holiday packages & other services. 🇼

🇮🇳 CEAT’s Camso Bet: Targeting $1 Billion Revenue From the Acquisition (Smartkarma) $

• CEAT Ltd (NSE: CEATLTD / BOM: 500878) targets up to 20% EBITDA margins and $1 billion revenue from Camso, with full brand and operational ownership expected by Q2 FY27

• Camso unlocks the high-margin global OHT segment, moving CEAT beyond its India-centric replacement story into premium, construction-equipment terrain.

• Near-Term earnings will stay under pressure from raw material inflation and CAMSO transition drag, but FY28 is where the margin inflection thesis truly gets tested.

🇮🇳 Solara Active Pharma: From Debt Overhang to Operational Reset (Smartkarma) $

• Q4 FY26 delivered Solara Active Pharma Sciences Ltd (NSE: SOLARA / BOM: 541540)’s highest revenue, gross margin and EBITDA in eight quarters, led entirely by base business momentum.

• The base business now operates at 54% gross margins and 26% EBITDA, comparing favourably with India’s leading API companies, while the ibuprofen drag is heading toward resolution.

• Once the ibuprofen overhang clears, the true margin power of the underlying business could surprise on the upside and management is quietly preparing for that moment.

🇮🇳 Wipro X ServiceNow: When Agentic AI Stops Being a Pilot! (Smartkarma) $

• Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT) has expanded its existing ServiceNow partnership to embed agentic AI workflows across four core functions: IT, HR, procurement, cybersecurity, integrating its proprietary Intelligence platform with the ServiceNow AI Platform.

• This is Wipro’s clearest attempt to convert AI hype into recurring, governed, outcome-linked contracts, precisely what investors demanding since company’s flat-to-negative Q1 FY27 revenue-guidance rattled the street in April.

• Is this a structural re-rating opportunity or is simply relief buying ahead of a buyback record date, and what the competitive chessboard looks like for Infosys (NYSE: INFY), Tata Consultancy Services (NSE: TCS / BOM: 532540), and Accenture.

🇮🇳 Entero Healthcare: Consolidating India’s Fragmented Healthcare Supply Chain (Smartkarma) $

• Entero Healthcare Solutions Ltd (NSE: ENTERO / BOM: 544122) delivered on all three FY26 guidance parameters simultaneously ,reporting 31.5% LFL revenue growth, 4.0% EBITDA margin, INR 96 crore positive operating cash flow, first full-year OCF positive print.

• The transition from cash-consuming acquisition machine to a self-funding growth platform is the key de-risking event, arriving just as the MedTech segment crosses the INR 1,000 crore annualized revenue threshold.

• With FY27 guidance targeting 5% EBITDA margins and a 50% OCF-to-EBITDA conversion, Entero’s unit economics are compounding faster than the market appears to appreciate.

🇮🇳 Bharat Coking Coal Limited: India’s Only Prime Coking Coal Producer (Smartkarma) $

• Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) (NSE: BHARATCOAL / BOM: 544678), India’s sole prime coking coal producer with 58.5% domestic market share, is preparing for a public listing with an imminent Block-E (15 MTPA) capacity expansion tendering underway.

• India imports 90% of steel-grade coking coal, spending foreign exchange on a commodity BCCL controls domestically.

• BCCL is a structural beneficiary of India’s infrastructure decade, but washery yield improvement and quality upgrade remain the critical unlock between raw-coal miner and premium steel-sector supplier.

🇮🇳 India’s Ethanol Oversupply: Policy Outpaced the Infrastructure It Needed (Smartkarma) $

• India’s ethanol distillery capacity has nearly tripled to ~1,970 crore litres by FY26, while OMC absorption sits at roughly 60% of capacity offered, creating a structural surplus.

• With utilization rates languishing at 65–75%, sector credit profiles are under strain; the majority of rated distilleries cluster at BBB. Pure-play producers like TruAlt Bioenergy Ltd (NSE: TRUALT / BOM: 544545) face acute earnings volatility.

• The BIS notification of E22–E30 fuel standards in May 2026 and MoRTH’s draft E85 rules open a clear demand runway, but absorption hinges on FFV penetration and multi-blend retail infrastructure.

🌍 Central Asia Metals plc (CAMLF) Shareholder/Analyst Call – Slideshow (Seeking Alpha)

🇺🇿 Landmark sovereign fund IPO: Central Asia defining moment (The Asset) $ 🗃️

• Central Asia has long been dismissed as too risky, too isolated and too politically unstable to attract international investors. But a landmark IPO by Uzbekistan’s national investment fund may finally change that, signalling that one of the world’s fastest-growing regions is eager and ready to attract global capital

• The upcoming initial public offering ( IPO ) of Uzbekistan’s National Investment Fund (UzNIF) marks a turning point for Central Asia. With US$2.4 billion in assets and a valuation of US$1.95 billion – implying a discount of roughly 20% – the offering is intended to do more than raise capital. Uzbekistan wants to establish its credibility as an investment destination.

• However, the IPO also represents a regional milestone. For the first time, a Central Asian country is offering international investors a diversified basket of strategic assets through a London Stock Exchange listing overseen by a major global asset manager.

🇮🇱 Ituran’s Strong Q1 Results Keep The Buy Case Alive (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🌐 🇧🇷 Ituran Location And Control Ltd (NASDAQ: ITRN) – Leader in the emerging mobility technology field, providing value-added location-based services, including a full suite of services for the connected-car. 🇼 🏷️

🇮🇱 Elbit Systems: Strong Q1, But Valuation Still Looks Stretched (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇮🇱 Teva’s Growth Story Is No Longer Just Generic, It’s Getting Branded (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇹🇷 Turkey seeks to calm investors after opposition ruling sparks sell-off (FT) $ 🗃️

🇿🇦 Life Healthcare Group Holdings Limited 2026 Q2 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇿🇦 Datatec Limited 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇿🇦 Pepkor Holdings Limited 2026 Q2 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌍🇧🇷 Pepkor (JSE: PPH / FRA: S1VA / OTCMKTS: PPKRF) – Largest retail store footprint in southern Africa. 10 African countries + Brazil. The majority of Pepkor’s retail brands operate in the discount & value market segment. 🇼 🏷️

🇿🇦 Oceana Group Limited 2026 Q2 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇿🇦 Pick n Pay Stores Limited 2026 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌍 Pick ‘n Pay (JSE: PIK / FRA: PIK) – Leading South African retailer. Stores in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland & Lesotho + owns a 49% share of Zimbabwean chain TM Supermarkets. 🇼 🏷️

🇿🇦 Netcare Limited 2026 Q2 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🇿🇦 🇱🇸 🅿️ Netcare Limited (JSE: NTC / NTCP / OTCMKTS: NWKHY) – Healthcare in South Africa & Lesotho. Operates the largest private hospital, primary healthcare, emergency medical services & renal care networks. 🇼 🏷️

🇿🇦 Reunert Limited 2026 Q2 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

• 🌐 Reunert Ltd (JSE: RLO / FRA: 6W0 / OTCMKTS: RNRTY) – Industrial goods & services (electronic engineering, ICT & applied electronics).

🇨🇿 CSG: The Indonesia Problem (Hunterbrook)

• How a mystery payment may help explain billions in backlog funneled through a single suspicious intermediary.

• Based on Hunterbrook Media’s reporting, Hunterbrook Capital is short CSG Nv (PSE: CSG / FRA: NW0) or Czechoslovak Group and long a basket of comparable securities at the time of publication. Positions may change at any time. This article is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. See our website for full disclosures.

🇬🇷 Bally’s Intralot S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇬🇷 Alpha Bank S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇵🇱 CD Projekt S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇵🇱 Asseco Poland S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇵🇱 PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🌎 MercadoLibre: Short-Term Pain For Long-Term Gain (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌎 Mercado Libre: Latin America’s Compounding Machine 2026 Deep Dive (Stone Mountain Research)

• How MercadoLibre turned a regional vacuum into an $80 billion business — and what the next decade looks like

• Contents

🌎 DLocal (DLO): Q1 2026 Earnings Review (MVC Investing)

• Last week, Dlocal (NASDAQ: DLO) reported its Q1 2026 results.

• The stock went down ~13% following a report that, on the surface, looked messier than it actually was.

• In this article, I’ll break down everything you need to know.

🌎 dLocal: The Tollbooth In Emerging Markets (Rock & Turner)

• Companies wanting exposure to rapidly growing economies need different kinds of payment solutions. The answer: Dlocal (NASDAQ: DLO)

• The company acts as a “toll booth” for payments in emerging markets, has a highly competent management team and is trading at arguably the most attractive valuation since its IPO.

• dLocal was founded in 2016 by Andrés Bzurovski, Sergio Fogel, and Sebastian Kanovich, who recognized a fundamental problem: global companies like Amazon, Nike, or Uber found it nearly impossible to collect payments from or disburse funds to customers in countries like Brazil, Nigeria, or Indonesia. Each market had its own fragmented web of local payment methods, arcane regulations, currency controls, and banking infrastructure. The founders built DLocal to solve this by offering a single API integration that abstracted away all that complexity.

🇦🇷 Adecoagro SA: Why This Stock Is My Top Commodity Pick For 2026 (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇺🇾 Adecoagro Sa (NYSE: AGRO) – Luxembourg HQ’s agro industrial company that produces & manufactures food & renewable energy. 3 segments: Farming; Sugar, Ethanol & Energy; & Land Transformation. 🏷️

🇦🇷 Banco BBVA Argentina S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇦🇷 IRSA: With 10%+ Dividend Yield, The Zero-CapEx Arbitrage In Argentina’s Real Estate (Seeking Alpha)

🇧🇲 The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (NTB) CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited – M&A Call – Slideshow (Seeking Alpha)

🇧🇷 BB Seguridade: Upside Potential Seems Limited, Hold For Its 12% Dividend Yield (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Suzano: The Best Player To Buy In This Volatile Pulp Market (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 CEMIG: The Recent Fall Is An Opportunity (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Petrobras: Why I Disagree With Wall Street (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Petrobras: Cheap Oil Stock With High Yield Potential (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Embraer: The 9% Pullback Still Doesn’t Offer A Good Entry (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇧🇷 Nu Holdings: Seasonality Creates Entry Opportunity (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) The Toll Booth of Latin American Banking – Now On Sale (Substack von Philipp)

• The setup in a sentence: the best banking fintech on the planet just printed its first-ever $5bn revenue quarter, crossed 135 million customers, earns a 29% return on equity – and the stock trades roughly a third below where it started the year. I have wanted to write up Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) for a long time. Fintech sits right in my circle of competence, and Nu Holdings is, in my view, the single most impressive franchise the sector has produced.

• Here is the short version of the thesis. Nu is a digital-only bank that has effectively become the largest financial institution in Brazil, the third largest in Mexico, and is now scaling in Colombia – while generating real GAAP profits, not the adjusted-EBITDA fiction so common in growth land. It acquires customers for a few dollars through word of mouth, monetises them more every quarter, and runs on a cost base that traditional Latin American banks cannot dream of matching. That is a classic compounding flywheel: more customers × more revenue per customer × a scalable platform. When those three multiply together, earnings can grow for years.

🇧🇷 Patria Investments: The Discount Has Become Too Large To Ignore (Upgrade) (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🌎🇰🇾 Patria Investments Limited (NASDAQ: PAX) – Asset management services to investors focusing on private equity, infrastructure development, co-investments, constructivist equity & real estate & credit funds. 🏷️

🇧🇷 StoneCo: Fear Is Creating A Massive Valuation Disconnect (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇧🇷 Buying StoneCo 60% Cheaper Than Warren Buffett — At a P/E of 5.6x?

• Let me start with a confession. When Warren Buffett bought 14 million shares of StoneCo Ltd (NASDAQ: STNE) at $24 in October 2018, I thought it was one of his more curious bets. A Brazilian acquirer in a country famous for FX volatility, political dysfunction, and 15% interest rates? Yet here we are, in May 2026, and the same business that Berkshire once championed trades at $9.74 per share — a 60% discount to that IPO price almost eight years later. The 52-week range tells the story: from $19.95 down to $9.66. The stock now sits within pennies of its 52-week low after dropping over 25% in the past month alone.

• The investment case in one sentence: A founder-controlled Brazilian fintech with structurally improving margins, a credit business compounding at 25-33% per quarter, an active capital return program, and a fair P/E of 19x — trading at 5.6x because the market is fixated on a Brazilian Selic rate that is now finally rolling over.

• Grab a coffee. This one is worth your time.

🇧🇷 The Royalty King Report | XP Inc. (NASDAQ: XP) (The Royalty King)

[XP Inc (NASDAQ: XP)]

• Brazil’s Financial Disintermediation Engine — A Croupier Collection Candidate

• Flávio Bolsonaro—son of former President Jair Bolsonaro—has closed a 23-point runoff deficit against the incumbent president Lula in four months, tying him in the March Quaest poll at 41%–41%. Prediction markets, which are often more reliable than polls, give him a 41% implied win probability versus Lula’s 36%.

• Requiring no such extra step, is the subject of today’s piece and IMHO one of the most promising, quality business models in all of Latin America today. The business is best thought of as a combination of an exchange platform and ancillary wealth management and brokerage services. Or, if you prefer, Brazil’s version of Charles Schwabb. It is a financial marketplace that has compounded client assets at a 20%+ CAGR since 2020 while maintaining 30% EBT margins and is currently trading at an astonishingly cheap NTW free cash-flow yield of 29%.

🇨🇱 Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile: Q1 Results, Fundamentals Justify Sharp Upgrade (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇨🇱 Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. 2026 Q1 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (Seeking Alpha)

🇨🇴 Colombia’s erratic leader refuses to be a lame duck (FT) $ 🗃️

🇨🇴 Colombia – First round presidential election results (Latin America Risk Report)

• Abelardo or Cepeda: Which candidate is closer to his ceiling?

• The initial count of the first round results in Colombia’s presidential election are Abelardo de la Espriella 44%, Ivan Cepeda 41%, Paloma Valencia 7%. The results are unlikely to change much as the official count comes in.

🇨🇴 Ecopetrol’s Long Duration Notes: Buying Political Change at a Discount (Latin America Risk Report)

• The May 31 Colombian presidential election is eight days away. The bond market is pricing the Petro regime in perpetuity. It is wrong. Here is the trade.

• Ecopetrol SA (NYSE: EC) is an integrated energy company, 88.49% owned by the Colombian government, and Latin America’s fourth-largest oil and gas producer by market capitalization. The business spans four segments. For reference, the chart below (via Ecopetrol March presentation):

🇨🇴 Colombia election notes – May 2026 (Latin America Risk Report)

• I now have Ivan Cepeda as the favorite, with a lot of uncertainty.

• In late April, when I wrote that Paloma Valencia was the favorite, I said that I’d revise my prediction if the late polls shifted against her or her campaign had problems. Well, both of those things have happened. On the campaign trail, Valencia struggled with her message, made strategic mistakes, and never managed to go on the attack against de la Espriella. Here are the latest polls. I think I transcribed them all correctly, but you can find the polls and links at La Silla Vacia and Wikipedia if you want to double-check them or build your own models:

🇲🇽 América Móvil: Good Execution, But The Rally Has Caught Up (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🇵🇦 Copa: An Airline With Strong Q1 Results Despite Sector Headwinds (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Tungsten: Up 900% in a Year, and Nobody’s Talking About It (Public Markets)

• Ammonium paratungstate — APT, the benchmark intermediate that sits between tungsten ore and everything tungsten becomes — trades around $3,185 per metric tonne unit in Rotterdam as I write this.

• It is up roughly 350% this year.

• About 900% over twelve months.

• A commodity that most generalist investors have never knowingly owned, and could not pick out of a periodic table, has done a clean 10-bag in a year.

• Quietly. With almost no coverage outside the trade press.

• When we see a move like that on the desk, we don’t get excited. We get suspicious, and then we get to work on one question: who actually captures this, and is it already in the price?

• This edition is our answer. It is a single name.

🌐 Nebius: Ballooning Upside Potential (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Nebius: Riding Powerful Demand Volume And Pricing Tailwinds (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Nebius’ 684% Revenue Surge Hides A Risk Nobody’s Talking About (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Nebius Is Aiming For The Clouds And So Is Their Stock Price (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Nebius: Verticalization Is Strengthening The Bull Case (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Why I’m Rating Nebius A Strong Buy After The April Rally (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

🌐 Nebius: Consider The Unit Economics And You’d Be As Bullish As I Am Too (Seeking Alpha) $ 🗃️

• 🌐 Nebius Group NV (NASDAQ: NBIS) – AI-centric cloud platform built for intensive AI workloads. Sold Yandex to a consortium of Russian investors. Retains several businesses outside of Russia. 🇼 🏷️

🌐 Nebius: The World’s Biggest Factory Will Produce Tokens (Business Ontology)

• $NBIS Q1 2026 ER Update

• The most important line from Nebius Group NV (NASDAQ: NBIS) ’ Q1 2026 update was not only revenue growth. It was the shape of demand.

• The company’s ability to deliver both high-performance, large-scale clusters and smaller-scale, on-demand compute is becoming a real advantage. In Q1, that advantage translated into a sequential re-acceleration in revenue. The momentum was broad-based and compounding:

Share

Note: Investing.com has a full calendar for most global stock exchanges BUT you may need an Investing.com account, then hit “Filter,” and select the countries you wish to see company earnings from. Otherwise, purple (below) are upcoming earnings for US listed international stocks (Finviz.com):

Click here for the full weekly calendar from Investing.com containing frontier and emerging market economic events or releases (my filter excludes USA, Canada, EU, Australia & NZ).

Frontier and emerging market highlights (from IFES’s Election Guide calendar):

Frontier and emerging market highlights from IPOScoop.com and Investing.com (NOTE: For the latter, you need to go to Filter and “Select All” countries to see IPOs on non-USA exchanges):

Climate change and ESG are some recent flavours of the month for most new ETFs. Nevertheless, here are some new frontier and emerging market focused ETFs:

Frontier and emerging market highlights:

Check out our emerging market ETF lists, ADR lists (updated) and closed-end fund (updated) lists (also see our site map + list update status as most ETF lists are updated).

I have changed the front page of www.emergingmarketskeptic.com to mainly consist of links to other emerging market newspapers, investment firms, newsletters, blogs, podcasts and other helpful emerging market investing resources. The top menu includes links to other resources as well as a link to a general EM investing tips / advice feed e.g. links to specific and useful articles for EM investors.

Disclaimer. The information and views contained on this website and newsletter is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice and/or a recommendation. Your use of any content is entirely at your own risk and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the content. Seek a duly licensed professional for any investment advice. I may have positions in the investments covered. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any investment mentioned.

Emerging Market Links + The Week Ahead (June 1, 2026) was also published on our website under the Newsletter category.

Share

Share Emerging Market Skeptic

Leave a comment

Frontier & Emerging Market Stock Index

Emerging Market Skeptic (Website)

EM Stock Pick Tear Sheets

EM Fund Stock Picks

Stocktwits @EmergingMarketSkptc

Twitter @EmergingMrktSkp