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Technology Stocks

NEXTDC reports strong results as of ongoing cloud adoption

Investment Thesis

  • Australia is still in the early stages of cloud adoption. The NBN’s implementation will drive demand from cloud providers for NXT’s asset follows more efficient and cheaper broadband. 
  • Extremely high-quality collection of sites.
  • Tier 4 gold centers focus on the premium end where pricing is more stable.
  • NXT has balance sheet capacity to handle more debt and self fund expansion through operating cash flow from the base building. 
  • Capital intensive nature of the sector provides a high barrier to entry.
  • Government adoption of cloud and the subsequent need to outsource present an opportunity.
  • Sticky customers are unlikely to churn which creates a strong customer ecosystem.
  • The Company’s national footprint enables it to scale more effectively than competitors.
  • Margin expansions demonstrate strong operating leverage.
  • Additional capacity has been announced.
  • Given the global demand for data, mergers and acquisitions are on the rise.

Key Risks

  • There is no product diversification (NXT only operates data centres).
  • NXT and competitors have significantly increased their supply of data centres.
  • Delays in the construction or ramp-up of data centres have an impact on the earnings growth profile.
  • Pressures from competitors (price discounting by NXT or competitors).
  • Higher power densities in Australia as a result of increased average rack power utilization.
  • Inadequate customer demand to generate a satisfactory return on investment.
  • NXT’s ability to expand and pursue growth opportunities may be hampered if sufficient capital is not obtained on favourable terms.
  • The risk of leasing (NXT does not own the land or building where its data centres are situated).

FY21 results highlights 

  • Data center service revenue was up +23% to $246.1million and at the bottom end of upgraded guidance of $246m to $251m.
  • Underlying EBITDA increased by +29 percent to $134.5 million, exceeding the company’s revised guidance of $130 million to $133 million.
  • Operating cash flow increased by 148% to $133.2 million.
  • Capex was down -18% to $301 million, falling short of the $380-400 million range.
  • NXT had $1.7 billion in liquidity (cash and undrawn debt facilities) at the end of the fiscal year, and its balance sheet strength is supported by $2.6 billion in total assets, indicating that it is well capitalised for growth.
  • Contract utilisation increased by 8% to 75.5MW. (7) NXT’s customer base increased by 183 (or 13%) to 1,547.
  • Interconnections grew 1,667 (or +13%) to 14,718, and now equates to ~7.7% of recurring revenue.

Company Profile 

NEXTDC Limited (NXT) is a Data-Center-as-a-Service (DCaaS) provider offering a range of services to corporate, government and IT services companies. NXT has a total of five data centers located in major commerce hubs in Australia, with three more due to be completed within the next 2 years. These facilities are network-neutral, meaning they operate independently of telecommunication and IT service providers. Currently NXT has a total of 34.7 MW built for data and serving housing, with a target to reach 104.1MW by the end of 1H18. 

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Technology Stocks

Pro Medicus reports strong FY21 results beating market estimates

Investment Thesis:

  • Management believes they are 24 months ahead of their competitors driven by proven and market leading technology, thereby making PME’s product command a price premium. 
  • New contract wins by Pro Medicus (more win rates plus higher value per contract) and increase in usage by existing clients. 
  • Launch of new products namely; Enterprise imaging solutions, exploring other “ologies” such as cardiology and ophthalmology. 
  • Development of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. 
  • Leveraged to the digital health data thematic and industry’s transition to cloud. 
  • Business expansion into new geographies.
  • Probability of Mergers and Acquisitions.

Key Risks:

  • Stock price exposed to more volatility on account of high valuation.
  • Long lead time to close contracts and scalability of new contract leads to disappointment with reference to market anticipations. 
  • Renewal of contracts (pricing pressure) and potential budget reduction at hospitals leads to the delay of software upgrades / investment. 
  • Large scale players and new entrants with innovative technology offer increase in competitive pressures. 
  • Reliability of system i.e. data breach or drop in quality. 
  • Regulatory / funding changes, for instance, reimbursement changes leading to lower imaging volumes.

Key Highlights:

  • PME to benefit from their recent contract wins and is positively leveraged to several important themes – digital health data, replacing legacy technology with PME’s innovative platform, AI adoption in imaging, Electronic Health Records (EHR) driving PME’s Enterprise Imaging solutions and PME’s cloud solution substantially increasing its concerned market.
  • Pro Medicus Ltd (PME) reported solid FY21 results outperforming the market estimates. The profit before tax of $42.6m, was up +41.0% mainly because of significant revenue growth in three key jurisdictions – North America, up +18.0%, Australia, up +23.4% and Europe, up +25.7%.
  • Revenue of $67.9m is up by 19.5% 
  • Underlying profit before tax $42.6m, which is up by 41.0%  
  • Net profit of $30.9m is up by 33.7%. 
  • PME remains debt-free with cash reserves at year-end of $61.8m, 42.4% higher than pcp. 
  • The Board declared a fully franked final dividend of 8c per share, which brings the total FY21 dividend to 15cps.
  • In FY21, PME won key contracts which are as follows: (1) NYU Langone (A$25.0m, 7-year) (2) Zwanger-Pesiri (A$8.5m, 5-year renewal) (3) LMU Klinikum (A$10.0m, 7-year) (4) Medstar Health (A$18.0m, 5-year) (5) Intermountain Healthcare (A$40.0m, 7-year) (6) University of California (A$31.0m, 7-year) (7) University of Vermont (A$14.0m, 8-year)

Company Profile:

Pro Medicus Ltd (PME) was founded in 1983 and provides a full range of radiology IT software and services to hospitals, imaging centers and health care groups globally. In Jan-09, PME purchased Visage Imaging, which has become a global provider of leading-edge enterprise imaging solutions, pioneering the best-of-breed, or Deconstructed PACSSM enterprise imaging strategy. Visage 7 technology delivers fast, multi-dimensional images streamed via an intelligent thin-client viewer. The company offers a leading suite of RIS, PACS and e-health solutions constituting one of the most comprehensive end-to-end offerings in radiology. Pro Medicus has global offices in Melbourne, Berlin (R&D) and San Diego (Sales).

General Advice Warning

Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Technology Stocks

Sonic Healthcare increased its margins in both its laboratory and imaging divisions

Investment Thesis

  • Ageing Population Requires more diagnostic tests especially as medicine focuses on Preventives medicine
  • Market leading positions in Pathology(number one in Australia, Germany, Switzerland and United Kingdom number three in US). Australia is the Second leading player in the market in Imaging. 
  • Establishment of Global Channels to high barriers entry.
  • Organic growth and potential improvement from margin cost strategy on the acquisition of ongoing bolt.
  • Leveraged against a weakening dollar.
  • Globally Diversified.

Key Risks

  • Diagnostic expenses are being decreased as a result of disruptive technology.
  • Market share is being lost due to competitive threats.
  • Deregulation has resulted in the establishment of new pathology collection centres.
  • Regulative changes that are detrimental (fee cuts).
  • Growth that has been disappointing.
  • Unfavorable currency fluctuations (AUD, EUR, USD).

FY21 results highlights 

  • Revenue Growth of +28 to A$8.8 billion. In constant Currency, revenue of $9,129 million was up +33.7%, driven by Covid-19 testing revenue in each of SHL’s laboratory businesses. Base business revenue (exclude Covid testing) grew +6% versus FY20 and +4% versus FY19.
  • EBITDA growth of +81% to A$ 2.6 Billion (or +89% on constant Currency basis) driven by +97% EBITDA Growth of +89% in the laboratory division due to Covid-19 testing. 
  • Net profit growth of +149% to A$1.3 billion, reflecting growth in revenue and SHL’s strong operating leverage. 
  • Sonic Healthcare achieved margin accretion in both laboratory and imaging divisions.
  • SHL’s balance sheet is well placed with record low gearing level and liquidity of ~A$1.5bnto fund growth via acquisitions. 
  • Gearing (Net debt/[Net debt + equity) of 12.5%, interest cover (EBITA/Net interest expense) of 33.8x and debt cover (Net debt/EBITDA) of 0.4x all improved from 21.6%, 20.5x and 1.0x, respectively, at Dec-20 (and remains within covenant limit of <55%, >3.25x, and <3.5x respectively). 
  • As per its progressive dividend policy, sonic healthcare declared a final dividend of 55cps, up +8% and franked to 65%. Total dividends are up +7%.

Company Profile 

Sonic Healthcare (SHL) is a medical diagnostics company with operations in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. The company provides a comprehensive range of pathology and diagnostic imaging services to medical practitioners, hospitals and their patients along with providing administrative services and facilities to medical practitioners. SHL has three main segments: (1) Pathology/clinical laboratory services based in Australia, NZ, UK, US, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland. (2) Diagnostic imaging services in Australia; and (3) Other which includes medical centre operations (IPN), occupational health services (Sonic HealthPlus) and laboratory automation development (GLP Systems).

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Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Despite a rise in earnings, the share price of Nine Entertainment has dropped.

Investment Thesis

  • Upside potential to NEC’s share price from investors ascribing a higher value for Stan, NEC’s subscription video of demand (SVOD). Stan is now cash flow positive and profitable, with margins having the potential to surprise on the upside. 
  • Relatively attractive dividend yield of ~4%. 
  • NEC is a now a much more diversified business, with revenue not dominated by traditional FTA TV but also attractive digital platforms and assets. 
  • Cost out strategy – looking to remove $230m in structural costs.  
  • Corporate activity given NEC’s strategic assets.
  • Trading below our valuation.

Key Risks

We see the following key risks to our investment thesis:

  • Competitive pressure in Free to Air (FTA) TV and SVOD. 
  • Stan growth (subscriber numbers or breakeven point) disappoints market expectations. 
  • Structural decline in TV audiences continues to impact sentiment towards the stock. 
  • Deterioration in advertising markets.
  • Cost blowouts in obtaining new programming/content.
  • Increased competition from Netflix and Disney.

FY21 Results Highlights. Relative to the pcp: 

  • Revenue of $2,331.5, up +8%. 
  • Group EBITDA of $564.7m, was up +43%. 
  • NPAT of $277.5m, was up +76%, which translates to fully diluted EPS of 15.3%, up +83%.
  • The Board declared a final dividend per share of 5.5cps which brings full year total dividends to 10.5cps, up +50%, and equates to a payout ratio of ~69% (in line with management’s policy of paying ~60-80% through the cycle).

Current trading environment and outlook

NEC did not provide specific quantitative FY22 earnings guidance but did provide significant colour: 

  • “Nine started the new financial year strongly, well supported across our platforms by advertisers from all categories. In the current quarter, Nine’s metro FTA ad revenue is expected to be up almost 20% on the same quarter last year. Forward bookings remain ahead of same day last year, with positive market momentum continuing into Q2, notwithstanding more difficult comparables, including timing of the NRL. The FTA ad market has recovered more quickly and convincingly than previously expected. FY22 will see the return of some cyclical costs – Nine currently expects FTA costs in FY22 to be ~3% higher than FY21”. 
  • 9Now: “continues its strong growth trajectory, with around 70% revenue growth in July (on pcp). Nine expects positive momentum to continue through the rest of FY22, as 9Now establishes its place in the broader digital video market”.
  • Nine Radio: “Notwithstanding the short-term impact of the lockdown on the radio market, Nine Radio’s Q1 ad revenues are expected to grow in the double-digits (%), with further share improvement across both agency and local ad sales. Coupled with Nine Radio’s restructured cost base, this is expected to underpin strong profit leverage as the ad market recovers”. 
  • Stan: “Total costs for Stan Sport in FY22 are now expected to be at the lower end of the $70-90m range previously cited. Whilst this investment will reduce Stan’s overall EBITDA in the short term (in FY22 combined EBITDA for Stan Entertainment and Stan Sport is expected to be in the low double-digit millions of dollars), over the medium and longer term, it is expected to significantly grow earnings”. 
  • Publishing: “As previously announced, Nine expects growth of $30-40m in Publishing EBITDA in FY22 on FY21”.

Company Description  

Nine Entertainment Co (NEC), through its subsidiaries, broadcast news and current affairs, sporting events, comedy, entertainment and lifestyle programs. Nine Entertainment serves customers throughout Australia. NEC has repositioned itself from a linear free-to-air broadcaster, to a creator and distributor of cross-platform, premium content. While the channel Nine Network remains core, it is now complemented by subscription video on demand (SVOD) provider Stan, a live streaming and catch-up service 9Now, digital network nine.com.au and array of digital content.

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Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Technology Stocks

Afterpay on rapid growth with stagnant loss in fiscal year 2021

Investment Thesis:

  • With over 16 million customers and over 98,000 retail partnerships, Afterpay have the benefit of being the first mover .
  • APT and clients can profit from their data (potentially introduce data mining services).
  • Vertical expansion.
  • New revenue streams and new opportunities to drive revenue – Afterpay Money.
  • International expansion – both the U.S. and the UK are off to a solid start. The addressable market for online shopping in the United States is $630 billion dollars, whereas the market in the United Kingdom is $130 billion dollars. 
  • Additional opportunities are anticipated to arise as a result of the recently announced partnerships with Visa, Squarespace, and Stripe.
  • Strong management team.

Key Risks:

  • High valuation will lead to de-rating and thereby creating miss expectation in growth rates.
  • Expansion into new verticals disappoints management and market expectations.
  • Execution risk with international expansion.
  • Increased competition from major player(s).
  •  Increased regulation. 
  • Significant data breach.
  •  Deal with Square Inc fails to complete.

Key highlights of FY21:  Relative to the pcp:( The abbreviation for p.c.p is previous corresponding period . Herein, the year 2020 is considered as p.c.p)

  • Group total income was up by 78% to $924.7m, consisting of Afterpay up by 90% to $822.3m, Pay Now down by 16% to $13.8m and Other income up +29% to $88.6m.
  • The gross loss of Afterpay as % of underlying sales unchanged at 0.9%in the year 2021.
  • Group reported net margin of $443.3m which was up by 70%.
  • Afterpay reported net margin of $434.1m up by 74 % while its net transaction loss margin was 0.6 % (up from 0.4 percent), and net margin as a percentage of underlying sales was 2.1 percent (down from 2.3 percent), impacted by lower margin from newer international regions that are still in the early stages of their lifecycle.
  • Despite increased underlying sales and contribution from new territories, the Afterpay income margin of 3.9 percent remained steady over the pcp, with merchant income margins largely stable across all regions.
  • Due to increased marketing and talent expenditure, the group’s underlying operating profitability (EBITDA) fell by 13 % to $38.7 million. The loss after tax increased to $159.4 million from $22.9 million owing principally to an increase in the valuation of the ClearPay UK minority investment.
  • Management continues to invest heavily in the company in order to expand into new markets and raise brand awareness. Employment expenses increased by 75% year over year to $150.9 million, while operational expenses increased by 104 percent to $298.6 million.
  • APT has plenty of cash, with management claiming that it has the capacity to support an additional $40 billion in underlying sales on top of its existing annualised run rate of $24 billion.

 APT and Square Inc announced a Scheme Implementation Deed on August 2nd, under which Square Inc will purchase all of APT’s outstanding shares in a transaction valued at $39 billion at the time. . The deal is expected to finalise in the first quarter of FY22.

Company Profile

Afterpay Ltd (APT) is an Australian-based technology-driven payments company. The Afterpay and Touch products and businesses are part of APT. The company’s business model is “purchase now, take now, pay later.” Merchants sign up for Afterpay, which allows their retail customers to pay in four equal instalments, interest-free. APT pays merchants up front and assumes the credit and fraud risk upon themselves. Customers can pay with a debit or credit card (Visa/Mastercard) — as a result, APT views banks and credit card companies as collaborators rather than rivals. Merchants benefit because they may increase sales to customers who would otherwise be unable to afford large purchases in one go.

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Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Technology Stocks

Nitro software operating expenses rise as their top line expands

Investment Thesis

  • Total Addressable Market (TAM) for sizeable market opportunity is US$28bn (company estimates which is based on ground up model taking into account customer values). 
  • Created a solid foundation on which to build – the company has penetrated 68 percent of the Fortune 500 companies, and while the initial involvement with these companies may be small, it provides the opportunity to scale up with these customers (approx. 10 percent of the Fortunes 500 customers have 100 or more licenced users).
  • Structural tailwinds – businesses looking to digitise manual, paper-based processes are continuing to migrate online.
  • Looking to become a platform.
  • Subscription provides an appealing recurring revenue base.
  • The company’s competitive position continuously developing in R&D investment and enhance value proposition with customer.

Key Risks

  • Rising Competitive pressure especially when larger player like adobe inc and document sign.
  • Company trade on high valuation multiples like growth in subscriptions, new customers and Penetration of existing clients which disappoints the market growth.
  • Product Innovation stall and fails to resonate with customers.
  • Emergence of new competitors and technology.

Nitro software’s 1H CY21 result

  • Group revenue increased by +27 percent to $24.1 million, with subscription revenue increasing by +66 percent to $15.1 million as a result of new customer acquisition and growth among existing customers.  ARR (annual recurring revenue) of $33.8 million was up +56 percent Year on year.
  • Gross Profit was up 28 percent to US$22.1m, with Gross Profit margin of 92%.
  • R&D expenses of US$5.8m were up by 46% and represented 24% of revenue. Key Operating expenses saw significant increase as the company continuous to invest in the business to drive a top line growth.
  • Operating earnings (EBITDA excluding share-based and M&A expenses) were a loss of $3 million, compared to a gain of $0.2 million in the pcp.
  • At the end of the period, there was no debt and a cash balance of $38.6 million.

Company Profile 

Nitro Software Ltd (NTO), founded in 2005 & listed in 2019, is a global document productivity software company. NTO offers integrated PDF productivity, eSignature and business intelligence (BI) tools through a horizontal SaaS and desktop-based software suite. The Company helps customers move to 100% digital document workflows, eliminating paper and accelerating business processes.NTO serves customers around the world and counts 68% of the Fortune 500 companies among its customers. In total, NTO has over 12,000 business customers (who are defined as having at least 10 licensed users) and across 155 countries.

(Source: Banyantree)

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Whispir’s strong FY21 results seems positive for the stock

Investment Thesis

  • Sizeable market opportunity – in the U.S. alone WSP TAM is US$4.7bn (WSP North American target markets) vs total U.S. CPaaS TAM of US$98bn.
  • Established a solid foundation to build from – the Company has over 800 customers worldwide with leading brand names.  
  • Structural tailwinds – ongoing automation and digitization. 
  • Increasing direct sales penetration.
  • Attractive recurring revenue base via subscriptions. 
  • Investment in R&D to continue developing the Company’s competitive position and enhance value proposition with customers.   

Key Risks

We see the following key risks to our investment thesis:

  • Rising competitive pressures.
  • Growth disappoints the market, given the company trades on high valuation multiples – growth in subscriptions, new customers and penetration of existing clients. 
  • Product innovation stalls and fails to resonate with customers. 
  • Emergence of new competitors and technology.
  • Key channel partnerships breakdown.

FY21 key trading metrics 

  • FY21 ARR (annualized recurring revenue) was up +28.5% to $53.6m, driven by increased spending by installed customer base and addition of new customers. Recurring revenue is now at 96.7%.
  • Customer revenue retention was 115.9%, with management noting that whilst customers may initially engage for single communication solutions, once implemented with operational processes, management find that new applications / use cases across client’s organization. 
  • Over the year, WSP added 171 net new customers (up +27% YoY), bringing total customer numbers to 801. An attractive component of WSP’s solution is the Company’s “low code-no code” platform, which easily integrates with existing inhouse client IT systems and can be deployed within hours. This is one of our key competitive advantages.
  • New customer acquisition costs were down more than 50% due to higher sales efficiency and a growing proportion of digital direct sales (self-discovering the platform). 
  • LTV / CAC (ratio of lifetime value to customer acquisition costs) improved to 26.1x (from 23.7x). 
  • Gross revenue churn (3 month average) at Jun-21 was 2.4%.

Company Description  

Whispir Ltd (WSP), founded in 2001, is a global enterprise software-as-a-service (SasS) company. WSP provides a communications workflow platform that automates interactions between businesses and people. The Company has over 800 customers, operates in 60 countries and more than 200 staff globally. WSP operates in an emerging subset of the enterprise communications SaaS market known as Workflow Communications-as-a-Service (WCaaS). WSP currently solves two communication problems: (1) Operational Messaging – engaging with employees; and (2) External Messaging – engaging with customers. WSP operates in 3 key markets – Operational messaging (size $8bn), API messaging (size $32bn) and Marketing messages (size $66bn).

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Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Technology Stocks

WiseTech declared strong FY21 results and uplift in dividends

Investment Thesis:

  • WiseTech is ahead of its nearest competitors, which clearly makes it a market leader
  • Increased globalization results in growing global trade, thereby accelerating selling of products 
  • Annual customer turnover rate is low and revenue visibility is high
  • Enhancement of WTC products evident from the amount spent on R&D 
  • WTC’s long term goal is to be the operating system for world-wide logistics 
  • After acquiring 39 companies since it got listed on stock exchange in 2016, WTC has built up substantial resources and development capabilities to drive its CargoWise technology pipeline.
  • The scalability of WiseTech business model  
  • Due to higher consolidation of the logistics software industry, geopolitical tensions are considered as tailwinds by management 

Key Risks:

  • Another earnings downgrade is announced by the company
  • Organic growth could narrow down further, which might not result in such high valuation. Although, organic growth was improved during FY19.
  • Management has observed that the revenues from recent acquisitions have declined indeed and rendered very less margin. This means that the return obtained from these acquisitions could take longer than management’s expectations
  • Threats from competition like new product/technological advancements
  • Disruption caused due to technology (data breach)
  • Currency moving adversely

Key Highlights:

  • Share price of WiseTech Global Ltd (WTC) rose by 28.5% after its announcement of FY21 results which is higher than market estimates and the Company’s own expectation. 
  • Strong uplift in dividend payments has also been declared
  • Total Revenue for FY21 is $507.5m, which is up by +18% (or +24% ex FX)
  • EBITDA of $206.7m, is up by +63% in comparison to FY20
  • FY21 NPAT is $105.8m, which was up by +101% with reference to FY20
  • Investment of $167.1m by WTC in Research and Development (up from $159.1m in FY20), which is about 33% of total revenue, ensures that WTC stay ahead of its competitors
  • Management announced a strong FY22 outlook, expecting revenue growth of 18% – 25% and EBITDA growth of 26% – 38% 

Company Profile:

WiseTech Global (WTC) which was founded in October 1994, is a leading provider of software to the logistics services industry globally. WTC develops, sells and implements software solutions that enable logistics service providers to facilitate the movement and storage of goods, domestically and internationally. WTC’s software assists their customers to better address and adapt to the complexities of the logistics industry while increasing their productivity, reducing costs and mitigating risks. WTC services over 6,000 customers across more than 115 countries with offices in Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States. 

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Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.

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Another Strong Quarter for Zoom with Steeper Q4 Deceleration in Guidance

However, third-quarter guidance was mixed but largely in line and implied fourth-quarter guidance shows a steeper deceleration in top line growth than anticipated as a result of increasing churn and lower customer’s additions in the online channel that focuses on smaller customers. 

Zoom has been guiding to deceleration as the year progresses, even as it has been beating expectations and raising full year expectations over the last three quarters. There is a long runway for growth as the company gains traction with Zoom Phone and evolves its main application to a communication platform. Along these lines, management will focus on expanding its platform to feature a wider array of revenue generating products as hyper growth normalizes.

Current remaining performance obligations, or cRPO, grew 58% year over year in the quarter, compared with 54% revenue growth. While this is generally a positive indicator for revenue over the next year, management was careful to point out that billings cycles are growing increasingly concentrated in the April quarter and that therefore both cRPO and deferred revenue are to decrease sequentially in the third quarter.

Company’s Future outlook

Zoom Vedio Communication’s last traded price was 347.50 USD, whereas its fair value estimate is 252.00 USD, which makes it a highly overvalued stock.  Revenue grew 54% year over year to $1.021 billion, which topped the high end of guidance of $990 million. Direct and channel business was strong, with enterprise customers doing larger deals but taking more time to evaluate the solution and being more strategic in their approach. Up sells of Zoom Phone and a pickup in Zoom Rooms helped drive larger deals. New customers accounted for 74% of revenue, which is unusually high for a software company of Zoom’s size. Zoom Phone momentum continued during the quarter, with the company reaching 2 million seats. Net dollar expansion remains strong at 130%,

Company Profile

Zoom Video Communications provides a communications platform that connects people through video, voice, chat, and content sharing. The company’s cloud-native platform enables face-to-face video and connects users across various devices and locations in a single meeting. Zoom, which was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Jose, California, serves companies of all sizes from all industries around the world.

(Source: Morningstar)

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oOh!Media Ltd a buy given the Company’s leverage to ad spend pick up once restrictions ease.

Investment thesis

  • Strong market share (~47% in Australia / New Zealand) in a growing advertising medium Out Of Home (OOH).
  • The share price trades below our blended valuation (DCF / PE-multiple / EV/EBITDA multiple).
  • Dividend temporarily suspended, with the Board intending to revisit this decision when prevailing market conditions improve and with consent of the Company’s lenders.
  • Management did not provide quantitative FY22 earnings guidance but did provide “revenue for Q3 is currently pacing 38% higher than the corresponding period in 2020 and 74% of Q3 2019”. Further, management noted, “forward visibility remains uncertain given the ongoing effects of Covid-19 lockdowns and associated movement restrictions, however we expect that when the current lockdowns end there will be a strong recovery in audiences and associated revenues as has been the case previously”. 
  • The market that OML competes in is concentrated (majority share with three very well financed competitors), which poses a challenge for international players wanting to come in (need to have a network established to be an out-of-home player). 
  • Unproven CEO Cathy O’Connor became CEO of OML in January 2021, however she brings extensive experience in media and history of running profitable media companies. 
  • OML utilises audience analytics to stay ahead of the curve, with its association with Quantium (Quantium is 50% held by Woolworths and the other 50% is private equity, with its data set currently covering all the Woolworths loyalty data, NAB credit card data, real estate core logic etc to capture more than 75% of Australians spend). OML believes Quantium gives it an edge over its competitors, especially given it has exclusive rights and the contract was only recently renewed.

Key Risks

  • The following are the key challenges to the investment thesis:
  • Competitive threats leading to market share loss.
  • Disappointing growth (company and industry specific).
  • Pandemic is prolonged longer than expected.
  • Cyclicality in advertising markets 
  • Disappointing updates on contract renewals.

Highlights of key FY21 results

Relative to the pcp: (1) Revenue of $251.6m was up +23% driven by revenue recovery across key formats in Australia (Road, Retail and Street Furniture) and NZ. OML maintained the number one market position in both the Australian and New Zealand markets. (2) Gross margin of 42.5% was up 8.8 points reflecting recovery towards pre-Covid levels. (3) Underlying EBITDA of $33.3m was up +209% driven by margin expansion leveraging revenue uplift. (4) OML was able to negotiate with property partners for net rent abatements of $19m. (5) Underlying NPATA was $2.4m versus a loss of $16.9m in 1H20. Reported Net Loss after tax of $9.3m (post AASB16) was an improvement from a -$28.0m loss in 1H20. (6) OML’s balance sheet strengthened with gearing ratio (Net Debt / Underlying EBITDA) down to 1.1x (from 1.8x) and net debt declined to $94m, down -16% relative to the pcp. (7) The Board has temporarily suspended dividends (as per OML’s announcement during its March 2020 equity raising) with the Board intending to revisit this decision when prevailing market conditions improve and with consent of the Company’s lenders.

Company Description 

oOh!media Ltd (OML) is one of Australia’s largest operators of out of home advertising products (largest scale with footprint in all major regions in Australia & New Zealand) covering all the major advertising formats including – billboards, retail, street furniture, airports and office towers (~95% market share in office tower marketing). The Company has a workforce of 800 people, with ~150 people sales facing, ~250 people on operations (cleaning maintaining street furniture etc) and rest in shared services, technology, etc.

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