Rating Quick Look | Meituan's pre-performance target price has been raised! Salesforce faces another "price cut"
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has raised Meituan's target price from HKD 132 to HKD 135, reiterating a "buy" rating. The bank estimates that Meituan's performance in the first quarter is generally in line with expectations as market competition stabilizes, with both quarterly and full-year core business profits expected to grow
Bank of America: Raises Meituan's target price from HKD 132 to HKD 135, reiterates "Buy" rating
The report indicates that Meituan is expected to announce its first-quarter performance for 2024 on the 6th of this month. It is estimated that with the market competition stabilizing, Meituan's first-quarter performance is generally in line with expectations, and both quarterly and full-year core business profits are expected to grow. The bank currently estimates that with stable performance during the Chinese New Year, Meituan's first-quarter delivery service order volume is expected to grow by 20% year-on-year.
Bank of America expects that the development of Meituan's food delivery business will help drive order volume growth, and it still predicts that the operating profit per order for Meituan for the whole year can be maintained at the level of 1.18 yuan. As for the in-store, hotel, and travel businesses, the bank believes that industry competition has rationalized, forecasting that the operating profit margin for this business will gradually improve from the second quarter of this year onwards; losses from new businesses are expected to be within control.
Bank of America forecasts a 20% year-on-year increase in Meituan's first-quarter revenue to 70.5 billion yuan, with core business operating profit expected to reach 8.6 billion yuan.
Citigroup: Gives a "Buy" rating to BYD COMPANY, with a target price of HKD 475
The bank points out that as car sales increase, BYD's average capital expenditure and research and development costs per vehicle are expected to decrease, and vertical integration has significantly reduced key component costs. The group believes that expansion plans will benefit costs, vertical integration, and technological research and development, with average annual research and development costs as a percentage of revenue now stable at 6%-7%, while sales and administrative expenses as a percentage are gradually decreasing. The group plans to launch a redesigned model with fifth-generation DMI hybrid technology in the next 1 to 2 years, stabilizing overall profitability this year.
The report also quotes BYD as saying that industry price wars are expected to continue moderately over the next 2 to 3 years, with the group prioritizing sales volume over profits, and rapid growth in overseas markets. It also believes that Toyota will not give up the Chinese market, is indifferent to Toyota and Volkswagen's strategies, but aims to increase the company's penetration rate in the Chinese electric vehicle market to 70%-80% in the coming years.
J.P. Morgan: Reiterates "Overweight" rating on Spotify, raises target price from USD 365 to USD 375
The report states that music streaming platform Spotify is raising prices for the second time in the United States, and according to the bank's analysis of planned portfolios and regions, raising prices for U.S. users will drive an incremental annual revenue of 480 million euros. If prices are raised for international users, there is further room for revenue growth. The bank believes that the price increase will lead to favorable unit economics for the company.
The bank expects the negative impact of customer churn and subscriber additions from the price increase to be minimal. Based on the company's customer churn situation meeting expectations and exceeding expectations in gross added users after last year's price increase, reflecting the company's pricing power. The company continues to strengthen the value of its planned content through depth and quality, with the company's deep data and strong content, personalization, etc., being the best and difficult to replicate in the industry, making "churn" unattractive to customers.
UBS: Lowers Salesforce's target price from USD 310 to USD 250, maintains "Neutral" rating
The report indicates that Salesforce's first-quarter remaining performance obligations (cPRO) did not meet expectations, with an expected slowdown in revenue growth in the next quarter. Weaker demand and orders compared to the previous quarter may seriously affect the sentiment of the software industry, confirming investors' concerns about the overall spending weakening so far this year. With a free cash flow multiple of 15 times in the 2025 fiscal year, the bank believes there is no substantial risk of further downgrades, but there are no clear fundamental catalysts for recovery The bank pointed out that, calculated at around $230, the Salesforce stock price is about 15 times the estimated free cash flow for the fiscal years 2025 and 2026, with a discount relative to peers, and seems quite cheap for a growth rate of 8% to 9%. However, investors may need better performance in the second half of the year to refocus on the stock.