Long trade : GLOG +20% (12/17)

Smart Global Holdings (SGH) : 7-month performance

• Earnings 12/21/17 (a/h)

Shares of SMART Global Holdings (NASDAQ: SGH) rose 10% on Friday after the specialty memory company announced stronger-than-expected quarterly results.

More specifically, for its first quarter of fiscal 2018, SMART Global's revenue climbed 67% year over year, to $265.4 million, and translated to adjusted (non-GAAP) net income of $23.8 million, or $1.05 per diluted share. Analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.92 per share on revenue of $255 million.

For its fiscal second quarter, SMART Global expects revenue in the range of $280 million to $300 million, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.30 to $1.36. Both figures handily outpaced Wall Street's consensus estimates for the current quarter, which called for adjusted earnings of $0.98 per share on revenue of $259.5 million.

LexinFintech Holdings (LX) began trading on the Nasdaq on Thur 21 Dec 17

The company was formerly known as Staging Finance Holding Ltd. and changed its name to LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. in March 2017.

• Sector(s): Financial Services
• Industry: Credit Services
• Full Time Employees: 3,227
• Founded in 2013 
• Headquartered in Shenzhen, China.
• http://www.lexin.com

Priced its IPO of 12,000,000 American depositary shares (ADSs), at 9.00 U.S. dollars per ADS for a total offering size of approximately 108 million dollars, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option to purchase additional ADSs.

Each ADS represents two Class A ordinary shares.

In addition, Lexin's selling shareholders have granted the underwriters an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,800,000 additional ADSs to cover over-allotments.

Lexin started trading at 11.80 dollars per share on Thursday, jumping 31.1 percent from its pricing, and was traded at 11.00 dollars apiece around midday.

As an online provider of installment-based loans to young Chinese consumers, the company had 3.3 million active customers in the nine months ended September 30, 2017, representing a 103-percent increase and a 34-percent increase from 2015 and the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2016, respectively.

Stitch Fix (SFIX) reported earnings on Tue 19 Dec 2017 (a/h)

** chart before earnings **

** chart after earnings **

• one week later

Stitch Fix beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line with preannouncement; guides Q2 revs above consensus; guides FY18 in-line

• Reports Q1 (Oct) GAAP earnings of $0.04 per share, $0.01 better thanthe Capital IQ Consensus of $0.03; revenues rose 25.3% year/year to $295.6 mln vs the $294.97 mln Capital IQ Consensus -- in-line with preannouncement from IPO filing.
• grew active client count to 2.4 million as of October 28, 2017, an increase of 29.7% year over year.
• Continued to see growth in both Women's and Men's categories as well as encouraging results from our recent entry into Plus. Net revenue per active client for the 12 months ended October 28, 2017 was $433, a decrease of 1.4% compared to the 12 months ended October 29, 2016. This modest decline was largely driven by strategic expansion into Men's. Although the average male clients' lower purchase frequency dilutes overall net revenue per active client, we are pleased with the revenue contribution and profitable unit economics of the Men's business.
• Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees Q2 revs of $287-294 mln vs. $286.41 mln Capital IQ Consensus; EBITDA $11.5-15.5 mln vs. $16 mln est.
• Co issues in-line guidance for FY18, sees FY18 revs of $1.170-1.22 bln vs. $1.18 bln Capital IQ Consensus; EBITDA $40-60 mln vs. $57.5 mln ests.
• Looking ahead, we will continue to strive for a healthy balance of growth and profitability. We will seek efficiencies, savings, and leverage in SG&A to allow us to invest back into top-line growth through marketing spend, additional talent, and new businesses. 

LongFin (LFIN) started trading on the Nasdaq on 13 Dec 2017

• Longfin, based in New York, started trading on the Nasdaq last week at $5. 
• On Friday, the company announced it acquired another startup called Ziddu.com that uses the blockchain ledger accounting technology from digital currencies to make small loans.
• Longfin was only formed as a company in February, with plans to create new trading systems for financial and physical commodities, according to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• For the first six months of 2017, Longfin reported revenue of $28 million and net income of $2 million. The company said it acquired Stampede Tradex, a Singapore-based financial firm, on June 19.
• http://www.longfincorp.com/

LongFin (LFIN) describes itself as “a global fintech company providing finance and [foreign exchange] hedging solutions to importers, exporters, small and medium enterprises across the globe powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning.”

LongFin began trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday and closed at $5.15 on its first trading day. By the end of the week it closed at $39, having risen nearly eightfold.

On Monday, LongFin stock shot into the stratosphere, after it announced that it acquired Ziddu.com, a blockchain technology provider that offers microfinance lending.

Qudian (QD) began trading on the NYSE on Wed 18 Oct 2017

• Headquarters: Beijing, China
• Founded: April 2014
• Sector: Financial Services
• Industry: Credit Services
• Full Time Employees: 1,614
• http://www.qudian.com

Proteostasis Therapeutics (PTI) : positive study results across all three of the company's CF pipeline programs

Headquarters: Massachusetts
Founded: 2006
proteostasis.com

 

Proteostasis Therapeutics commences 7 mln common stock offering 

Proteostasis Therapeutics announced positive study results across all three of the company's CF pipeline programs;  

• Results of PTI-428 Meet Efficacy Endpoint in 28-day Study in CF Patients on Background Orkambi - Proteostasis announced that it has completed its Phase 2 study designed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of 50 mg once-a-day of PTI-428 over a 28-day treatment of CF patients on background Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor). The addition of PTI-428 to Orkambi demonstrated mean absolute improvements in ppFEV1 of 5.2 percentage points from baseline compared to placebo 
• The two registrational phase 3 studies of Orkambi, TRAFFIC and TRANSPORT, showed that magnitude of response to Orkambi varied according to patient lung function at screening, suggesting that the overall efficacy was mainly driven by the subgroup with baseline ppFEV1 below 70% (+3.3 percentage points) while the changes in the group with FEV1 =70% were not statistically significant.
• Preliminary Ad Hoc Analysis of PTI-801 in Ongoing 14-day Study in CF Patients on Background Orkambi - The Company has also shared initial data from the first five subjects (four PTI-801 treated and one placebo) of the first dose level tested in the 14-day dosing study of PTI-801 in CF patients on background Orkambi therapy.

Description

Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in discovery and development of therapeutics that treat diseases caused by an imbalance in the proteostasis network, a set of pathways that control protein biosynthesis, folding, trafficking and clearance. It has developed the Disease Relevant Translation (DRT) technology platform, a drug screening approach for identifying highly translatable therapeutics based on predictive and functionally pertinent phenotypic assays and disease relevant models. Using this platform, it has identified a new class of small molecules, amplifiers that modulate proteins in the proteostasis network. It is developing and intend to commercialize its lead amplifier of CFTR protein, PTI-428, to improve CFTR protein function. It also focuses on developing PTI-NC-733, PTI-130, Usp14 program and unfolded protein response (UPR) program. PTI-130 is a small molecule amplifier.

Key stats and ratios

	Q3 (Sep '17)	2016
Net profit margin	-899.68%	-444.08%
Operating margin	-908.06%	-446.74%
EBITD margin	-	-443.09%
Return on average assets	-91.17%	-67.80%
Return on average equity	-125.11%	-
Employees	71

=ForeScout Technologies (FSCT) started trading on the Nasdaq on 27 October 2017

Software company; 17-year-old cybersecurity company

• CEO: Michael DeCesare
• Headquarters: Cupertino, CA
• The company was founded in Israel in 2000 by chairman Hezy Yeshurun, together with Doron Shikmoni, CTO Oded Comay, chief architect Dror Comay, and Noga Alon. ForeScout moved its headquarters to California but maintains its development center in Tel Aviv.
• forescout.com
• 5.28 million shares at $22/sh raised $116 million; company valued of $816 million.
• ForeScout's shareholders include UK firm Amadeus Capital with a 19.6% stake, US fund Accel (15.2%), Meritech (13.4%), and Wellington Management (7.7%). 

Description

ForeScout Technologies, Inc. is a United States-based provider of automated security control solutions. The Company transforms security through visibility. It offers enterprises and government organizations the ability to see devices, including non-traditional devices, the instant they connect to the network. It allows the user to control these devices and orchestrate information sharing and operation among disparate security tools to accelerate incident response. Its products include CounterACT Platform, CounterACT Models, Extended Integration Modules, Open Integration Module and Other Products. Its solutions integrate with network, security, mobility and information technology (IT) management products to automate workflows. The Company's solutions include Network Access Control; Endpoint Compliance; Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) & Mobile Security for Enterprise; Vulnerability Management, Policy and Solutions, and Advanced Network Threat Prevention and Cyber Defense Solutions.

Key stats and ratios

	Q2 (Jun '17)	2016
Net profit margin	-49.94%	-44.82%
Operating margin	-48.80%	-42.82%
EBITD margin	-	-39.88%
Return on average assets	-63.89%	-44.21%
Return on average equity	-	-
Employees	800

Vince Holding (VNCE) reported earnings on Thur 7 Dec 17 (b/o)

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Vince Holding reports Q3 results with comps +4.4% including e-commerce 

• Q3 net income +3% to $3.5 mln. EPS was $0.41 for the third quarter of fiscal 2017, based on 8.6 million diluted weighted average shares outstanding. This compares to $0.68 per diluted share, based on 4.9 million diluted weighted average shares outstanding for the third quarter of fiscal 2016, on a reverse split adjusted basis.
• Net sales increased 4.1% to $79.1 million from $76.0 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Wholesale segment sales increased 3.5% to $53.0 million, primarily driven by an increase in off-price sales. This was partially offset by the expected reduced sell-in to the full-price wholesale channel. Direct-to-consumer segment sales increased 5.3% to $26.1 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2016. Comparable sales increased 4.4%, including e-commerce sales, due to an increase in average unit retail. Gross profit was $36.7 million, or 46.4% of net sales, compared to gross profit of $38.0 million, or 50.0% of net sales, in the third quarter of fiscal 2016.
• Net inventory at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2017 was $51.4 million compared to $34.4 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2016. The increase in net inventory was primarily driven by the timing and growth of off-price shipments.
• "As we look ahead, we will work to drive continued momentum in our direct-to-consumer business as well as to execute a more focused and profitable wholesale business. We plan to accomplish this by further refining our merchandise offering, investing in marketing programs with a focus on building brand awareness and deepening customer engagement, and growing our retail and eCommerce presence. Overall, we are excited about the inflection points in our business and we believe we are on the right track to deliver sustainable profitable growth over the long term." 

Funko (FNKO)

Funko is an American company that manufactures licensed pop culture toys. Funko is most known for producing licensed vinyl figures and bobbleheads.

• Founded:  1998 
• Headquarters: Everett, WA
• funko.com
• IPO 2 Nov 2017
• 12/05/17 Funko reports Q3 2017 earnings results

Description

Funko, Inc. is a pop culture consumer products company. The Company is engaged in selling a broad range of pop culture consumer products, featuring characters from a range of media and entertainment content, including movies, TV shows, video games, music and sports. Its products combine its proprietary brands and designs into properties it licenses from content providers. Its product categories include figures, plush, accessories and other. It also offers different types of bags and wallets. It offers its products under various brands, including Pop!, Mystery Minis, Dorbz, Pint Size Heroes, Rock Candy, Galactic or Hero Plushies, SuperCute, MyMoji and Loungefly. The Company has licensed properties into four categories: classic evergreen, movie release, current TV and current video game.

Key stats and ratios

	Q2 (Jun '17)	2016
Net profit margin	-4.33%	6.30%
Operating margin	3.88%	10.35%
EBITD margin	-	16.12%
Return on average assets	-3.28%	5.23%
Return on average equity	-11.99%	11.66%
Employees	465

Vera Bradley (VRA) reported earnings Wed 6 Dec 2017 (a/h)

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Vera Bradley beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs below consensus 

• Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 9.9% year/year to $114.1 mln vs the $114.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Current year third quarter Direct segment revenues totaled $83.2 million, a 3.4% decrease from $86.1 million in the prior year third quarter.
• Comparable sales (including e-commerce) decreased 7.4% for the quarter (reflecting a 6.9% decline in comparable store sales and an 8.6% decrease in e-commerce sales) vs. ests near -3.6%, which was partially offset by new store growth (the Company opened one full-line store and seven factory outlet stores during the past 12 months). Comparable sales continue to be negatively impacted by year-over-year declines in store and e-commerce traffic. Indirect segment revenues decreased 23.8% to $30.9 million
• Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.30-0.33, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $127-132 mln vs. $138.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. A gross profit percentage of 55.4% to 55.8% compared to 55.7% in the prior year fourth quarter.
• "Our ability to implement certain expense reductions in conjunction with the initial implementation of our Vision 20/20 plan more quickly than originally expected, along with diligent expense management, drove third quarter EPS (excluding the previously outlined charges) meaningfully ahead of our guidance."
• "As we discussed last quarter, we have launched Vision 20/20, an aggressive plan to turn around our business over the next three years. Vision 20/20 will restore brand and Company health by moving to a less clearance-driven business model combined with a meaningful reduction in our SG&A expenses. "In addition to resetting customers' pricing expectations and restoring our full-price business by significantly reducing the amount of clearance product available on verabradley.com and in our full-line stores, we are also focusing on streamlining our current product offerings by eliminating unproductive or incongruent categories and SKUs from our assortment. In addition, we are building more discipline into our overall assortment architecture by developing strong guardrails around introducing new categories, prices, and patterns." The majority of the product and pricing initiatives will be implemented beginning in fiscal 2019; management expects annualized revenues will be negatively impacted by these initiatives by $30 million to $50 million in fiscal 2019 from fiscal 2018 levels.

Dave & Busters (PLAY) reported earnings Tue 5 Dec 2017 (a/h)

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** charts after earnings **

 

Dave & Busters beats by $0.04, misses on revs; lowers full year revs guidance below consensus 

• Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.27 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 9.3% year/year to $250 mln vs the $255.7 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Comparable store sales decreased 1.3%. Co opened one new store compared to two new stores.
• Co states that hurricanes during the quarter had an unfavorable impact on our comparable store sales growth, total revenue and EBITDA of approximately 50 basis points, $2 million and $0.7 million respectively. In addition, wildfires had an unfavorable impact on our California stores. 
• Co lowers guidancefor FY18 (year ends Feb 2018) revs to $1.148-$1.155 bln (previously $1.160-1.170 bln) vs. $1.17 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Downside guide is primarily driven by the impact of hurricanes, including a delay in our Puerto Rico opening; and reduced comparable store sales guidance. Sees comparable store sales increase of 0.0% to 0.75% (on a comparable 52-week basis) (vs. 1% to 2% previously). Expects to open 14 new stores. Sees Net income of $110-$112 million (vs. $109 million to $113 million previously). 
• For the following year FY19 (refers to as fiscal 2018), co expects low-double-digit growth in revenue and high-single-digit to low-double-digit growth in EBITDA on a comparable 52-week basis. Co plans to give more comprehensive guidance for next year on fourth quarter 2017 conference call, which is expected in early April 2018. 

Dave & Busters introduces new smaller store format of 15,000 to 20,000 square feet  

• In fiscal 2018, co plans to open a total of fourteen to fifteen new stores, representing unit growth of 13% to 14%. These openings will skew towards the large store format and existing markets for our brand.
• Co also announced a new smaller store format of 15,000 to 20,000 square feet to capitalize on demand in smaller markets not included in original plan. Long term, co sees potential to open 20 to 40 of these stores, including two that are part of 2018 plan. This new format has the potential to expand whitespace opportunity by 10% to 20% beyond the original target of 211 locations in the United States and Canada alone. 

=BlackLine (BL) : 1-year performance

BlackLine is an American enterprise software company that develops cloud-based accounting software that helps businesses manage their quarterly financial reports. The company has 13 offices globally.

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, California
• Founded: 2001
• blackline.com

Description

BlackLine, Inc. is a holding company. The Company provides cloud-based software platform that is designed to automate and streamline accounting and finance operations. Its platform supports accounting processes, such as the financial close, account reconciliation, intercompany accounting and controls assurance. Its platform consists of seven core cloud-based products, including Account Reconciliation, Task Management, Transaction Matching, Journal Entry, Variance Analysis, Consolidation Integrity Manager and Daily Reconciliation. The Company's solutions include Reconciliation Management and Financial Close Management and Insights. It operates through two geographical regions, which include the United States and International. As of December 31, 2016, its software integrated with, and obtained data from, more than 30 various enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, including NetSuite, Oracle and Workday, as well as many other financial systems and applications.

Key stats and ratios

	Q3 (Sep '17)	2016
Net profit margin	-28.54%	-31.80%
Operating margin	-28.79%	-27.56%
EBITD margin	-	-12.12%
Return on average assets	-12.50%	-11.07%
Return on average equity	-17.72%	-17.12%
Employees	726

XOG — is it a buy?

• Dec 1: #37;  Is XOG a buy?

• 4 months later:

Sea Ltd. (SE) started trading on the NYSE on 20 October 2017

• Sector(s): Communication Services
• Industry: Electronic Gaming & Multimedia
• Full Time Employees: 29,800
• founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Singapore.
• http://www.seagroup.com

Chief Executive Officer Forrest Li expands beyond games into e-commerce and payments. The company’s underwriters also pushed hard to raise $884 million, increasing the number of shares sold and lifting the price from an initial range of $12 to $14.

Sea was founded by Li as an online gaming company in 2009 and originally named Garena. He rebranded the company to reflect its regional ambition and diversification. Sea branched out with a digital payments service called AirPay in 2014 and the mobile shopping business Shopee in 2015.

Sea’s games business, which retained the Garena name, still accounts for more than 90 percent of total revenue. Like Tencent, the company offers games for free, then collects money when players buy virtual items like armor, weapons or special skills. It makes money in e-commerce from commissions and advertising, while collecting fees from payments.

Sea has been viewed as something of a test case for startups from Southeast Asia, including ride-hailing provider Grab, e-commerce site Tokopedia and travel provider Traveloka. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG led the public offering.

Bazaarvoice (BV) to be acquired by Marlin Equity Partners for $521 million

• Founded: May 2005
• bazaarvoice.com

 

Austin software maker Bazaarvoice has agreed to be sold to Los Angeles-based private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners in a $500 million-plus deal that will take the company private.

 

Bazaarvoice, which makes software for online and social media marketing, will see Marlin Equity Partners acquire all outstanding common stock of Bazaarvoice for $5.50 in cash for a total value of $521 million, the company said Monday.

Bazaarvoice will be a privately held company after the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, the company said.

The deal is subject to a shareholder vote and regulatory approval.

Bazaarvoice plans to keep its corporate headquarters in Austin, the company said.

Description

Bazaarvoice, Inc. offers solutions and services that allow its retailer and brand clients to understand that consumer voice and the role it plays in influencing purchasing decisions, both online and offline. The Company's solutions collect, curate and display consumer-generated content, including ratings and reviews, questions and answers, customer stories, and social posts, photos and videos. This content is syndicated and distributed across its clients' marketing channels. Its solutions, which the Company provides primarily through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, enable the clients to capture and display consumer-generated content; syndicate that consumer-generated content into its network of brand and retail clients; understand consumer behavior, and monetize the value of that content through targeted advertising based on online and offline shopping behavior. The Company's geographical segments include Americas, EMEA and Other.

Key stats and ratios

	Q4 (Oct '17)	2017
Net profit margin	-0.10%	-7.92%
Operating margin	1.36%	-6.52%
EBITD margin	-	1.91%
Return on average assets	-0.07%	-4.90%
Return on average equity	-0.12%	-8.60%
Employees	763