WEEKLY ROUNDUP This Korean E-Commerce Giant Hit New Highs – Here's Why I See Bigger Upside Ahead VIEW IN BROWSER Hello, Reader. If you’re an avid poetry reader – or simply survived a mandated literature class – you’ve likely come upon this famous stanza from Walt Whitman’s poem "Song of Myself"… Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) In short, the line refers to the idea that we humans are complex. We are all filled with such vast emotions and experiences that our individual worlds can sometimes be conflicting. The markets follow a similar state of being. On April 7, the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones Industrial Average all hit 52-week lows after a steady slide lower after President Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2. However, as of Friday, not only have the S&P 500 and Nasdaq regained all their Liberation Day losses, but they’re now trading at record highs. This surge is driven by optimism over easing trade tensions, a rally in AI-driven stocks, and expectations that Thursday’s U.S. jobs report will be enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut key interest rates at its next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in July. Today, I want to highlight a company that contains multitudes itself. This company suffered a near 52-week low after Trump’s infamous April tariff announcement. But on Friday, it hit a new year high. Now, this company may not be a household name here in the United States, but the company is well known in every Korean household. It is Korea’s go-to provider of Amazon-like services, and a company that I consider a top pick for 2025. I’m talking about Coupang Inc. (CPNG). In 2015, SoftBank invested $1 billion in this start-up company, which made Coupang Korea’s first “unicorn” – i.e., a private company worth more than $1 billion. Softbank injected another $2 billion into Coupang in late 2018. Thanks to early investments like these, Coupang has become the dominant e-commerce retailer in Korea. Its core business, Rocket Delivery, delivers 99% of its orders within 24 hours. This service also offers same-day delivery for many products. In addition to this core business, Coupang also runs a takeout delivery business called Coupang Eats and an online grocery delivery business called Rocket Fresh. The company also provides a range of ancillary services, like Coupang Play, which allows customers to live-stream movies and sporting events, and Coupang Pay, which provides seamless payment processing across all Coupang services. The company has been growing rapidly over the last several years, as it has expanded its dominance and improved its profitability. Expanding Its Market Share One aspect I like about Coupang is that it uses acquisitions and targeted investments in foreign markets to increase its market share. For example… Coupang purchased Farfetch in 2024, an e-commerce company focused on luxury clothing and beauty products. This acquisition expands Coupang footprint, both demographically and geographically. The London-based Farfetch sells its high-end products primarily to customers in the U.S. and Europe. In addition to this diversification, Coupang is making a big push into the Taiwan e-commerce market and is making plans to expand into other regional markets. Coupang is also investigating and testing ways to enhance its businesses with artificial intelligence technologies. Coupang’s e-commerce platform already utilizes AI and advanced robotics. Additionally, Coupang has over 1,000 patents for its technology-enabled supply chain. As Coupang expands its empire, and its earnings continue ramping higher, I expect its share price to post solid market-beating gains for many years. Given Coupang’s smart business strategies and upside potential, I decided to recommend Coupang in Fry’s Investment Report back in June 2024. While it hasn’t been a straight ride up, we’re now sitting on a 40% gain. You can learn how to access my full, detailed analysis of this company by joining me at Fry’s Investment Report today. As a member, you will receive access to all of my latest recommendations, including weekly company updates, alerts, and my detailed analysis on the megatrends that I am closely following. To learn more, click here. And speaking of containing multitudes, let’s take a look back at what we covered here at Smart Money this past week… |
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