
It is learned from Chinese media outlet 36kr, on the evening of November 7, Ma Ziming, founder of Snow Lake Capital, released a research report on Luckin Coffee on Futu, saying, “The rebirth of Luckin Coffee is a miracle in the history of Chinese business!”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ma Ziming revealed that Luckin currently accounts for about 15% of Snow Lake’s assets under management. But he didn’t tell how many Luckin shares he or the company holds.
Previously it was reported the sources familiar with the matter told WSJ the short report was prepared by Snow Lake Capital. That time, the firm boasted around $2.5 billion in assets under management, most of which was made shorting Luckin’s stock, the source said. It isn’t known why Ma and his firm did not take credit for the anonymous short report, the Journal said.
However, yesterday, Snow Lake released an 81-page report, saying that it is firmly optimistic about the future of Luckin, and that “it is only a matter of time before Luckin surpasses Starbucks in China.”
The report is long and the core information includes: Luckin’s valuation should be $15 billion. This is because Snow Lake expects Luckin to achieve a net profit of 2.8 billion yuan in 2024. The price-to-earnings ratio is 35, which is equivalent to Snow Lake’s valuation of Starbucks’ China business. In the future, Luckin’s target market value is expected to reach $14.7 billion, or $46.25 per share. In addition, Snow Lake estimates that the internal rate of return of investing in Luckin can reach 131% within one and a half years.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ma said the report involved consumer surveys of more than 100,000 Luckin customers. He also emphasized that when preparing the report, he had no contact with Luckin.