Ebix Is Still Not A Buy Despite Its Amazing India Growth Story

Ebix. Inc. (NASDAQ:EBIX) is a software program resolution supplier for the insurance coverage trade which has just lately been within the information for its acquisition of the Indian journey portal, Yatra.com. The firm entered varied domains similar to broking, healthcare the place it shortly established itself. As of in the present day, it has develop into a conglomerate for on-demand-software and purposes for a number of verticals.

Yatra And The Other Acquisitions

Ebix has been everywhere in the information for its acquisition of Indian journey portal, Yatra.com (NASDAQ:YTRA) for $336 million in an try to spice up its journey portfolio. This acquisition was made at a large premium above the market capitalization of the corporate and it follows a string of different travel-related acquisitions in India similar to Via.com, the on-line journey portal, Mercury Travels, a luxurious vacationers service in India, and Paul Merchants, an Indian cash switch and remittance service.

The proven fact that the administration of Ebix is buying corporations at breakneck pace and is intent on extra, has unnerved the buyers. Ebix was a firm which specialised in offering enterprise options to brokerages, insurances, and monetary trade. However these days, it has been buying corporations in new domains similar to luxurious touring. This is the explanation why the corporate’s stock has misplaced greater than 30% of its worth within the previous 12 months.

The Sudden Shift To India Was A Jolt For Investors

Ebix’s India story started within the June quarter of 2018 when its most revenues started coming from the Indian market. The surprising acquisitions in an unrelated area elevated uncertainty and brought on the stock to fall. To counter the slide, administration introduced a 5:1 stock cut up on September 20, 2018. However, this motion has not been in a position to stop the stock from falling additional. It plummeted from $80 in October 2018 to round $40 in January 2019 and has recovered about $10 previously two months.

Coming again to the India story, if we go to the three trailing revenues of 2018 and 2017 respectively, we discover that gross earnings from India subsidiary had elevated heftily to $51.35 million in June 2018 as in contrast to a mere $14.38 million within the corresponding interval of the earlier 12 months. In a related vein, in these trailing six months, the income from Indian subsidiary has zoomed to $83.35 million, up from $20 million in trailing six months ending June 2017. The drawback with this improve is that India is a comparatively new market for the corporate and in addition a nation which doesn’t rank very excessive on the benefit of doing enterprise. The lack of expertise and the sudden soar in scale is certain to trigger issues amongst buyers.

Revenue from USA operations in June quarter had additionally elevated in 2018 in comparison with similar in 2017. However, the tempo of income improve from USA operations was nowhere near the speed of improve in revenues that its subsidiary from India had achieved. In addition, in nations like Australia, the place it has a substantial presence, revenues had decreased. For Australian operations, income was really much less by $1.2 million in June 2018 quarter, in comparison with 2017.

A related development emerged in Canada, Singapore and Europe i.e. locations the place it has a sizeable presence.

Why India Could Prove To Be A Disaster For Ebix?

CEO Robin Raina is anticipating nice returns from the corporate’s investments in India however issues may not flip the way in which he envisaged. In reality, the investor issues about the truth that he might have invested an excessive amount of too quick within the Indian market could possibly be justified.

There are a lot worldwide conglomerates burning money to remain afloat in India. Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Indian arm has been struggling to attain profitability and continues to resort to heavy discounting within the Indian market. Walmart (NYSE:WMT), which acquired the second largest Indian e-tailer, Flipkart, is additionally burning large quantities of money in India in every quarter.

These corporations are American giants and have the capability to simply accept a big money burn in an effort to seize a great market share in the long run. But Ebix is in no such place. With a Debt-to-Equity ratio of 1.54 and a Debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 4.43, the corporate is already extremely levered and it doesn’t have a whole lot of money to burn for survival within the Indian market. To prime all of it, Ebix is already competing with the Indian digital cost platform PayTM by way of its ItzCard service and PayTM can also be one of many largest money guzzlers within the digital funds trade. Also, the corporate faces stiff competitors from MakeMyTrip (NASDAQ:MMYT), GoIbibo, and native journey companies.

Key Takeaways

As of in the present day, Ebix has very sturdy fundamentals with a internet margin of greater than 18% and an ROE of 18.91%. It is buying and selling at a Price to Earnings ratio of 17.47 which can appear engaging however the latest investments by the corporate are certain to push these margins down. The administration should be very cautious with managing its money flows and would require a sturdy workforce devoted to its Indian operations if it has to reach the lengthy time period. As of in the present day, it’s best for long run buyers to keep away from the stock.

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