Shares Of Jumei International Higher Following New Buy Rating

Shares of

were trading higher by more than 5 percent heading in to the final hour of Thursday's trading following an intraday initiation by Tian X. Hou of T.H. Capital. Hou initiated shares of Jumei International with a Buy rating and $30 price target. The initiation came hours before the company is set to report its first quarter results after Thursday's market close. According to Hou, the company is likely to report a better-than-expected first quarter result due to higher than expected gross merchandise volume (GMV_ growth driven by Jumei Global. Jumei Global directly purchases goods from cosmetic brands and takes orders from consumers in China, and then the order will be shipped from overseas to consumer. Based on Hou's proprietary data, total revenue is likely to "enjoy much higher growth" at 55 percent to 60 percent year-over-year, an improvement over the company's guidance of 45 percent to 50 percent year-over-year growth. The analyst noted that the first quarter marked the first time Jumei Global took full effect. Hou said his data also indicated the GMV of cosmetic curated sales, which accounts for 60 percent of its 1P (company's own inventory) business, increased 106 percent from the previous quarter. Looking forward, the analyst pointed out the company is expanding from cosmetics into baby milk powder and baby products,

branded kid shoes and Jeep branded baby clothes. As such, the company is able to capture a "big" untapped consumer market in China with demands of branded foreign goods at cheaper prices.