Latest news with #Guevara
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Chicago man exonerated after 23 years of wrongful imprisonment
CHICAGO (WGN) — The list of homicide exonerations tied to disgraced former Chicago Police Department detective Reynaldo Guevara grew Monday, with Antonio McDowell becoming the 51st individual exonerated in a Guevara case. McDowell's homicide conviction was officially tossed after a court hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse Monday morning. In total, he spent 23 years wrongfully imprisoned from 1997 to 2020, and has been living with the weight of a wrongful conviction for nearly 28 years. I'm free for the first time in nearly 30 years,' McDowell said at a press conference following the court hearing. 'I'm free.' McDowell was released in 2020 when Governor JB Pritzker granted his clemency petition and commuted his sentence to time served, based on an emergency commutation request tied to McDowell's COVID-related health risks. Since August 2022, the State's Attorney's Office under Kim Foxx's administration no longer disputed Guevara's misconduct, particularly a well-documented pattern of threatening and abusing eyewitnesses into making identifications, manipulating alibi statements, and fabricating evidence. Earlier this May, after a day-long evidentiary hearing, Cook County Circuit Judge Maria Judge Kuriakos-Ciesil issued a decision vacating McDowell's conviction, emphasizing his account of going from victim to suspect, and Guevara's pattern of misconduct. This is the second post-conviction hearing in a case tied to Reynaldo Guevara since State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke took office, both resulting in the Court deciding to vacate the convictions. What's unusual about McDowell's case is that he originally came to a CPD police station as the victim of a shooting. 'Guevara said you're going to identify this person as the person who shot you,' said Anand Swaminathan, one of McDowell's attorneys. 'Antonio said no, I did not see who shot me. Guevarra tried to force and pressure him into who Guevara wanted him to pick.' Swaminathan said when McDowell refused to cooperate, he was punished and hounded, instead of helped. 'He came there as a victim of a crime,' Swaminathan said. 'He left with murder charges for a crime he didn't commit.' Guevara's misconduct is well documented. He's accused of framing dozens of young men in the 1980s and 1990s, predominantly on the city's West Side. WGN TV News has found local taxpayers have spent well over $120 million investigating, settling and defending claims of misconduct made against Guevara, with dozens more lawsuits still pending in court. 'Guevara did not incarcerate me, he incarcerated justice itself,' McDowell said. Expenditures tied to former CPD detective now more than $126M Even with a lengthy record of misconduct by Guevara, and Cook County and state lawmakers returning McDowell's freedom, a wrongful conviction is not a universally held belief by those involved in McDowell's case. In a 2020 article from the Chicago Tribune, Ruth Morales-Santana—the victim in a carjacking CPD connected to the fatal shooting McDowell was originally convicted of in 1997—told the Tribune she vividly remembers the crime and is certain it was McDowell who robbed her. She was a single mother of four kids running an errand ahead of her son's birthday when an assailant pointed a gun at her stomach and repeatedly threatened to kill her. 'It was him,' Morales-Santana told the Tribune at the time. 'And he knows it.' After being found guilty in 1999, McDowell offered condolences to the victim of the shooting and maintained his innocence during his sentencing. 'I was framed,' McDowell said at the time. 'Police know they framed me because when they arrested me I was a victim. … They placed me in the lineup. I am talking about I ain't have no knowledge of [Mario] Castro, his family. I didn't murder him. Putting me under the jail [is] not going to make the family happy because the killer is still at large. You all, I mean, I can't, I don't even know what to say. I know I didn't kill that man. That is not my M.O. That is all I have to say.' McDowell was sentenced to 103 years in prison. Before Pritzker granted his clemency petition in 2020 and he was formally exonerated on Monday, his first opportunity for release would have been in July 2048. Guevara has never been charged with a crime and currently lives in Texas. He's repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to comment on any of the 51 exonerations tied to his career as a CPD detective. He retired from CPD 20 years ago and since then, has collected more than $1 million in pension benefits from the City of Chicago. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
18 individuals charged in 'Operation Take Back America' initiative
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney's Office has charged 18 individuals in separate criminal cases as part of the nationwide initiative, Operation Take Back America. Operation Take Back America was established to repel illegal immigration, eliminate the presence of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect communities from perpetrators of violent crime. The operations streamline efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forecast and Project Safe Neighborhood. The 18 people were charged last week, and the alleged offenses include: Walter Adonai Rivera Chinchilla, 24, of Charlotte and Fausto Odalis Reyes Guevara, 27, of Honduras, were charged via a superseding indictment of conspiracy to provide false statements while buying a firearm. Guevara was also charged with possession of a firearm by a person in the United States illegally. According to the indictment, on October 12, 2024, Guevara messaged Chinchilla seeking a '17' and a white Beretta for purchase. Two days later, Chinchilla allegedly purchased a Beretta 92FS pistol from Guns Too, a licensed firearms dealer in Caldwell County. When he purchased the firearm, Chinchilla allegedly lied on forms, claiming he was the actual buyer of the firearm when he was buying it for Guevara. The indictment further alleges that on the same day, Chinchilla purchased a second firearm, a Glock 45 pistol, from Foothills Jewelry & Loan, a licensed dealer in Catawba County. The indictment claims Chinchilla lied again, saying the firearm was for him when it was intended for Guevara. Chinchilla also faces additional charges including trafficking in firearms, making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm and dealing in firearms without a license. Jose Francisco Meraz-Villatoro, 31, of Mexico, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by someone in the country illegally and unlawful reentry. It is alleged that Meraz-Villatoro possessed two firearms: a Glock 43 9mm handgun and a Girsan Regard MC 9mm handgun. Meraz-Villatoro was previously deported from the U.S. three times: in September 2013, July 2019 and in November 2022. Carlos Sarmiento-Ochoa, 20, of Honduras, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and illegally reentering the country. He allegedly possessed a Glock 23, 40 caliber handgun and had previously been deported from the U.S. in May 2018 and October 2019. Gial Obed Rodas-Hernandez, 20, of Honduras, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and illegal reentry. The indictment claims he unlawfully possessed a Taurus PT709 9mm handgun. He was previously deported in February 2021. Jose Alberto Velazquez-Trejo, 41, of Mexico, was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and illegal reentry. Velazquez-Trejo allegedly possessed a Sig Sauer P226 handgun. He was previously deported in May 2008. Norman Enrique Lopez-Santamaria, 42, of Honduras, was charged with illegally reentering the U.S. after previously being deported and failing to notify of a change of address. Lopez-Santamaria was deported four times: in October 2002, in July 2009, in August 2010, and in May 2014. Rogelio Hernandez-Flores, 50, of Mexico, was charged with illegally reentering the country and failing to notify of a change of address. He was previously deported from the U.S. in August 1997, July 2003 and November 2007. Luis Zamora-Cruz, 47, of Mexico, was charged with illegally reentering the U.S. and failure to notify of a change of address. Zamora-Cruz was previously deported in July 2010 and May 2017. Christian Emanuel Valladares-Sierra, 25, of Honduras, was charged with illegally reentering the U.S. and failure to notify of a change of address. Valladares-Sierra was previously deported in September 2018. Josue Oveniel Martinez-Avalo, 31, of Honduras, was charged with illegally reentering the U.S. and failure to notify of a change of address. Martinez-Avalo was deported in June 2014. Luis Alfredo Navarrete Pastrana, 32, of Mexico, was charged with illegally reentering the U.S. He was previously deported in October 2021. Bryan Flowers, 53, of Hickory, was charged with bank robbery. According to the indictment, on April 17, Flowers allegedly robbed a Peoples Bank in Lincolnton by 'force, violence and intimidation.' Dwayne Furlow Chaney, 40, of Charlotte, was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. Chaney allegedly illegally possessed a Smith & Wesson M&P, a .40 caliber pistol and did so knowing he was prohibited from having a firearm due to his prior criminal conviction. Marshall Demetrius Rice, 45, of Charlotte, was charged with possession of a firearm by a indictment alleges that Rice illegally possessed a Smith & Wesson, model SD9VE, 9mmpistol, after being convicted of a prior criminal offense. Damiyus Diamonte Fowler, 28, of Charlotte, was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. He allegedly had a Glock 19, Gen 5 9mm caliber pistol in his possession. Aaron Deondre Conway, 41, of Charlotte, was charged with possession of a firearm by a indictment alleges that Conway illegally possessed a Walther, Model PPK/S .380 caliberpistol, and did so knowing he was prohibited from possessing a firearm following his priorcriminal conviction. Jamil Omire Ali, 31, of Charlotte, was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. Aliallegedly possessed a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield, .40 caliber pistol. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
13-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Auburn climbs in USA TODAY Coaches Poll after sweep of South Carolina
Auburn climbs in USA TODAY Coaches Poll after sweep of South Carolina Auburn continues to climb the ladder in the rankings after a dominant showing against South Carolina. The Auburn Tigers continue their climb up the USA TODAY Baseball Coaches Poll by moving up two spots from No. 8 to No. 6 in the latest rankings. The Tigers improved to 36-15 on the season after a weekend sweep of the South Carolina Gamecocks. Auburn outscored South Carolina 46-15 with two convincing victories in game one and three. They are now 16-11 in SEC play and are tied for fourth in the conference with Vanderbilt and Georgia. The new rankings featured nine teams from the SEC. LSU became the new No. 1, and Texas dropped to No. 3. Arkansas also dropped to fifth in the rankings. Other SEC teams included Georgia (No. 8), Vanderbilt (No. 9), Tennessee (No. 14), Alabama (No. 16), Florida (No. 21), and Ole Miss (No. 25). Auburn opened their series versus South Carolina with a 24-2 win in seven innings. While the offense picked up the attention, Cam Tilly had a good game, allowing just one run in five innings. He also had six strikeouts and allowed one hit for his third win of the season. The Auburn bats got going in the second inning with five runs after trailing 1-0. They would go on to score seven in the third, three in the fourth, and nine in the fifth. Five different Tigers had home runs in the game, and Chris Rembert led the way with three hits and six RBIs. The two teams would play a doubleheader on Saturday, with the Tigers winning 11-10 and 11-3. With the game tied at 10-10, Bub Terrell scored the game-winning run from a bunt by Eric Guevara. Game two was a big day for Guevara. He had four hits in the game with three RBIs and hit a home run in the first to put Auburn up 2-0. Guevara continued the excellent play in game three with four more hits and two runs scored in the Tigers' 11-3 win. Auburn trailed 3-2, entering the fifth inning, before scoring four runs to break the game open. Cooper McMurray hit a three-run home run to give the Tigers a 6-3 lead. Auburn entered the eighth inning leading 8-3 and scored three runs to remove all doubt. Griffin Graves picked up his fourth win of the season. He pitched a little over three innings and struck out four batters. Auburn will now look to continue its momentum in the final week of the regular season before the SEC Tournament. The Tigers will host Jacksonville State on Tuesday night with a game start time of 6 p.m. CT. Then, on Thursday, they will begin a three-game series on the road against Ole Miss. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Phillip on Twitter @PJordanSEC
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
South Carolina drops both game of doubleheader at #8 Auburn
AUBURN (USC SID) – The University of South Carolina baseball team fell in both ends of a doubleheader to No. 8 Auburn Friday (May 9) at Plainsman Park. The Gamecocks lost game one, 11-10, on a walk-off squeeze bunt and lost 11-3 in the second game. In game one, Auburn jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Eric Guevara's fifth home run of the season. Beau Hollins answered with a solo home run in the top of the second. Ike Irish brought in Auburn's third run of the day with an RBI single up the middle, but the Gamecocks responded in the third on Henry Kaczmar's single that scored KJ Scobey. Auburn scored four runs in the fourth, capped by a three-run Chris Rembert home run. Jordan Carrion's groundout scored Jase Woita, who doubled to lead off the frame, making it 7-3 in the fourth. Evan Stone's RBI double plated Hollins to make it a three-run game. Scobey followed with a single to right to score Stone. Scobey's three-run home run in the sixth gave Carolina an 8-7 lead. Auburn scored three runs in the sixth, but Kaczmar cut the lead to 10-9 with a solo home run in the eighth. The Gamecocks tied the game in the ninth as Stone's sacrifice fly scored pinch runner Cayden Gaskin. Guevara's squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth gave the Tigers the walk-off win. Hollins was 4-for-5 in the game, while Scobey was 3-for-4 with four RBI. Jase Woita and Kaczmar also had three hits apiece. The loss went to Ashton Crowther, who allowed an unearned run in three innings of work. In game two, Woita's double scored Blake Jackson in the top of the first to give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead. Stone then had a two-run home run to right center, his fourth of the year, to give Carolina a 3-0 lead. Auburn answered with a two-spot in the bottom of the second, then scored four runs in the fifth, highlighted by a Cooper McMurray three-run home run. The Tigers added a run in the sixth and one in the seventh on a Lucas Steele home run. Auburn ended the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Carrion had two hits to lead Carolina's offense in game two, while Stone had two RBI. Dylan Eskew took the loss, allowing six runs in four-plus innings of work. POSTGAME NOTES Carolina had 24 hits on the day. The Gamecocks had five home runs in the Auburn series. Woita was 5-for-12 with three extra-base hits in the Auburn series. UP NEXTCarolina opens the first of four home games in the final week of the regular season on Tuesday night (May 13) against Winthrop. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Mint
21-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Quick commerce, long payback: Can Zomato and Swiggy deliver returns to shareholders?
New Delhi: Summer of 1997. The dotcom boom was in full swing on Wall Street. Venture capital firms, investment banks and retail investors were in a mad scramble to get their hands on anything with a '.com' attached to its name. Every company seemed to be a trailblazing hero which was about to dislodge the outdated, crusty incumbents and rewrite history. Every founder was a Napoleon, Guevara and Rockefeller rolled into one. On 15 May that year, a small, Seattle-based startup made its market debut. Founded by a nerdy Wall Street executive with a disarmingly hearty laughter, the three-year-old company had never made a dollar in profit. Its topline growth was impressive, but equally impressive was its growing list of competitors, including giants of corporate America which were mounting a fervent challenge to protect their kingdom. Whatever might be the startup's financial and operational predicament, its vision was audaciously ambitious—to become the 'Earth's Biggest Bookstore". The online bookseller was named The founder was a gentleman called Jeffrey Preston Bezos. had a stellar start to its market innings, soaring 30% over its IPO price on the very first day, followed by a continuous uptrend in tandem with the broader market. But it soon ran into the corporate equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. The dotcom mania imploded in spectacular fashion in 2000, striking the fear of God into both Wall Street and Main Street. The Nasdaq index plunged about 80% during the bubble burst period. Many hyped internet sensations vanished in a puff of smoke, including Amazon-backed which shut shop barely nine months after completing its IPO. Amazon's stock itself shed a spine-chilling 90% of its value, between 2000 and the end of 2001. Analysts began raising doubts over Amazon's ability to survive. Its lack of profitability was like a huge bull's eye painted on the back of the company. Bezos, however, remained undeterred. Over the next few years, Amazon got into almost every e-commerce category, from music, video games and electronics to toys, home decor and even enterprise software services. The e-tailer grew its revenue handsomely, but thanks to its cash-guzzling expansion, profits remained minuscule. It never paid dividends to shareholders. And what was the impact on the stock? Amazon's shares, which hit a high in December 1999, took almost a decade to reclaim that level. A fast-growing company. In a fast-growing sector. Led by a charismatic founder-leader. Staffed by the best minds in the business. And yet, the path for shareholders was anything but smooth. Amazon, of course, later turned out to be among the defining success stories of the stock market, but it is so easy to forget what that road looked like and how long the journey took. It is said the markets are always in giving mode—either in the form of returns or lessons. For millions of investors in India's fast-scaling quick commerce sector, has the lesson-learning phase suddenly gotten underway? Perhaps the most lasting impact of the covid-19 pandemic was the rapid digitization of India, especially with respect to consumer behaviour. With over 270 million online shoppers, the Indian e-retail market has now surpassed the US to become the second largest globally, according to a recent report by management consultancy Bain & Co. The domestic e-retail market has reached a size of approximately $60 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV). A key metric in e-commerce, GMV tracks the total value of all the goods sold on a platform, not including discounts and other expenses. One of the primary drivers of the e-retail sector is quick commerce, where orders are delivered in less than 30 minutes. 'The dramatic rise of quick commerce has been one of the most defining hallmarks of India's e-retail market over the last two years. In 2024, more than two-thirds of all e-grocery orders and one-tenth of e-retail spend happened on q-commerce platforms," the report stated. Bain expects the quick commerce market to grow by over 40% annually until 2030, fuelled by expansion across categories, geographies, and customer segments. All good news, right? But why is the cheer not spreading to Dalal Street? With an over 20% fall this year so far, Zomato (now rebranded as Eternal) is among the top laggards of the benchmark Nifty 50. Its peer, Swiggy, which listed in November last year, has fared even worse, shedding almost 40% this year to date, and down 15% from its IPO price. The furious pace of expansion in the quick commerce space, as well as the rapid inroads being made by some deep-pocketed newcomers, is starting to make analysts nervous about the capital-intensive nature of this competition. And the time it will take before we can crown 'the last men standing' in the sector. Zomato operates in the quick commerce segment through Blinkit, which it acquired in 2022, while Swiggy runs Instamart. Swiggy is the third-largest player in the quick commerce market with Blinkit and Zepto occupying the top-two positions, Jefferies stated in a note dated 11 March. 'Quick commerce has been the talk of the town for the last few years. This sector has gone from being a fan favourite to scrutiny by veteran investors on the back of rising competitive intensity, high burn rates, never-ending funding rounds, elusive profitability and thin margins. And all of these factors are now putting pressure on valuations," Pranay Aggarwal, director and CEO of Stoxkart, an online investment platform, told Mint . Interestingly, quick commerce was supposed to be the 'alpha' for Zomato and Swiggy , with brokerages assigning higher multiples for this vertical compared to their traditional business of food deliveries. 'The quick-commerce story narrative has quickly moved from 'higher growth, improving unit economics" to 'rising losses, high competition market". This is at a time when the risk appetite is reducing and global internet multiples have de-rated," analysts at global brokerage BofA Securities said in a note. While the market opportunity in the quick commerce segment is certainly formidable, expansion is a massively cash-guzzling exercise, requiring heavy investments in dark stores (retail facilities used to fulfill online orders), IT infrastructure and operational expenses like worker salaries. Zomato, which has over 1,000 dark stores, plans to double the number by December 2025. Swiggy Instamart had earlier said it will increase its dark store count from 600 to 1,046 by March 2025. Zepto too is targeting the 1,000-mark, from around 800 currently. The rising competitive intensity is compounding the problem for the listed incumbents, with players like Flipkart, Myntra, BigBasket, Amazon, and of course Zepto snapping at their heels. All these players are backed by strong balance sheets—in case the competition descends into an all-out price war, as many analysts fear, the damage for both the winners and losers will be substantial. 'As new platforms launch their services and as incumbent platforms enter in each other's turf, they are likely to offer higher discounts initially. Incumbents are unlikely to let go of their high-end users and are likely to respond," BofA Securities noted. High competition is likely to lead to higher marketing spending, an increase in platform-led discounts, consumer delivery charges going down, higher rental expenses for dark stores and higher wages, it added. It is also not as if expansion is a sure-shot gamble. Many new-age companies have already burnt their fingers with forays into tier-II and III towns. In fact, early in 2023, Zomato said it had ceased food deliveries in 225 smaller cities as the performance of these markets was 'not very encouraging". Quick commerce players are now expecting the next wave of growth from tier-II and III towns, but price sensitivity and consumer behaviour in these markets can be markedly different from that in metros. Traditional kirana shops are more cohesively woven into the social fabric of smaller towns and villages. These family-run outlets often know their customers on a first-name basis, offer free home deliveries and even extend credit to their clientele. Can an app compete with this level of hyper-personalized service? That apart, fewer working professionals per household compared to metros and high demand for sachet products (which is detrimental to quick commerce firms' margins and average order values) will make these markets an extremely tricky pitch for companies. Troubles have a peculiar mathematical propensity of arriving in a bunch. As if the wall of worries around quick commerce was not enough, Zomato and Swiggy are also witnessing lacklustre growth in their food delivery business. For Q3FY25, Swiggy saw 19% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in the gross order value (GOV) of food delivery, while that of Zomato slumped to 17% compared to 26% in Q1. In its post-earnings statement, Zomato said its 20%+ y-o-y GOV growth guidance for the food delivery business is more long-term. 'There will be periods of higher and lower growth along the way. Currently, we are going through a broad-based slowdown in demand which started during the second half of November," it said. The company, however, exuded confidence about a recovery soon, saying it remains confident of the long-term outlook of more than 20% yearly GOV growth in the business given the strong fundamentals. Others are not so sure about the segment as a whole. 'We expect the food delivery GOV growth in the next few quarters to slow to 16-18% y-o-y vs. market expectations of around 20% growth. While this is not a material slowdown, we note that slower-than-expected growth would lead to consensus downgrades for both Zomato and Swiggy," BofA Securities said. The urban consumption slowdown is visible across the entire e-commerce sector. As per Bain estimates, e-retail growth has slowed to 10-12% in 2024, compared to the historical trend of 20%, weighed by the twin effects of inflation and stagnating wage growth. That said, the recent tax cuts delivered by the union budget may come to the rescue of e-commerce firms. 'Our analysis of long-term historical data suggests that there was a noticeable increase in consumption in FY06, FY11, FY13 and FY14—the last four occasions when there were meaningful tax cuts. Therefore, we believe that the income tax cuts announced in the union budget for FY26, are likely to trigger strong consumption growth among middle class consumers, who are a key demographic for the hyperlocal e-commerce players," ICICI Securities stated in a report. 'Given the discretionary and celebratory nature of food delivery, we think the sector could be the key beneficiary as consumers start seeing higher disposable incomes from May 2025," it added. Zomato and Swiggy declined to comment on this story. More hyped a sector, the more difficult it is for public investors to make money— that's a rule of thumb many veteran market experts swear by. The only way to profit from a hype train is to board it early. The latecomers might find the narrative changing faster than their reflexes. BofA Securities recently downgraded Zomato to 'neutral' and Swiggy to 'underperform', led by its expectations of rising losses in the quick commerce business for the next 12-15 months and slowing growth/slower pace of margin improvement in food delivery. While this seems to be the consensus view, there are some dissenting voices as well. For instance, ICICI Securities thinks the markets are overreacting to concerns around quick commerce cash burn as well as arrival of new entrants like Zepto, which was founded in July 2021 and is reportedly eyeing an IPO later this year. 'Our on-the-ground checks (across 4 locations in each of the top 8 metros) reveal that while some discounting still persists in the space, item level discounting is past the peak levels seen from Nov'24-Jan'25. At this time, players are more focussed on incentivizing higher order values through some cart level discounts," it said. Additionally, there has been a noticeable pull back in performance marketing spending from the quick commerce platforms, which should yield some improvement in contribution to Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) conversion. 'Therefore, despite lack of visibility on contribution margin improvement in the near term, we think the valuation for quick commerce businesses is compelling for investors with an investment horizon of >1 year," it added. It is interesting to note that even among the sector's backers, expectations for quick gains are muted. Analysts say the conversation veering towards fundamentals rather than just 'vibes' is a welcome shift. 'The quick commerce sector has reasonable growth tailwinds from potential higher order value and increasing share of internet savvy user base in the medium term. But market share focus of key players could keep the competitive intensity elevated in the near term," George Thomas, fund manager—equity, Quantum AMC, told Mint. 'While the sector has a long growth runway and scope for optimizing operating metrics, current valuations are difficult to justify as most of the cash flow generation is back-ended," he added. Given the nascent stage of the industry, players have scope to improve the operating metrics by rationalizing assortment and optimizing their supply chain. 'Quick commerce is not going away, but the hype cycle is maturing into a grind cycle. For investors, that means shifting from growth-at-all-costs optimism to fundamentals-first discipline. This is a sector where timing your entry and managing expectations will be more important than chasing momentum," Stoxkart's Aggarwal pointed out. 'At the current juncture, investors should avoid FOMO in IPOs," he added. One would do well to remember that not every startup will turn out to be Amazon. And even if some company manages to replicate Bezos' astronomical success, it will take more time than what impatient investors assume.
