HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>Our "Buy the Worst" strategy outperformed HSI by a massive 26.1pp YTD. Over the last five years and seven, this strategy returned 39.7% and 25.8% respectively, beating the market significantly. </li>
<li>For 2022, the strategy will switch into <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/haidilao-international-holding-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27044:1" rel="noopener">Haidilao (6862 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-health-information-technology-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:453:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Health (241 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/alibaba-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28434:1" rel="noopener">Alibaba Group (9988 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sands-china-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:182:1" rel="noopener">Sands China (1928 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xiaomi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:24409:1" rel="noopener">Xiaomi (1810 HK)</a>, based on YTD performance.</li>
<li>While these names are facing sustained headwinds, track record of our strategy suggested that they are more likely to outperform in 2022 than underperform. We think there is turnaround potential.</li>
</ul>


Our "Buy the Worst" strategy outperformed HSI by a massive 26.1pp YTD. Over the last five years and seven, this strategy returned 39.7% and 25.8% respectively, beating the market significantly. 
For 2022, the strategy will switch into Haidilao (6862 HK), Alibaba Health (241 HK), Alibaba Group (9988 HK), Sands China (1928 HK) and Xiaomi (1810 HK), based on YTD performance.
While these names are facing sustained headwinds, track record of our strategy suggested that they are more likely to outperform in 2022 than underperform. We think there is turnaround potential.


“Buy the Worst” Strategy into Year 3: What's on for 2022 to Beat the HSI?

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-gas-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14315:1" rel="noopener">China Gas Holdings (384 HK)</a> posted weak 1H FY22 result with a 18.6% contraction in core profit, driven primarily by lower new connections and weaker dollar margin for gas sales. </li>
<li>Full-Year guidance on new connections has revised to 3m (vs. 5m) and dollar margin will further contract by HK$0.04-0.06/cu.m. in 2H FY22. Progress on LPG Smart MicroGrid has slowed. </li>
<li>The Shiyan gas explosion looks to have a more long-lasting effect than expected. Also, the need to divert management attention to safety enforcement also weighed on China Gas.</li>
</ul>



China Gas Holdings (384 HK) posted weak 1H FY22 result with a 18.6% contraction in core profit, driven primarily by lower new connections and weaker dollar margin for gas sales. 
Full-Year guidance on new connections has revised to 3m (vs. 5m) and dollar margin will further contract by HK$0.04-0.06/cu.m. in 2H FY22. Progress on LPG Smart MicroGrid has slowed. 
The Shiyan gas explosion looks to have a more long-lasting effect than expected. Also, the need to divert management attention to safety enforcement also weighed on China Gas.


China Gas Holdings (384 HK): Post-Result Call Takeaways, Looks like Not yet Reached the Bottom

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cnooc-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:175:1" rel="noopener">CNOOC Ltd (883 HK)</a>'s A-share listing progresses in response to an intention from US regulators to delist its ADSs. </li>
<li>Shareholders have approved the listing and the prospectus has been accepted by the CSRC. </li>
<li>Cashed-Up CNOOC is trading cheap to domestic and international peers, together with a 7% yield, one that may increase significantly with a higher payout ratio. </li>
</ul>



CNOOC Ltd (883 HK)'s A-share listing progresses in response to an intention from US regulators to delist its ADSs. 
Shareholders have approved the listing and the prospectus has been accepted by the CSRC. 
Cashed-Up CNOOC is trading cheap to domestic and international peers, together with a 7% yield, one that may increase significantly with a higher payout ratio. 


Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Energy is a lightly held sector, a bit part player in a world dominated by Tech, Financials and the EM Consumer.  The average holding weight among the active EM funds in our analysis stands at just 3.81%, underweight the benchmark by -2.11% on average.The fact that nearly a quarter of active EM managers have no exposure to the Energy sector is perhaps the most telling statistic of just how under-owned the sector is.  Part of that reason, we believe, lies in the risk of not holding Energy when index weights are so low. With Oil prices at multi-year highs, the Energy sector has started to outperform in a big way, with EM Energy outperforming the broader MSCI EM index by over 30% over the last 12 months.  With just 22.7% of funds overweight the benchmark, active EM managers are feeling the pinch.  The risk of being underweight or avoiding the sector completely has moved significantly higher.One of the factors that has driven Energy to the margins of EM investment is the rise of secular growth opportunities in Technology, Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services.  Indeed, the current investor base in Energy is heavily skewed towards the Value and Yield end of the spectrum.  Instead, Aggressive Growth managers have rotated towards the secular growth opportunities within Packaged Software, Internet Retail, Biotechnology and Internet Software/Services.Can the lure of a cyclical growth opportunity such as Energy be enough to win back investment from Growth investors?  If Energy keeps outperforming it will undoubtedly push Growth investors to look for opportunities within the sector.  We identify 2 stocks that already have an investor base among both Aggressive Growth and Growth funds, whilst also appealing to Value investors.  As such, we would expect both to be on the shortlist of the many underweights and non-investors looking to ramp up allocations in the Energy sector as we shift to a new ownership regime.Analysis taken from our EM research, covering 247 active GEM funds with combined AUM of $500bn

Energy is a lightly held sector, a bit part player in a world dominated by Tech, Financials and the EM Consumer.  The average holding weight among the active EM funds in our analysis stands at just 3.81%, underweight the benchmark by -2.11% on average.The fact that nearly a quarter of active EM managers have no exposure to the Energy sector is perhaps the most telling statistic of just how under-owned the sector is.  Part of that reason, we believe, lies in the risk of not holding Energy when index weights are so low. With Oil prices at multi-year highs, the Energy sector has started to outperform in a big way, with EM Energy outperforming the broader MSCI EM index by over 30% over the last 12 months.  With just 22.7% of funds overweight the benchmark, active EM managers are feeling the pinch.  The risk of being underweight or avoiding the sector completely has moved significantly higher.One of the factors that has driven Energy to the margins of EM investment is the rise of secular growth opportunities in Technology, Consumer Discretionary and Communication Services.  Indeed, the current investor base in Energy is heavily skewed towards the Value and Yield end of the spectrum.  Instead, Aggressive Growth managers have rotated towards the secular growth opportunities within Packaged Software, Internet Retail, Biotechnology and Internet Software/Services.Can the lure of a cyclical growth opportunity such as Energy be enough to win back investment from Growth investors?  If Energy keeps outperforming it will undoubtedly push Growth investors to look for opportunities within the sector.  We identify 2 stocks that already have an investor base among both Aggressive Growth and Growth funds, whilst also appealing to Value investors.  As such, we would expect both to be on the shortlist of the many underweights and non-investors looking to ramp up allocations in the Energy sector as we shift to a new ownership regime.Analysis taken from our EM research, covering 247 active GEM funds with combined AUM of $500bn

We touched base with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kunlun-energy-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10054:1" rel="noopener">Kunlun Energy (135 HK)</a> to seek answers on five questions that we think are of significant interests to investors. These include topics on the impact of the rally in LNG price, mechanism for retail gas price adjustment, outlook for dollar margin, impact on the terminal and processing segment, gas volume availability and the future of the E&amp;P segment. These questions are all well answered by Kunlun's management.Overall, based on our discussions, the impact of higher LNG price on Kunlun's profitability and dollar margin should be manageable. It has secured enough gas sources and there should not be worries on shortage. We also anticipate the earnings volatility caused by the upstream E&amp;P business will be sharply lower in two to three years' time; and with better earnings stability and quality, Kunlun should continue to see re-rating.

We touched base with Kunlun Energy (135 HK) to seek answers on five questions that we think are of significant interests to investors. These include topics on the impact of the rally in LNG price, mechanism for retail gas price adjustment, outlook for dollar margin, impact on the terminal and processing segment, gas volume availability and the future of the E&amp;P segment. These questions are all well answered by Kunlun's management.Overall, based on our discussions, the impact of higher LNG price on Kunlun's profitability and dollar margin should be manageable. It has secured enough gas sources and there should not be worries on shortage. We also anticipate the earnings volatility caused by the upstream E&amp;P business will be sharply lower in two to three years' time; and with better earnings stability and quality, Kunlun should continue to see re-rating.

Kunlun Energy (135 HK): Five Questions to Management Get Answered

China

PetroChina Company Limited explores, develops, and produces crude oil and natural gas.  The Company also refines, transports, and distributes crude oil and petroleum products, produces and sells chemicals, and transmits, markets and sells natural gas.

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PetroChina (857 HK)

“Buy the Worst” Strategy into Year 3: What's on for 2022 to Beat the HSI?

Our "Buy the Worst" strategy outperformed HSI by a massive 26.1pp YTD. For 2022, new names are Haidilao, Ali Health, Alibaba, Sands China and...

Osbert Tang, CFA

China Gas Holdings (384 HK): Post-Result Call Takeaways, Looks like Not yet Reached the Bottom

Weaker-than-expected result for 1H FY22 is negative and management turned more cautious on outlook for 2H FY22, pointing to lower new connections...

Osbert Tang, CFA

CNOOC (883 HK): This Is An Outright Buy

CNOOC is inexpensive versus its two domestic peers, its international peers, and to historical levels. I would expect the imminent A-share listing...

David Blennerhassett

EM Energy: Regime Shift

A quarter of active EM managers have no exposure to the Energy sector and only 23% are overweight. With Oil prices at multi-year highs, active EM...

Steven Holden

Kunlun Energy (135 HK): Five Questions to Management Get Answered

The impact of higher LNG price on the dollar margin and profitability of Kunlun's city gas projects should be manageable. Earnings volatility from...

Osbert Tang, CFA

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