Asian Hedge Fund Manager, Long Short Equity, Macro

David Mudd

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>China's telecom sector is capitalizing on its position as an AI infrastructure play, launching AI Token packages this month to serve its business and retail customers.</li>
<li>China Telecom has rolled out nationwide packages starting at RMB 9.9/month.  China Mobile provides access to Qwen 3.6 Lite for up to 18k prompts for RMB 40/month.</li>
<li>Valuations in China's telecom sector remain attractive, with low-single-digit cash flow multiples and dividend yields of 6%.</li>
</ul>


China's telecom sector is capitalizing on its position as an AI infrastructure play, launching AI Token packages this month to serve its business and retail customers.
China Telecom has rolled out nationwide packages starting at RMB 9.9/month.  China Mobile provides access to Qwen 3.6 Lite for up to 18k prompts for RMB 40/month.
Valuations in China's telecom sector remain attractive, with low-single-digit cash flow multiples and dividend yields of 6%.


CHINA TELECOM SECTOR: AI Exposure With A Dividend!!

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio gained 9.7% in May, outperforming its benchmark by 10.57%.  The portfolio has outperformed Hong Kong indexes by 57% to 75% since its inception in 10/2024.</li>
<li>The portfolio has a Sharpe ratio of 1.37 since its inception, with a mean excess annualized return of 21% and a beta of 1.2.  </li>
<li>At the end of May, we sold our remaining positions in the mining and materials sectors and added positions in the power, consumer and property sectors.</li>
</ul>


The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio gained 9.7% in May, outperforming its benchmark by 10.57%.  The portfolio has outperformed Hong Kong indexes by 57% to 75% since its inception in 10/2024.
The portfolio has a Sharpe ratio of 1.37 since its inception, with a mean excess annualized return of 21% and a beta of 1.2.  
At the end of May, we sold our remaining positions in the mining and materials sectors and added positions in the power, consumer and property sectors.


<ul>
<li>Hong Kong market continues to languish, trading flat for the year.  The telecom sector has shown some strength following the rollout of new token packages in May.</li>
<li>Materials and energy sectors have gone from top performers to lagging sectors since the ceasefire was announced in early April.  </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/pony-ai-inc-class-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:46237:1" rel="noopener">Pony.ai (2026 HK)</a> shares jumped after the company announced it's increasing its robotaxi fleet target for this year, following stronger-than-expected 1Q26 revenue driven by growth in robotaxi and intelligent solutions.
</li>
</ul>


Hong Kong market continues to languish, trading flat for the year.  The telecom sector has shown some strength following the rollout of new token packages in May.
Materials and energy sectors have gone from top performers to lagging sectors since the ceasefire was announced in early April.  

Pony.ai (2026 HK) shares jumped after the company announced it's increasing its robotaxi fleet target for this year, following stronger-than-expected 1Q26 revenue driven by growth in robotaxi and intelligent solutions.



The Heat Is On: News Flow and Sentiment in CHINA / HONG KONG (May 2026)

<ul>
<li>
The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio posted a -0.5% return for April. Since its inception, the HK Alpha portfolio has outperformed the HK indexes by 38.69% to 60.42%.  </li>
<li>Overall alpha generation remains at 64% of overall returns.  The Sharpe ratio for the portfolio is 1.15, compared with 0.89 for the benchmark.</li>
<li>As the US retreats from its war in Iran, we have repositioned the portfolio by adding exposure to the AI-related tech sector, including platform, agentic, and hardware.</li>
</ul>



The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio posted a -0.5% return for April. Since its inception, the HK Alpha portfolio has outperformed the HK indexes by 38.69% to 60.42%.  
Overall alpha generation remains at 64% of overall returns.  The Sharpe ratio for the portfolio is 1.15, compared with 0.89 for the benchmark.
As the US retreats from its war in Iran, we have repositioned the portfolio by adding exposure to the AI-related tech sector, including platform, agentic, and hardware.


HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

<ul>
<li>The elevated crude oil prices are expected to drive persistent inflationary pressure, and this will benefit high dividend yield stocks.</li>
<li>The top 10 high-yield HSI constituents have an average dividend yield of 6.7% for CY26. Since the War, they have outperformed the Index by an average of 1.1pp.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-unicom-hong-kong-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1016:1" rel="noopener">China Unicom HK (762 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-mobile-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27:1" rel="noopener">China Mobile (941 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/link-reit" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:872:1" rel="noopener">Link REIT (823 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tingyi-cayman-islands-holding-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14016:1" rel="noopener">Tingyi Holding (322 HK)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-hongqiao-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1909:1" rel="noopener">China Hongqiao (1378 HK)</a> are at the top of the list.</li>
</ul>


The elevated crude oil prices are expected to drive persistent inflationary pressure, and this will benefit high dividend yield stocks.
The top 10 high-yield HSI constituents have an average dividend yield of 6.7% for CY26. Since the War, they have outperformed the Index by an average of 1.1pp.

China Unicom HK (762 HK), China Mobile (941 HK), Link REIT (823 HK), Tingyi Holding (322 HK), and China Hongqiao (1378 HK) are at the top of the list.


HK Strategy: Winners of Potentially Higher Inflation

Hong Kong

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited is a telecommunications service provider in China, offering mobile and fixed-line broadband, GSM, ICT, data communications, and cloud services. It operates as the incumbent fixed-line operator in 10 northern Chinese provinces and the third-largest wireless operator nationwide. The company was incorporated in Hong Kong in February 2000.

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China Unicom (Hong Kong) (CHU US)

CHINA TELECOM SECTOR: AI Exposure With A Dividend!!

China is preparing to spend around 2 trillion yuan ($295 billion) over the next five years on building data centers across the country. State...

David Mudd

HONG KONG ALPHA PORTFOLIO: (May 2026)

The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio gained 9.7% in May, outperforming its benchmark by 10.57%. The portfolio has outperformed Hong Kong indexes by 57%...

David Mudd

The Heat Is On: News Flow and Sentiment in CHINA / HONG KONG (May 2026)

Pony.ai shares jumped after the company announced it's increasing its robotaxi fleet target for 2026, after stronger-than-expected 1Q26 revenue...

David Mudd

HONG KONG ALPHA PORTFOLIO: (April 2026)

The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio posted a -0.5% return for April. Since its inception, the HK Alpha portfolio has outperformed the HK indexes by...

David Mudd

HK Strategy: Winners of Potentially Higher Inflation

Elevated crude oil prices are driving inflation, benefiting high dividend yield HSI constituent stocks like China Unicom, China Mobile, Link REIT,...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

CHINA TELECOM SECTOR: AI Exposure With A Dividend!!

China is preparing to spend around 2 trillion yuan ($295 billion) over the next five years on building data centers across the country. State...

David Mudd

HONG KONG ALPHA PORTFOLIO: (May 2026)

The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio gained 9.7% in May, outperforming its benchmark by 10.57%. The portfolio has outperformed Hong Kong indexes by 57%...

David Mudd

The Heat Is On: News Flow and Sentiment in CHINA / HONG KONG (May 2026)

Pony.ai shares jumped after the company announced it's increasing its robotaxi fleet target for 2026, after stronger-than-expected 1Q26 revenue...

David Mudd

HONG KONG ALPHA PORTFOLIO: (April 2026)

The Hong Kong Alpha portfolio posted a -0.5% return for April. Since its inception, the HK Alpha portfolio has outperformed the HK indexes by...

David Mudd

HK Strategy: Winners of Potentially Higher Inflation

​Elevated crude oil prices are driving inflation, benefiting high dividend yield HSI constituent stocks like China Unicom, China Mobile, Link REIT,...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Elevated crude oil prices are driving inflation, benefiting high dividend yield HSI constituent stocks like China Unicom, China Mobile, Link REIT,...