HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>The "Buy the worst" basket has outperformed the HSI by a massive 16.7pp YTD, mainly boosted by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/chow-tai-fook-jewellery-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:549:1" rel="noopener">Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (1929 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wuxi-apptec" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:23679:1" rel="noopener">Wuxi Biologics (2269 HK)</a>. </li>
<li>The best-performing constituents in 2024, however, lagged behind the HSI, dragged down by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/trip-com-group-ltd-23a341d0-4f63-4175-a8c5-ee990906cacd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36424:1" rel="noopener">Trip.com Group (9961 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan (3690 HK)</a>. </li>
<li>Government's consumption boost should benefit <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/chow-tai-fook-jewellery-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:549:1" rel="noopener">Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (1929 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/budweiser-brewing-co-apac-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28077:1" rel="noopener">Budweiser Brewing APAC (1876 HK)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-lung-properties-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:49:1" rel="noopener">Hang Lung Properties (101 HK)</a> in 2H25.</li>
</ul>


The "Buy the worst" basket has outperformed the HSI by a massive 16.7pp YTD, mainly boosted by Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (1929 HK) and Wuxi Biologics (2269 HK). 
The best-performing constituents in 2024, however, lagged behind the HSI, dragged down by Trip.com Group (9961 HK) and Meituan (3690 HK). 
Government's consumption boost should benefit Chow Tai Fook Jewellery (1929 HK), Budweiser Brewing APAC (1876 HK), and Hang Lung Properties (101 HK) in 2H25.


"Buy the Worst" HSI Strategy: Solid Gains in 1H25

<ul>
<li>The HSI has already recovered to 2.2% above the pre-"reciprocal tariff" level, and the top 10 best-performing constituents have registered an average return of 15.6%.</li>
<li>Despite so, there are still 40 under-performing stocks, with 32 of them remain in the negative zone with an average of 4.8% loss. </li>
<li>Among them, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/zto-express-cayman-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33488:1" rel="noopener">ZTO Express Cayman (2057 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/budweiser-brewing-co-apac-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:28077:1" rel="noopener">Budweiser Brewing APAC (1876 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-electronic-international-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1927:1" rel="noopener">BYD Electronics (285 HK)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/meituan" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:26970:1" rel="noopener">Meituan (3690 HK)</a> look well-positioned to catch up.</li>
</ul>


The HSI has already recovered to 2.2% above the pre-"reciprocal tariff" level, and the top 10 best-performing constituents have registered an average return of 15.6%.
Despite so, there are still 40 under-performing stocks, with 32 of them remain in the negative zone with an average of 4.8% loss. 
Among them, ZTO Express Cayman (2057 HK), Budweiser Brewing APAC (1876 HK), BYD Electronics (285 HK), and Meituan (3690 HK) look well-positioned to catch up.


HK Strategy: What Are Some of the HSI Laggards to Pick Up?

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal, Shenton Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China Biotech

Shenton Research

Shenton Research is an independent Asia Pacific equity specialist. Our quantitative research covers index rebalancing flows, alongside exchange data analytics accross Asia Pacific. On the equity capital markets side, we focus on Asia Pacific ECM, especially biotech and TMT. Our lead analyst is frequently cited by international media.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyze statistics on top repurchases over one week, one month, one quarter and one year periods ended on Sep 18th based on HKEx daily reports.</li>
<li>In the past 7 days, the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market were Tencent (700 HK), Bidu (9888 HK), Link Reit (823 HK).</li>
<li>In the past 30 days, the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market were Tencent (700 HK), Bilibili (9626 HK), Kuaishou (1024 HK).</li>
</ul>


We analyze statistics on top repurchases over one week, one month, one quarter and one year periods ended on Sep 18th based on HKEx daily reports.
In the past 7 days, the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market were Tencent (700 HK), Bidu (9888 HK), Link Reit (823 HK).
In the past 30 days, the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares from the market were Tencent (700 HK), Bilibili (9626 HK), Kuaishou (1024 HK).


Hong Kong Buybacks Weekly (Sep 18th): Tencent, Bidu, Link Reit

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

<ul><li>In this report, we summarize the Mar 2025 price discounts at dealers for major automakers.</li><li>Note that Mar discounts for each automaker are calculated based on the weighted average of Feb 2025 retail sales volume for each model, as Mar 2025 retail sales volume data have not been released yet.</li><li>The industrywide average discounts narrowed by 0.1ppts MoM in Mar 2025, based on our calculations, thanks to the narrowing discounts from some German brands (VW, Audi). </li></ul><p><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></p>

In this report, we summarize the Mar 2025 price discounts at dealers for major automakers.Note that Mar discounts for each automaker are calculated based on the weighted average of Feb 2025 retail sales volume for each model, as Mar 2025 retail sales volume data have not been released yet.The industrywide average discounts narrowed by 0.1ppts MoM in Mar 2025, based on our calculations, thanks to the narrowing discounts from some German brands (VW, Audi). Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Auto - 1Q25 Sales Volume, Discounts May Lead to Larger Earnings Divergence

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

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Bank Of China Ltd, Celltrion Inc and Li Auto top the list as the largest index constituents held by less that 5% of active Asia Ex-Japan funds.</li>
<li>Unloved stock numbers increase after China A-share inclusion in 2018/19 and further amplified by post-2020 restrictions on select Chinese military-linked firms.</li>
<li>Select funds do own sizeable positions in these stocks.  Are they the ultimate contrarian trades?</li>
</ul>


Bank Of China Ltd, Celltrion Inc and Li Auto top the list as the largest index constituents held by less that 5% of active Asia Ex-Japan funds.
Unloved stock numbers increase after China A-share inclusion in 2018/19 and further amplified by post-2020 restrictions on select Chinese military-linked firms.
Select funds do own sizeable positions in these stocks.  Are they the ultimate contrarian trades?


China

Li Auto Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells premium smart electric vehicles, including extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Their product line includes multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

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Li Auto (2015 HK)

"Buy the Worst" HSI Strategy: Solid Gains in 1H25

The "Buy the worst" basket outperformed the HSI by 16.7pp YTD, boosted by Chow Tai Fook and Wuxi Biologics, while top performers in 2024 lagged,...

Osbert Tang, CFA

HK Strategy: What Are Some of the HSI Laggards to Pick Up?

HSI has rebounded above pre-reciprocal tariff levels, with top stocks up 15.6%. However, 32 stocks remain negative, with ZTO Express, Budweiser...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Hong Kong Buybacks Weekly (Sep 18th): Tencent, Bidu, Link Reit

We analyzed the Hong Kong buyback data in the past week and highlight the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares were Tencent (700 HK),...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Auto - 1Q25 Sales Volume, Discounts May Lead to Larger Earnings Divergence

Note that Mar discounts for each automaker are calculated based on the weighted average of Feb 2025 retail sales volume for each model

CMB International

Unloved Stocks in Asia Ex-Japan

Bank Of China Ltd, Celltrion Inc and Li Auto top the list as the largest index constituents held by less that 5% of active Asia Ex-Japan funds.

Steven Holden

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

"Buy the Worst" HSI Strategy: Solid Gains in 1H25

​The "Buy the worst" basket outperformed the HSI by 16.7pp YTD, boosted by Chow Tai Fook and Wuxi Biologics, while top performers in 2024 lagged,...

Osbert Tang, CFA

HK Strategy: What Are Some of the HSI Laggards to Pick Up?

​HSI has rebounded above pre-reciprocal tariff levels, with top stocks up 15.6%. However, 32 stocks remain negative, with ZTO Express, Budweiser...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Hong Kong Buybacks Weekly (Sep 18th): Tencent, Bidu, Link Reit

We analyzed the Hong Kong buyback data in the past week and highlight the top 3 companies that repurchased the most shares were Tencent (700 HK),...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Auto - 1Q25 Sales Volume, Discounts May Lead to Larger Earnings Divergence

Note that Mar discounts for each automaker are calculated based on the weighted average of Feb 2025 retail sales volume for each model

CMB International

Unloved Stocks in Asia Ex-Japan

Bank Of China Ltd, Celltrion Inc and Li Auto top the list as the largest index constituents held by less that 5% of active Asia Ex-Japan funds.

Steven Holden

The "Buy the worst" basket outperformed the HSI by 16.7pp YTD, boosted by Chow Tai Fook and Wuxi Biologics, while top performers in 2024 lagged,...

HSI has rebounded above pre-reciprocal tariff levels, with top stocks up 15.6%. However, 32 stocks remain negative, with ZTO Express, Budweiser...