[ad_1]
The top performing US-listed Chinese stocks for 2023 were not famous internet names. Instead of Alibaba – down more than 10% for the year – it was Temu parent PDD Holdings that outperformed, with a nearly 80% gain for 2023 as of Thursday, according to Wind Information. But the top picks in the PDD were three stocks that basically doubled or more for the year: ACM Research, New Oriental Education and Ehang. As a semiconductor with subsidiaries in China, ACM’s nearly 160% rise wasn’t so surprising in a year in which Nvidia was up more than 200%. New Oriental’s resurgence after China’s after-school crackdown was something of a comeback story, thanks to the company’s livestreaming venture for underemployed teachers. Products sold via livestreaming are largely handled through New Oriental’s Hong Kong-listed subsidiary East Buy. New Oriental’s shares climbed 103% in 2023 as of Thursday, after a difficult December when its CEO took more control of East Buy and backed star livestreamer Dong Yuhui. Potentially more forward-looking is flying car company Ehang’s 2023 forecast, which is up 99% as of Thursday. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to buy in October after Ehang said its EH216-S had become the first vehicle to receive Chinese government approval to conduct fully autonomous flights with two human passengers. In late December Ehang said the vehicle had received government airworthiness certification, and was beginning to deliver human-carrying drones to tourism in China. Goldman Sachs analyst Alan Chang and a team said in a Dec. 27 note that Ehang needs production certificates and airspace clearance for larger commercial operations. “Recently, EHang also announced a new strategic partnership with Wings Logistics Hub in the UAE, receiving up to 100 units in pre-order for the EH216 series, which will be a great opportunity for EHang to expand its overseas market and support the local “Positive to achieve certification,” the Goldman report said. Analysts have a price target of $30.50 per share, which is 79% higher than when Ehang closed at $17.06 on Thursday. Other 2023 outperformers among US-listed Chinese stocks are retailer Miniso with a gain of nearly 90%, electric car company Li Auto with a gain of nearly 80% and Holistics Automation Technologies with a gain of nearly 60%. While multinationals are considering supply chain diversification plans, Chinese officials have stressed that they want to develop advanced manufacturing at home. Holisys closed Thursday at $26.50 a share, exactly the same price at which Ascendant Capital Partners agreed to buy the industrial automation systems company, according to the Dec. 11 announcement. Days later, Shanghai-based ZKH Group, which operates an e-commerce platform for industrial parts, raised $62 million in a Nasdaq listing, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. ZKH is still operating at a net loss, but said it is building a factory in China to manufacture automation-related products. Shares closed Thursday slightly above the $15.50 offering price. The overall market struggled, with individual stocks rising in contrast to a sharp decline in Chinese shares overall. Most notably, in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index declined nearly 14% for the year amid China’s worsening property market problems and uncertainty about the economic outlook. China’s tough regulatory stance on gaming and education remains unchanged, as shown by the release of surprisingly stringent draft rules on gaming ahead of Christmas. Still, Beijing is trying to send more market-friendly signals, and changes to the final regulation on artificial intelligence this summer signal support for innovation. Tension with America has also reduced. However, the gloomy investor sentiment story continued for tech-heavy mainland Chinese stock indexes, the CSI 300 and STAR 50, which fell more than 11% in 2023, according to Wind Information data. The broader Shanghai Composite declined 3.7% for the year. According to Wind, the better-performing mainland Chinese stock index was the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index, which rose about 15% in 2023. While the relatively new Beijing exchange is one to watch in the coming months, it is still largely inaccessible to international investors and could benefit from increased domestic interest, having only launched about two years ago.
