2022 Is Turning Out to Be the Worst Year Ever for Chinese Tech Stocks

(Bloomberg) — If last year was bad, 2022 is turning out to be even worse for holders of Chinese technology stocks. Still, there are no dip buyers in sight.

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A tech-heavy index of U.S.-listed Chinese stocks has fallen 41% in just 2 1/2 months — almost equaling the 2021 rout. Since its peak last year, the once red-hot benchmark has fallen by a record 75%, erasing $1.1 trillion in market value as Beijing’s close ties to Russia, regulatory headwinds and a zero tolerance Covid-19 policy sent investors fleeing.

The selloff has been so extreme that the Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index, which includes stocks like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc., now trades at a rare discount to the S&P 500 Index, reversing its valuation premium of almost 100% from June.

E-commerce giant Alibaba now trades at a record low valuation of 9 times forward earnings — one of the cheapest high-growth plays in the U.S.

“Despite the better valuations that we see, we’re not buying China yet,” said Joost Van Leenders, senior investment strategist at Kempen Capital Management. “We still see too much uncertainty to even start drafting a proposal to buy them.”

The Hang Seng Tech Index of Hong Kong-listed stocks sank 8.1% Tuesday, bringing its decline over the past three sessions to 22%. That’s the biggest three-day drop ever for the index, based on data going back to 2015.

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The Nasdaq 100 Index on Monday closed in bear-market territory for the first time since March 2020 — and analysts’ price targets are the most bullish they’ve been since the same date. The targets imply a 36% rise for the shares in aggregate over the next year — the biggest forecast gain since the peak of the pandemic.

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• Arm Ltd., the SoftBank unit preparing for an initial public offering, will cut as much as 15% of its workforce, part of an effort to rein in spending and focus on fewer projects

• Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group sold its entire stake in the tech outlet 36Kr Holdings, the latest asset disposal in its bid to comply with demands by China’s regulators

• Orders placed with global e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Walmart may be delayed by virus lockdowns and restrictions in some of China’s key manufacturing hubs, according to an industry body

• GoTo Group will push ahead with a stock-market debut in Indonesia valuing the ride-hailing and e-commerce company at as high as $28.8 billion, defying the market downturn that battered its two main peers, Sea Ltd. and Grab Holdings, in recent months

(Updates prices throughout.)

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