HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/air-china-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8239:1" rel="noopener">Air China Ltd (753 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-southern-airlines-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1078:1" rel="noopener">China Southern Airlines (1055 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-eastern-airlines-co-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1079:1" rel="noopener">China Eastern Airlines (670 HK) </a>issued profit warnings for FY21, guiding for Rmb36.8-43.3bn aggregate losses, worse than FY20. </li>
<li>On QoQ basis, CSA's bottom line is significantly weaker as losses enlarged 3.1x in 4Q21, versus 38.4% for CEA and 54% for Air China, based on the mid-point of guidances.</li>
<li>We expect Air China to outperform CSA (YTD: 1.6pp), backed by more international traffic, border opening of China, favourable cargo demand and pricing, and improvement at <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cathay-pacific-airways-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:243:1" rel="noopener">Cathay Pacific (293 HK)</a>. </li>
</ul>



Air China Ltd (753 HK), China Southern Airlines (1055 HK) and China Eastern Airlines (670 HK) issued profit warnings for FY21, guiding for Rmb36.8-43.3bn aggregate losses, worse than FY20. 
On QoQ basis, CSA's bottom line is significantly weaker as losses enlarged 3.1x in 4Q21, versus 38.4% for CEA and 54% for Air China, based on the mid-point of guidances.
We expect Air China to outperform CSA (YTD: 1.6pp), backed by more international traffic, border opening of China, favourable cargo demand and pricing, and improvement at Cathay Pacific (293 HK). 


Chinese Airlines: A Tale of Three Loss-Making, but Outperforming, Companies

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Passenger traffic momentum of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/air-china-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8239:1" rel="noopener">Air China Ltd (H) (753 HK)</a> has picked up in Dec and it also narrowed down it gap against <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-southern-airlines-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1078:1" rel="noopener">China Southern Airlines (1055 HK)</a>. </li>
<li>The resurgence of international traffic over the next two years with more border openings will provide significant benefits to Air China, helping it to recover its depressed load factors.</li>
<li>Air China outperformed HSCEI by 3.6pp YTD, but we still consider its P/B of 1.0x, or around historical average, not stretched. Strength of Rmb is also a potential positive factor.</li>
</ul>


Passenger traffic momentum of Air China Ltd (H) (753 HK) has picked up in Dec and it also narrowed down it gap against China Southern Airlines (1055 HK). 
The resurgence of international traffic over the next two years with more border openings will provide significant benefits to Air China, helping it to recover its depressed load factors.
Air China outperformed HSCEI by 3.6pp YTD, but we still consider its P/B of 1.0x, or around historical average, not stretched. Strength of Rmb is also a potential positive factor.


Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyse the changes of A/H premium on 135 stocks over the last week.</li>
<li>The average A/H premium changed by -0.9ppt week on week to 118.3%. </li>
<li>Biggest decline in A/H premium appeared in the Communication Services and Consumer Staples sector while the biggest increase was from the Real Estate sector</li>
</ul>


We analyse the changes of A/H premium on 135 stocks over the last week.
The average A/H premium changed by -0.9ppt week on week to 118.3%. 
Biggest decline in A/H premium appeared in the Communication Services and Consumer Staples sector while the biggest increase was from the Real Estate sector


A/H Premium Weekly: Decline in Com Service and Consumer Staple Offset by Real Estate

<ul>
<li>We analyse the changes of A/H premium on 135 stocks over the last week. </li>
<li>Top three sectors in terms of A/H premium increase were consumer stable, utilities and industrials.</li>
<li>Six industrial names appeared in the top 10 stocks with week-on-week A/H increases. </li>
</ul>


We analyse the changes of A/H premium on 135 stocks over the last week. 
Top three sectors in terms of A/H premium increase were consumer stable, utilities and industrials.
Six industrial names appeared in the top 10 stocks with week-on-week A/H increases. 


A/H Premium Weekly: Industrials Led Premium Increase

<ul>
<li>Our 2021 pair trade did not work well with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/air-china-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8239:1" rel="noopener">Air China Ltd (H) (753 HK)</a> underperformed <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-southern-airlines-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1078:1" rel="noopener">China Southern Airlines (1055 HK)</a> by 9.9pp, but we maintain such position into 2022.</li>
<li>Much of the 2021 underperformance was incurred in 1Q21, with Air China catching up very well since then, and Dec has been the best month in this year.</li>
<li>Acceleration of international traffic, sustained cargo strength, low comparison base and upside on margin are the four factors that we see will drive Air China narrowing its performance gap.</li>
</ul>


Our 2021 pair trade did not work well with Air China Ltd (H) (753 HK) underperformed China Southern Airlines (1055 HK) by 9.9pp, but we maintain such position into 2022.
Much of the 2021 underperformance was incurred in 1Q21, with Air China catching up very well since then, and Dec has been the best month in this year.
Acceleration of international traffic, sustained cargo strength, low comparison base and upside on margin are the four factors that we see will drive Air China narrowing its performance gap.


Roundup of 2021 High Conviction: Still Expect Air China (753 HK) To Outperform CSA (1055 HK) In 2022

China

China Southern Airlines Company Limited provides commercial airline services throughout China, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.  The Company also provides other airline related services including aircraft maintenance and air catering.

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China Southern Airlines (1055 HK)

Chinese Airlines: A Tale of Three Loss-Making, but Outperforming, Companies

Chinese airlines have issued profit warnings for FY21 with record losses in the year, and CSA looks to have the weakest QoQ performance in 4Q21. We...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Air China (753 HK): Down but Not Out

Air China managed to pick up sequentially on passenger traffic and narrowed down its gap against China Southern in Dec. More international traffic...

Osbert Tang, CFA

A/H Premium Weekly: Decline in Com Service and Consumer Staple Offset by Real Estate

Biggest decline in A/H premium appeared in the Communication Services and Consumer Staples sector while the biggest increase was from the Real...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

A/H Premium Weekly: Industrials Led Premium Increase

Top three sectors in terms of A/H premium increase were consumer stable, utilities and industrials. Six industrial names appeared in the top 10 A/H...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Roundup of 2021 High Conviction: Still Expect Air China (753 HK) To Outperform CSA (1055 HK) In 2022

We maintain our view that Air China is set to outpeform China Southern in 2022, with major driving factors being international traffic, cargo...

Osbert Tang, CFA

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