Overseas Chinese Equities, Aequitas Research

Ming Lu

A veteran with 19-year experience in equity research.

Geographical coverage:
* Companies operating in China, but listed in Hong Kong and the U.S.
* Previously China A-share (listed in mainland China).

Equity sector coverage:
* Chinese App / Internet-based consumption in China, e.g., Alibaba, Tencent, etc.
* Previously covered education, transportation, telecom, power, bank, advertisement, hotel, etc.

Research methods:
* Generally bottom-up.
* Talk to related people on the ground.  Talk to readers and independent writers for analyzing a news portal.  Talk to parents and teachers for analyzing a tutoring school. 
* Visit stores and show photos as evidence in notes.
* Do technical analysis when finding a short-seller attacking an equity.

Languages:
* English
* Mandarin Chinese (Official language of China)
* Shanghainese (Language of Shanghai, the most developed city in China)
* Cantonese (Language of Hong Kong and Canton Province, one of the most developed provinces in China)

Overseas Chinese Equities

Baidu (BIDU): Obituary - Review the Way to First Loss Since IPO

Baidu (BIDU): IQiyi (IQ) Became a Burden, 40% Downside to Book Value

IQiyi (IQ): In 4Q18, Baidu’s Growth Engine Lost Control Over Content Cost

Sell/Avoid Baidu: A Fiduciary Nightmare, Adopting Global Worst Practice

Baidu (BIDU): The Change Amounts to Business Suicide, Disappointing Existing Users and Clients

Apple (AAPL): Reduces Prices in Mainland China - Right Action, But Not Enough

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Baidu posted a weak result for 4Q2018.</li>
<li>We believe it is a wrong decision to change Baidu into an in-house search engine.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/11369" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11369:1">Alphabet Inc Cl C (GOOG US)</a> ’s monthly active users in mainland China increased 24% QoQ in January 2019.</li>
<li>We believe Baidu’s stock price has been fairly impacted.</li>
</ul>


Baidu posted a weak result for 4Q2018.
We believe it is a wrong decision to change Baidu into an in-house search engine.

Alphabet Inc Cl C (GOOG US) ’s monthly active users in mainland China increased 24% QoQ in January 2019.
We believe Baidu’s stock price has been fairly impacted.


Baidu (BIDU): Stagnant in 4Q18, Wrong Change Feeds a 24% User Increase to Google