HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

Osbert Tang is an equity analyst with over 20 years of experience with focuses on China transport, infrastructure, industrials and utilities sectors. He has been based in Shanghai since 2003, accumulated nearly 20 years of on-ground knowledge on the Chinese economy and financial markets, and has a wealth of contacts with China corporates and government entities. 

Osbert has received votes from top-tier institutional investors and has been a highly-ranked transport and infrastructure analyst in the Asiamoney, Institutional Investors and Greenwich surveys. In addition to his extensive experience with international investment banks including RBS, ABN AMRO (both served as Shanghai Chief Representative), Paribas Asia Equity, Maybank Kim Eng and DBS Securities, he has been a senior analyst with Moody’s Investors Service with focus on ratings of China infrastructure and related LGFV issuers. He has also worked in the area of strategic development at Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited. 

Osbert holds a BBA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a MSSc in Applied Psychology from the City University of Hong Kong. He was accredited with the CFA charter in 1997, and is a member of both British Psychological Society and Hong Kong Psychological Society.

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

Beneficiaries of China's 14th 5-Year Tourism Industry Development Plan

China Southern Airlines (1055 HK): Profit, Profit, Profit in 3Q20

China Southern Airlines (1055 HK): Facing Stronger Headwinds

Air China (753 HK): Positive Implications from CX's May Traffic Announcement

Chinese Airlines: China Southern (1055 HK) Seeing More Pressure than Air China (753 HK)

Equity Bottom-Up

China Southern Airlines / Equity Bottom-Up

<p>The sharp rally in share price of <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> seems to be too excessive as fundamentals are still weak and traffic is facing headwind. While outlook for border opening has improved and collection of fuel surcharges has restarted, we see 4Q21 and early-FY22 stay challenging for China's biggest domestic airline. Its return to loss of Rmb1.4bn in 3Q21, vs. profit of Rmb377m a year ago, is a clear demonstration of the tough operating situation in the near term.</p><p>CSA's number of scheduled flights on China's top five routes has so far averaged at 61 per day for 4Q, down significantly by 34% YoY, and we think this will reflect unfavourably on the 4Q21 result. Market consensus expectation of a profitable 4Q21 looks clearly aggressive given that its loss was Rmb3.3bn in 4Q20. While the latest developments are positive, they are not enough to change the big picture, in our view. Also, <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> is a better play than CSA on China's potential border opening some time in FY22. </p>

The sharp rally in share price of China Southern Airlines (1055 HK) seems to be too excessive as fundamentals are still weak and traffic is facing headwind. While outlook for border opening has improved and collection of fuel surcharges has restarted, we see 4Q21 and early-FY22 stay challenging for China's biggest domestic airline. Its return to loss of Rmb1.4bn in 3Q21, vs. profit of Rmb377m a year ago, is a clear demonstration of the tough operating situation in the near term.CSA's number of scheduled flights on China's top five routes has so far averaged at 61 per day for 4Q, down significantly by 34% YoY, and we think this will reflect unfavourably on the 4Q21 result. Market consensus expectation of a profitable 4Q21 looks clearly aggressive given that its loss was Rmb3.3bn in 4Q20. While the latest developments are positive, they are not enough to change the big picture, in our view. Also, Air China Ltd (H) (753 HK) is a better play than CSA on China's potential border opening some time in FY22. 