China New Economy Equity Analyst, Blue Lotus Research Institute

Robert McKay

China New Economy Equity Analyst

China growth and global non-US Internet equities

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Blue Lotus Research is a Hong Kong Type 4 Licensed investment advisory firm focusing on Chinese growth equities and global non-US Internet equities

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Despite wide-spread social media expectations of China's electronics industry benefiting from Middle East supply chain disruptions following explosive incidents, September trade data suggested otherwise;</li>
<li>Middle East exports declined 2.1% yoy, underperforming other regions, while electronics were worse, declining 7.0% yoy. Communication device exports to Iran, Palestine and Lebanon were among the worst performing categories;</li>
<li>This suggests terrorist related trade was a negligible portion. As customs data are two-way verifiable, we believe we can safely conclude China doesn't benefit from the war in Mid East.</li>
</ul>


Despite wide-spread social media expectations of China's electronics industry benefiting from Middle East supply chain disruptions following explosive incidents, September trade data suggested otherwise;
Middle East exports declined 2.1% yoy, underperforming other regions, while electronics were worse, declining 7.0% yoy. Communication device exports to Iran, Palestine and Lebanon were among the worst performing categories;
This suggests terrorist related trade was a negligible portion. As customs data are two-way verifiable, we believe we can safely conclude China doesn't benefit from the war in Mid East.


Did China Exports Really Benefit from the Israel/Lebanon Pager Attack?

<ul>
<li>Following a year of pure low-price competition, e-commerce platforms are shifting towards providing better services to customers - the major focus of this upgrade has been logistics. </li>
<li>This shift has has manifested through (1) the opening of Taobao/Tmall's merchant back-end to JD Logistics, (2) the resurgence of O2O, and (3) algorithm weighting tilt towards higher-scoring merchants.</li>
<li>Amid this shift we prefer JD Logistics (2618 HK) followed by ZTO (ZTO US). We are most negative towards S.F. Holding (002352 CH) followed by J&amp;T Express (1519 HK).</li>
</ul>


Following a year of pure low-price competition, e-commerce platforms are shifting towards providing better services to customers - the major focus of this upgrade has been logistics. 
This shift has has manifested through (1) the opening of Taobao/Tmall's merchant back-end to JD Logistics, (2) the resurgence of O2O, and (3) algorithm weighting tilt towards higher-scoring merchants.
Amid this shift we prefer JD Logistics (2618 HK) followed by ZTO (ZTO US). We are most negative towards S.F. Holding (002352 CH) followed by J&amp;T Express (1519 HK).


Major Changes in China's Last-Mile Delivery Market: Who Wins, Who Loses?

<ul>
<li>China consumption shows rebounding demand following appreciation in asset values and home appliance subsidies. A record number of parcels were delivered last week, while home appliance sales grew rapidly;</li>
<li>We’ve raised 4Q estimates for online shopping growth given the recent demand trends which we expect to sustain through the quarter, so long as stimulus remains forthcoming;</li>
<li>JD and BABA remain our top ecommerce picks given their exposure to recent home appliance subsidies, as well as benefiting from a longer-term improvement in consumer sentiment.</li>
</ul>


China consumption shows rebounding demand following appreciation in asset values and home appliance subsidies. A record number of parcels were delivered last week, while home appliance sales grew rapidly;
We’ve raised 4Q estimates for online shopping growth given the recent demand trends which we expect to sustain through the quarter, so long as stimulus remains forthcoming;
JD and BABA remain our top ecommerce picks given their exposure to recent home appliance subsidies, as well as benefiting from a longer-term improvement in consumer sentiment.


Old E-Commerce Names Are The Biggest Winners of New Stimulus

Equity Bottom-Up

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. operates as an express delivery company. The Company provides express delivery service through their nationwide network, as well as other value-added logistics services. ZTO Express serves customers globally.

<ul>
<li>Amid fierce low-price competition in 1H24, low-end couriers  benefited from merchant demand for cheap logistics. However, new platform policies suggest greater emphasis on quality logistics and O2O in 2H24;</li>
<li>The shift towards higher-end logistics is manifesting through O2O. Spearheaded by Meituan, O2O is an experiment to copy Coupang's business model in China. We believe there is a sizable market;</li>
<li>We see ZTO as best positioned amid the changing environment, JDL least impacted, with J&amp;T and SFE in the least favorable positions.</li>
</ul>


Amid fierce low-price competition in 1H24, low-end couriers  benefited from merchant demand for cheap logistics. However, new platform policies suggest greater emphasis on quality logistics and O2O in 2H24;
The shift towards higher-end logistics is manifesting through O2O. Spearheaded by Meituan, O2O is an experiment to copy Coupang's business model in China. We believe there is a sizable market;
We see ZTO as best positioned amid the changing environment, JDL least impacted, with J&amp;T and SFE in the least favorable positions.


Logistics Shift to Quality Amid Evolved Ecommerce Plans

NVIDIA Corporation designs, develops, and markets three dimensional (3D) graphics processors and related software.  The Company's products provide interactive 3D graphics to the mainstream personal computer market.

<ul>
<li>Nvidia's H20 and upcoming B20 were launched to comply with China export controls, and have remained successful due to deficiencies and supply issues for Huawei's Ascend AI accelerators.</li>
<li>However, Nvidia's China success will be short-lived due to increasing LLM compute requirements and no method for it to offer a more performance dense offering due to export controls.</li>
<li>Not only will Huawei's upcoming Ascend AI accelerator mitigate this issue, but it will likely also aim to address some of the other deficiencies of the Ascend platform too.</li>
</ul>


Nvidia's H20 and upcoming B20 were launched to comply with China export controls, and have remained successful due to deficiencies and supply issues for Huawei's Ascend AI accelerators.
However, Nvidia's China success will be short-lived due to increasing LLM compute requirements and no method for it to offer a more performance dense offering due to export controls.
Not only will Huawei's upcoming Ascend AI accelerator mitigate this issue, but it will likely also aim to address some of the other deficiencies of the Ascend platform too.


Nvidia's China Dominance in AI Accelerator Has Serious Deficiencies

Robert covers semiconductor, e-commerce, logistics, and photovoltaics equities across China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia markets.

Robert earned his Bachelor's in Finance from the University of Alberta and studied at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is a CFA Charterholder and holds additional certificates for Python and Chinese.