Why Chinese Tech Stocks Continue to Rally

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Shares of Chinese tech leaders Tencent (OTC: TCEHY), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), and Bilibili (NASDAQ: BILI) rallied again today, up 4%, 3%, and 9.3%, respectively, as of 12:04 p.m. ET.

Chinese stocks have been on a tear ever since last week's big stimulus announcements. But China stocks continued to rally this week, as each new day seemingly brings news of more stimulus measures, and Chinese stocks remain much cheaper than other markets around the world.

Still cheap compared with the U.S.

Chinese tech stocks have rallied ever since the Chinese central bank lowered a slew of interest rate benchmarks, lowered capital requirements for banks, and lowered down payment requirements for Chinese homebuyers early last week. Then later in the week, Chinese Politburo officials indicated more fiscal stimulus would be coming directly to struggling households.

Over the weekend, even more measures were undertaken, as China announced Sunday it would allow homeowners to refinance their mortgages. While normal in the U.S., China's homeowners had previously been unable to take advantage of lower rates if they had an existing mortgage. Housing measures are especially key, as China's consumers have the bulk of their savings tied up in real estate.

To get a sense of how desperate Chinese officials are about reviving growth and China's capital markets, the government even set aside $114 billion for companies to repurchase their own stock, and to incentivize local insurance companies to buy Chinese stocks as well.

Meanwhile, equity analysts continue to grow more optimistic on Chinese stocks. This is likely due to their much lower valuation than U.S. stocks, even after this recent rally. Two days ago, research firm Morningstar declared Chinese stocks were "still undervalued" even despite the recent rally. After all, China's CSI 300 index still remains 30% below its 2021 highs.

Tencent, JD, and Bilibili all play heavily into the Chinese consumer economy, with Tencent being the country's largest video game publisher and social media company, JD.com being one of the country's largest e-commerce stocks, and Bilibili a comics- and gaming-oriented media site.

While each company has seen slowing growth or even negative growth recently, the prospects of an economic turnaround for Chinese consumers would benefit each handsomely. As you can see, even with the recent rally, Tencent, JD, and Bilibili remain 44%, 63%, and 85% below their all-time highs, respectively.

TCEHY Percent Off All-Time High Chart
TCEHY Percent Off All-Time High Chart

What to do?

Some feel the Chinese rally has much more to go, while other investors think that the structural problems that led to the downturn in China's markets in the first place aren't going away.