Last week, Alibaba (BABA) ended its downtrend when the e-commerce giant rose from $90 to over
$100. Had the markets not sold off, BABA stock would have traded to $103 or higher.
JD.com, another e-commerce firm based in China, rose. The previous week, on August 23, 2022, JD
posted a non-GAAP EPS of 61 cents. Revenue topped $40 billion. JD and BABA stock rallied because the
U.S. and China announced a preliminary agreement. The two entities said that U.S. auditors would have
access to New York-listed Chinese firms.
The preliminary agreement is the first step in satisfying the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(or PCAOB). Chinese firms must open access to PCAOB to inspect companies with their headquarter in
Hong Kong and China.
Investors seeking exposure to China may consider Weibo (WB), a blogging website, and Vipshop
Holdings (VIPS), a discount retailer. In the gaming sector, NetEase (NTES) is attractive. And in the
autonomous driving space, Baidu (BIDU), which also runs the Google of China, is worth considering.
Offshore investors are most keen on Alibaba. The company sells goods online to Western customers,
albeit at low volumes. Shareholders are betting that the CCP will no longer levy punitive anti-growth
regulators against it. This bet is hardly risk-free. Still, the SEC and China agreement is a good start.
