Already a subscriber?James Thom is senior investment director of abrdn Sustainable Asian Opportunities Fund from Singapore. The firm oversees around £495bn in assets globally.Alibaba is looking very unloved
at the moment trading on approximately 8 times price to earnings whilst generating huge amounts of cash. Its free cash flow yield is around 9 per cent. While its near-term growth has been under pressure, the company has a credible strategy to take back market share and stabilise margins in its core e-commerce business.
Chinese stocks have had lacklustre performance since the reopening of the economy from the pandemic. What’s your view on them now?who are prone to overshooting on the way and on the way down too. There is a clear disconnect today between share price movements and fundamentals. Last year we saw outsized share price declines in individual stocks in China, whilst fundamentally they are still delivering robust double-digit earnings growth and are set to continue doing so over the medium term.
Indonesia, meanwhile, is often overlooked by investors, but it is a market with favourable demographics, an emerging middle class, healthy economic growth and a smooth outcome at the recent elections that points to policy continuity and stability.We’re turning incrementally more constructive on Asian equities this year.
There are still plenty of headwinds. China is still front and centre of investor concerns, but we see fundamentals and valuations as supportive of the outlook for Asian equities. Fundamentals are improving, with consensus estimates forecasting 17 per cent earnings growth for 2024, up from a slight contraction last year. Valuations are also undemanding with the forward price to earnings in line with the 15-year average and a widening discount versus global and US equities.