China Mobile Hong Kong (CHL-N)

A name that they have looked at over time. It is a stock that has not done much for a long time. China is a big market, and it should benefit from 5g rollout but it has not been reflected in the stock price. There are safer investments elsewhere, such as Verizon.

This is the major mobile company in a large market. They are experiencing the same problem that other large players are facing: everyone already has a smartphone. There is growth opportunity in China, but he expects to see average revenue per subscriber slowing down. He thinks the big run in that sector has come and gone and is being replaced by Netflix-type companies. In China, there is also a lot of pressure on pricing. Around the world, the mobile communications providers are all becoming more mature businesses.

Suffering an 11-year low. Global investors put money in this. It has no effective debt. Safe dividend. A constant underperformer. Alibaba has attracted capital away from CHL. This is now cheap. Good balance sheet. Good long-term investment in an economy that continues to rise.

This is a very good company, well-positioned, but it is facing pricing pressure. The market share is around 80% so there is not much room for growth. Their recently-released earnings were decent. They increased the dividend a little. This company, like other large mobile operators, is more a dividend play than a growth opportunity. There stock has been drifting lower this year because there is not much interest in the name at this time.

5G is coming to a billion people in China, and they only have half a billion signed up so far. This is interesting because it is a domestic Chinese stock that pretty much has a built-in market without competition. This is more of a blue-chip yield play, as opposed to expectations of a lot of growth, but they may start to see better times ahead. This will put more smart phones in the hands of rural Chinese. Go slowly into this, because you never know what could happen in the Chinese stock market.

This is usually a direct beneficiary for Europeans wanting exposure to China. In the last while, we have seen the opening up of the Chinese market via the Hong Kong market. The strategy has put some capital into other major Chinese corporations. The company is cheaper now than it was during the global financial crisis. They paid a special dividend earlier in the year, when they sold off their towers. This typically tends to band trade higher in an upward direction. At the moment it’s at the bottom of its low-end range. It has more cash than debt, so the dividend is a very safe. Dividend yield of 3.6%. (Analysts’ price target is $68.70.)

He thinks it is attractively priced right now and would recommend it. They have an 80% market share. They are a leader in the world in terms of ecommerce through WeChat usage. We are starting to see them increasing their dividend.

One of the 3 main telecoms in China, and is the largest by subscriber base. Very well-run. Has about a 3.2% dividend yield. Payout ratio is very low and the stock is inexpensive. She likes this.

They have the most mobile subscribers in the world. Users are going up, but operating profit has been stuck for 5 years. Dividend 3.5%. 12 times earnings is expensive globally.

World’s largest telecom. The trouble is, they are growing subscribers, but it has a lot of headwinds. Because of that, it is hard for them to grow revenue, and even harder for them to grow profits.

Has more cash than it has debt outstanding so the balance sheet is very solid. Fairly recently, from a context of a slowing China, there is a bunch of restructuring going on and there is massive deregulation going on in the telecom market, which will be advantageous to this company. They are now bringing in the 4G product line so you should see some gradual growth. Has the balance sheet to be able to increase its dividend.