Last week was a lousy one for tech investors, and things didn't get any prettier in China.
However, several of China's publicly traded Internet companies did come through with better-than-expected results.
Sure, a lot of them are still losing money. Investors are also naturally hesitant about buying into a country where the government has made it clear that it doesn't trust cyberspace. No one said that buying into new media in China was going to be a risk-free proposition. However, it's always encouraging to see a niche landing well ahead of the prognosticators.
Let's take a quick look at the five market thumpers.
|
Company |
EPS (Estimated) |
EPS (Actual) |
My Watchlist |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dangdang |
($0.24) | ($0.20) | Add |
|
Renren |
($0.04) | ($0.03) | Add |
|
SINA |
($0.23) | ($0.21) | Add |
|
SouFun |
$0.10 | $0.16 | Add |
|
Sky-mobi |
$0.07 | $0.09 | Add |
Source: Thomson Reuters.
Dangdang is a leading online retailer in China. It got its start selling books -- just as our country's top e-tailer did -- but it has branched out into broader items with meatier price tags.
Renren is China's leading social networking website operator. Even in a restrictive country that requires social network users to use their real names, there's growth to be had here.
SINA climbed higher on encouraging monetization news with its popular Weibo micro-blogging platform, but the bottom-line results show that SINA is also losing less money than what the pros had originally feared.
SouFun runs a top real estate and home furnishing Internet portal in China. This may seem like a bad business to be in as the country's real estate bubble pops and the country guides toward slower economic growth, but revenue did surge 43% in its latest quarter.
Sky-mobi -- a fledgling upstart trying to build an App Store equivalent in China -- also earned more than what analysts were expecting.
Betting on China
Even if three of these companies simply earned less than what the market was expecting -- and one of the other two hit a 52-week low after last week's report -- the opportunities are still worth taking for those willing to deal with the high risks in the pursuit of high rewards.
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