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I don't know why China is shooting itself in the foot, but that's exactly what its latest crackdowns have done.
Last week, Beijing announced an abrupt end of for-profit tutoring in the country, stating "curriculum subject-tutoring institutions are not allowed to go public for financing; listed companies should not invest in the institutions, and foreign capital is barred from such institutions." That was the message for companies.
The message for investors: Get the hell out of Dodge. That message was received loud and clear, as Chinese stocks suffered their worst two-day fall since the bad old days of 2008.
But now, all kinds of Chinese stocks are in trouble.
More than $770 billion has been wiped off the value of U.S.-listed Chinese stocks in the past five months. The NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index (INDEX: HXC), an index following the biggest Chinese stocks in the United States, is down over 40% over the same period.
Chinese stocks are getting the teeth knocked out of them, and almost every industry is getting torched.
So here's what to do when the markets open Monday...
Sell These Companies for the Time Being
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is the biggie. Known as the "Amazon of China," it's been an e-commerce king for years. But what was once a $320 stock hasn't seen the $300 level since last October. As I type, it's trading around $183 - and falling from there. This stock is down almost 30% over the past six months. Maybe the sun will come out again for this one, but for now, it's a firm sell.
Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) is another tech company taking a major hit. Baidu ought to be humming along as one of the largest artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet companies in the world. But after hitting a high in February, this stock has been on a one-way train south, down about 54% from that February high.
Are you sensing a pattern here? JD.Com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) is yet another e-commerce company that's feeling the heat of China's latest crackdowns. This thing has been on a downward trend since mid-February, when it hit its 52-week high of $108. Since May, however, JD has been trading from the low $60s to the high $70s, unable to get even close to reclaiming that triple-digit territory. And after this move from China, I don't see it getting there anytime soon.
Let's move out of big tech - remember, almost all Chinese stocks are hurting. Even the good ones. And the "Uber of China" is no exception. DiDi Global Inc. (NYSE: DIDI) just went public in the United States at the beginning of the month. And it's already down almost 50% in a tragic post-IPO performance that's only going to get worse. Sell, and stay sold until you hear otherwise.
Fortunately for most investors, there's plenty of opportunity unfolding stateside. There are around 500 companies looking to go public in the United States right now - an explosion in entrepreneurial innovation. It's now become possible for regular investors to secure "pre-IPO rights" in some of these companies. When and if these firms go public and hit the big exchanges, it's possible for these rights to skyrocket in value. And by "skyrocket," I mean peak gains of 2,088%, 6,566%, 8,280%, 9,075%, even 27,550% have been seen in some rare, exceptional cases. With profit potential like this at home, who needs Chinese ADRs? You can click right here to get the story on pre-IPO rights from Shah Gilani.
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Yeh, but NIO is a value stock, an extremely well run Chinese car manufacturer backed by the Chinese government. You would want to buy this one!