After three straight years of decline, Chinese tech company Tencent is poised for gains in 2024. The stock is up more than 3% for the year so far, in contrast with a decline of more than 4% in Hong Kong’s main Hang Seng Index. Tencent, largely known for its gaming and social media businesses, is the biggest stock in the index with a market capitalization of more than $350 billion. The first quarter should “mark the trough” in Tencent’s games business, Morgan Stanley equity analyst Gary Yu and a team said in a report on April 14. “We expect games growth to be down 4% YoY (vs cons down 3% YoY) mainly due to soft domestic growth. That said, our previous expectation of 2Q seeing an inflection point remains intact.” The firm is overweight on Tencent shares, with a price target of 400 Hong Kong dollars ($51). That’s more than 30% above where the stock closed Friday. Chinese authorities resumed approvals of Tencent’s games in late 2022 after a freeze of more than a year. When asked in late March about the risk of new restrictions, management said that regulators have made it clear they intend to “provide a healthy environment for growing the industry rather than constraining the industry.” That’s according to a FactSet transcript of an earnings call. Most of Tencent’s gains this year have come after that quarterly earnings report. The company’s other major revenue generators include advertising, financial technology and business services. “Among our [Asia ex-Japan internet] stock coverage, Tencent is our top pick considering its diversified business models and margin expansion story,” Jefferies analysts said in a note on April 17 about their meetings in the last week with European investors. Also helping analysts’ optimism on the stock are Tencent’s share buybacks. Morgan Stanley’s Yu pointed out that Tencent has announced it would repurchase at least $13 billion in 2024 — more than double last year’s buyback program — for a yield of about 5%. The buybacks offset an ongoing sell-down by Prosus of its holdings in the Chinese company to fund its own share repurchase program. Prosus is a Netherlands-based company owned by Naspers, an early investor in Tencent. “Based on Prosus’ current run-rate of share sale in 1Q24, Tencent’s total buyback for 2024 will be around 2 times of Prosus’ share sale,” Charlene Liu, HSBC’s Head of Internet and Gaming Research, Asia Pacific, said in a report on April 16. “Tencent has increased its daily buyback to HKD1bn/day from HKD500m/day since mid-January,” the report said. HSBC has a buy rating on Tencent, with a target price of 385 Hong Kong dollars. The investment firm also expects Tencent’s game business to turn around soon, albeit not until the second half of this year. “While the inability to undertake buybacks during the blackout period [one month before earnings] can weigh on the share price near term, a persistent recovery in the games business and resilient growth from ads, fintech and business services can help to sustain earnings growth supported by improving margin,” the HSBC report said. Tencent is set to release first quarter results on May 14. Chinese internet companies Alibaba and JD.com have also announced share buyback programs this year. “I believe that we’re definitely seeing more mature performances or behavior patterns, if you will, especially for the list[ed] companies to do buybacks, to do dividends,” Grant Pan, CFO of China-based wealth management firm Noah Holdings, told me in an interview Friday. “In the past predominantly it’s a valuation-driven stock market,” he said. “But now I think people are really not just looking for the valuation but [the] actual value of the company. Instead of looking for multiples they’re looking for the earning power.” Pan said that low liquidity in Hong Kong has also affected share prices in that market, but he hopes that can improve with a new CEO. The Hong Kong exchange’s co-COO Bonnie Chan is set to become head of the business in late May. Noah’s clients have also started inquiring more over the last two to three quarters about investments in China, Pan said, noting that prices are nearing a level at which there may be opportunities to buy. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
Elon Musk at the tenth Breakthrough Prize ceremony held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
The Hollywood Reporter | The Hollywood Reporter | Getty Images
On Saturday, Elon Musk shared who he is endorsing for Treasury secretary on X, a cabinet position President-elect Donald Trump has yet to announce his preference to fill.
Musk wrote that Howard Lutnick, Trump-Vance transition co-chair and CEO and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, BGC Group and Newmark Group chairman, will “actually enact change.”
Lutnick and Key Square Group founder and CEO Scott Bessent are reportedly top picks to run the Treasury Department.
Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, also included his thoughts on Bessent in his post on X.
“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice,” he wrote.
“Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt so we need change one way or another,” he added.
Musk also stated it would be “interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback.”
Howard Lutnick, chairman and chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, left, and Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a campaign event with former US President Donald Trump, not pictured, at Madison Square Garden in New York, US, on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
In a statement to Politico, Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt made it clear that the president-elect has not made any decisions regarding the position of Treasury secretary.
“President-elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second administration,” Leavitt said in a statement. “Those decisions will be announced when they are made.”
Both Lutnick and Bessent have close ties to Trump. Lutnick and Trump have known each other for decades, and the CEO has even hosted a fundraiser for the president-elect.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Lutnick has already been helping Trump review candidates for cabinet positions in his administration.
On the other hand, Bessent was a key economic advisor to the president-elect during his 2024 campaign. Bessent also received an endorsement from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, according to Semafor.
“He’s from South Carolina, I know him well, he’s highly qualified,” Graham said.
Money manager John Davi is positioning for challenges tied to President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
Davi said he worries the new administration’s policies could be “very inflationary,” so he thinks it is important to choose investments carefully.
“Small-cap industrials make more sense than large-cap industrials,” the Astoria Portfolio Advisors CEO told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.
Davi, who is also the firm’s chief investment officer, expects the red sweep will help push a pro-growth, pro-domestic policy agenda forward that will benefit small caps.
It appears Wall Street agrees so far. Since the presidential election, the Russell 2000 index, which tracks small-cap stocks, is up around 4% as of Friday’s close.
Davi, whose firm has $1.9 billion in assets under management, also likes staying domestic despite the tariff risks.
“We’re overweight the U.S. I think that’s the right playbook in the next few years until the midterms,” added Davi. “We have two years of where he [Trump] can control a lot of the narrative.”
But Davi plans to stay away from fixed income due to challenges tied to the growing budget deficit.
“Be careful if you own bonds for sure,” said Davi.
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Global pharma stocks — Shares of several vaccine makers declined after President-elect Donald Trump selected prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary on Thursday. Shares of Moderna and Pfizer slipped nearly 9% and 5%, respectively. BioNTech , which helped develop a Covid vaccine with Pfizer, shed 5%, while GSK declined about 2%. Even names such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk were lower, with both stocks slipping about 4%, amid concerns that the drug approval process could be slowed. Super Micro Computer — Shares of the embattled server company fell 2% ahead of a Monday deadline that could result in the company being delisted from the Nasdaq. Super Micro is late on filing a year-end report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, putting it on the wrong side of the Nasdaq’s rules. This would be the 11th losing day in the last 13 trading sessions for Super Micro. Alibaba — S hares slipped more than 2% after the Chinese e-commerce giant’s fiscal second-quarter sales fell short of estimates amid a weakening consumer backdrop in China. Alibaba’s revenue of 236.5 billion yuan came out 5% higher year on year but below analysts’ expectations of 238.9 billion yuan, per LSEG. Palantir — Shares jumped 7% after the analytics software provider said it is moving its listing to the Nasdaq Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange. Palantir expects to be eligible to join the Nasdaq-100 Index once it makes the switch. Domino’s Pizza , Pool Corp. , Ulta Beauty — Shares of the pizza chain edged up 0.3% after Warren Buffett ‘s Berkshire Hathaway announced a new stake in Domino’s, while Pool Corp. gained almost 2% as the conglomerate purchased a small stake in the swimming pool supplier. Ulta slipped nearly 3% after Berkshire Hathaway revealed in a regulatory filing that it had sold around 97% of its shares, nearly dissolving its position in the beauty retailer. Berkshire had just bought the stock in the second quarter, making Ulta a relatively new bet. AST SpaceMobile – Shares plunged more than 11% on the heels of the company’s weaker-than-expected third-quarter results. AST SpaceMobile reported a loss of $1.10 per share on revenue of $1.1 million. That’s well below the loss of 20 cents per share and $1.8 million in revenue that analysts were expecting, according to FactSet. Applied Materials — The semiconductor equipment manufacturer dropped 8% after providing a softer-than-forecast revenue outlook for the current quarter. Applied Materials told investors to expect $7.15 billion in the first fiscal quarter, less than the estimate of $7.22 billion from analysts polled by LSEG. However, the company beat expectations on both lines in the fourth fiscal quarter and issued positive guidance for adjusted earnings per share. — CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Hakyung Kim and Lisa Han contributed reporting.