Apple Supplier Loses Half Its Value But Foreign Funds Just Won't Sell

[tacobell fan]

Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co. has lost $5 billion, or half its value, since the summer, swept up in a global rout of companies that make up Apple Inc.’s supply chain. Yet foreign investors remain enamored of the Chinese laser tools maker.

As of this week, foreign investors held about 17 percent of Han’s Laser through the northbound arm of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect: the highest proportion among more than 700 stocks that foreigners can invest in via the two-year-old market link. That’s despite a brutal drubbing that’s pushed the company to its cheapest per-share valuation in over five years. A manufacturer of laser cutting and welding gear for consumer electronics labels from Samsung to Sony, it’s trading at its lowest in roughly a year.

Admirers of Han’s Laser believe it’s close to a bottom in the wake of Apple boss Tim Cook’s surprise outlook cut in January, the culmination of months of concerns about iPhone demand that’ve walloped partners such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Mounting evidence that China’s economy is cooling more rapidly than expected is also punishing industrial firms. The stock was trading at about 14 times 2019 earnings as of Tuesday after touching 13 on Jan. 3 -- its lowest since mid-2013.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-22/the-chinese-apple-supplier-that-foreign-funds-just-won-t-sell

[tacobell fan]

what a burn the slowdown from China economy is causing for all these underlying suppliers.