Connect with us

Published

on

Alibaba's historic restructuring may show Beijing is warming to Chinese tech giants

Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the Chinese tech sector began in late 2020, wiping off more than a combined $1 trillion from the country’s biggest companies.

There are now signs that the central government is softening its stance towards internet titans like Alibaba, in a move that could prove positive for Chinese tech stocks.

“The regulatory headwinds that we had in the past two years … that’s now becoming from a headwind to a tailwind,” George Efstathopoulos, portfolio manager at Fidelity International, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Alibaba announced a major reorganization, looking to split its company into six business units, in an initiative “designed to unlock shareholder value and foster market competitiveness.”

Over the past two years, China’s government has often railed against the “disorderly expansion of capital” of tech firms that have grown into large conglomerates. Part of Alibaba’s announcement noted that these splintered businesses could raise outside capital and even go public, seemingly heading in a contrary direction to Beijing’s concerns.

Efstathopoulos said that the move could indicate a green light from the upper echelons of the Chinese government.

“You have senior leadership blessing for unlocking value, and, to me, that is a fantastic indication where we are now essentially moving from regulation not being the issue that it was,” Efstathopoulos said.

Jack Ma’s return

Alibaba’s restructure isn’t the only sign that Beijing could be easing up its scrutiny of the tech sector. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, returned to public view in China for the first time in months.

Some credit Ma with sparking the start of the tech crackdown in October 2020, when the billionaire made comments that appeared critical of China’s financial regulator. A few days later, Ant Group, the financial technology affiliate of Alibaba that was controlled by Ma, was forced to scrap its massive Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing, after regulators said it did not meet the requirements to go public.

Following this, the Chinese government doled out huge antitrust fines to Alibaba and food delivery giant Meituan, introducing a slew of regulation in areas from data protection to the way in which companies can use algorithms.

Ma’s reappearance in Hangzhou, where Alibaba is headquartered, has been read as another sign of Beijing’s more positive view toward the tech sector and entrepreneurs.

“Jack just didn’t show up in Hangzhou because he was tired of traveling around. I think it was well orchestrated and fits with the government’s campaign to demonstrate that, you know, they are relaxing pressures on their private sectors and are welcoming the rest of the world,” Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma's return to China was 'well orchestrated,' says Stephen Roach

Economic growth in focus

There have been further signs of regulatory easing over the past few weeks.

The gaming sector was hard hit in 2021, as authorities grew concerned about addiction among young people in China. Chinese regulators froze the approval of new game releases for several months. Last April, authorities began to green light new games, mainly from domestic firms. This month, the video game licensing regulator gave its stamp of approval to a batch of foreign titles for release in China.

Meanwhile, Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi — one of the companies caught up in the regulatory overhaul — announced plans to expand its business. Didi went public in the U.S. in June 2021, but found itself subjected to a cybersecurity review by Chinese regulators within days of listing. It eventually delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and plans to float in Hong Kong.

Over the last few days, foreign technology executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon visited China and met with government officials.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, reappeared in the public view in China for the first time in months. Alibaba then announced a huge reorganization of its business. Experts see the move as a signal that the Chinese government is softening its stance toward tech giants after a crackdown that began in late 2020.

Jean Chung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In addition to warming to the domestic tech sector, China is also courting foreign business. Its economy has been battered over the past two years, thanks in part to the country’s strict Covid policies and regulatory tightening. The government now aims for around 5% economic growth this year.

To achieve that, it will need the help of private businesses — including the tech sector.

“China is facing both weak economic growth and rising tech competition from the U.S. It’s a pretty tough position to be in. So they need the economy to fire on all cylinders. Tough regulations on big tech platforms just doesn’t make sense at this juncture,” Linghao Bao, tech analyst at Trivium China, told CNBC via email.

Is China tech out of the woods yet?

Continue Reading

Technology

Wall Street is anxious to hear Apple CEO Tim Cook’s first public comments on tariffs

Published

on

By

Wall Street is anxious to hear Apple CEO Tim Cook's first public comments on tariffs

Apple CEO Tim Cook poses as Apple holds an event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, 2024.

Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters

The most anticipated part of Apple’s Thursday earnings won’t be iPhone sales or Mac forecasts – it’ll be CEO Tim Cook’s comments on how the company is dealing with President Donald Trump’s tariffs. 

Apple is one of the most exposed companies to Trump’s tariffs and expected retaliation. It makes about three-quarters of its overall revenue from physical goods — iPhones, Macs and Apple Watches — mostly made in China or elsewhere in Asia. And the U.S. is its largest market.

“It’s how Apple responds to ‘everything else’ that will set the tone for post-earnings sentiment,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring in a Monday note.

He has an overweight rating on the stock, and wants to hear what Cook and Apple finance chief Kevan Parekh have to say about how the company is mitigating supply chain and tariffs risks, if Apple will raise prices or eat costs, and the status of Cook’s relationships with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Apple hasn’t commented on the hefty tariffs Trump announced for every country in the world on April 2, but they represent a deep threat to the iPhone maker’s supply chain and sent the company’s share price down 9%. 

“We are monitoring the situation and don’t have anything more to add than that,” Cook said during Apple’s January earnings call. Those were the company’s most recent comments on Trump’s trade policy.

Apple is perhaps the highest-profile example of a company that’s gotten caught up in Trump’s trade war. 

It’s the most valuable U.S. company, hundreds of millions of Americans own iPhones and Cook built his reputation in Silicon Valley as an operations expert who keeps Apple’s inventory low and its logistics tight.

But Apple and Cook have stayed tight-lipped publicly even as Trump administration officials called for the company to move iPhone production to the U.S., imagining millions of Americans “screwing in little screws” to build the devices.

The White House suggested that Apple was capable of building iPhones in the U.S., something that many analysts said is impossible at worst and would result in a $3,500 iPhone at best

“I speak to Tim Cook. I helped Tim Cook, recently, and that whole business,” Trump said in an oval office briefing earlier this month after he delayed the highest-tariffs on non-China nations for 90 days. It was a move that boosted Apple stock. Cook has maintained a line of communication with the Trump administration, according to Trump, dating back to his first term.

Apple CEO Tim Cook escorts President Donald Trump as he tours Apple’s Mac Pro manufacturing plant with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin looking on in Austin, Texas, November 20, 2019.

Tom Brenner | Reuters

Now it’s time to hear from Apple itself. 

The tariffs are a material issue that will eventually affect the company’s financials. TD Cowen predicts that the current tariffs will cost Apple about 6% of its annual earnings this year. Apple reported about $94 billion in profit in its fiscal 2024.

It’s not just investors that want a peek into Apple’s thinking — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioned Cook about what he discussed with the Trump administration ahead of the president’s decision to pause tariffs on non-China nations.

Apple’s share price remains lower than it was on April 2, even though analysts have said the pause will give Apple some flexibility to avoid the highest tariffs, thanks to its production locations in India and Vietnam.

Several recent reports have said that Apple will try to source as many iPhones as possible from from India, which only faces a 10% tariff, to avoid the highest 145% tariffs on China. But although Apple has been ramping up iPhone production in India since 2017, the company has only recently begun to ship commercially significant quantities in recent years, and Apple hasn’t confirmed the pivot to India or discussed its Indian production capabilities.

“While it’s possible for all 25 million of India capacity to be allocated to the US near-term, we think it could take approximately a year for production to double to 50 million overall,” TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote Monday, saying that Apple is expected to sell between 65 million and 70 million iPhones in the U.S. this year.

Apple declined to comment on sourcing iPhones to the U.S. from India.

Another closely-watched metric will be Apple’s China revenue, which could indicate if rising nationalism will hurt iPhone sales in the company’s third largest market, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Some analysts have noted that the smartphone owners in China are more likely to switch phone brands than Western consumers. There’s concern that now those Chinese consumers could take cues from media and government officials and buy Chinese phone brands, such as phones made by Huawei.

Dipanjan Chatterjee, principal analyst at Forrester, said that if Apple were to move a lot of production out of China, it would also have to consider if that could upset the Chinese consumer.

“If Apple is going to pull production out of China, that’s not going to go down well in that market,” Chatterjee said. “They’re going to hedge. You’re going to see a lot more saying and a little bit of tinkering and not a whole lot of doing.”

Analysts polled by FactSet expect Apple to report $1.62 in earnings per share on $94.19 billion in sales, which would be an almost 4% revenue increase on an annual basis.

WATCH: Street’s biggest Apple bear says a production move to India is unrealistic

Street's biggest Apple bear says a production move to India is unrealistic

Continue Reading

Technology

GE HealthCare beats on earnings, slashes full year outlook due to tariffs

Published

on

By

GE HealthCare beats on earnings, slashes full year outlook due to tariffs

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

GE HealthCare reported better-than-expected first-quarter results on Wednesday, but the company slashed its annual forecast to account for the impact of President Donald Trump’s far-reaching reciprocal tariff policy.

Shares of GE HealthCare were up 3% Wednesday.

Here’s how the company did:

  • Earnings per share: $1.01 adjusted vs. 91 cents expected by LSEG.
  • Revenue: $4.78 billion vs. $4.66 billion expected by LSEG.

Revenue increased 3% year over year from $4.65 billion. GE HealthCare reported net income of $564 million, or $1.23 per share, up from $374 million, or 81 cents per share, during the same period last year.

For its full year, GE HealthCare said it expects to report adjusted earnings in the range of $3.90 to $4.10 per share, which is a decline of 13% to 9% from its guide last quarter. The company said the range includes roughly 85 cents per share of tariff impact.

“Regarding the current global trade environment, we are actively driving mitigation actions,” GE HealthCare  CEO Peter Arduini said in a statement. “We continue to see strong customer demand in many of the markets we serve and are well-positioned to drive long-term value as we invest in future innovation.”

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

GE HealthCare’s stock over a one month period.

GE HealthCare sells a range of medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, imaging solutions, AI tools and data analytics solutions. The company manufactures its products in 20 countries and serves customers in more than 160 countries around the globe, according to its website.

On April 2, Trump introduced his tariff policy, which initially established a 10% baseline tariff on almost every country, though many nations such as China, Vietnam and Taiwan were subject to much steeper rates. Days later, Trump dropped those steeper rates to 10% for 90 days to allow trade negotiations with those countries.

China remains a notable exception, as Trump has imposed cumulative tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods this year. This brings the total tariffs on some products from China to as high as 245%, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.

GE HealthCare has a substantial presence in China, and Arduini told investors Wednesday that the company has “conservatively assumed” that the bilateral US and China tariffs will account for 75% of its total net tariff impact.

The company announced in February that Johnson & Johnson veteran Will Song will lead its China business as CEO starting in July.

WATCH: GE Healthcare CEO Peter Arduini goes one-on-one with Jim Cramer

GE Healthcare CEO Peter Arduini talks AI investments

Continue Reading

Technology

Snap sinks 15% after withholding guidance, citing ad concerns

Published

on

By

Snap sinks 15% after withholding guidance, citing ad concerns

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc., speaks onstage during the Snap Partner Summit 2023 at Barker Hangar on April 19, 2023 in Santa Monica, California. 

Joe Scarnici | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Snap shares fell more than 15% Wednesday after the social media company withheld second-quarter guidance due to the uncertain macroeconomic environment.

“While our topline revenue has continued to grow, we have experienced headwinds to start the current quarter, and we believe it is prudent to continue to balance our level of investment with realized revenue growth,” the company said Tuesday, adding that macro conditions could impact advertising demand.

Snap’s finance chief Derek Andersen said during an earnings call that some advertisers are already seeing an impact from changes to the de minimis exemption. The loophole, which ends Friday, currently allows shipments under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free.

President Donald Trump‘s shifting tariff plans have created an unsettling backdrop for companies this earnings season. Fears of a weakening economy have also fueled concerns that companies could ease up advertising spending, where Snap makes a key component of revenues.

The company said ad revenues grew 9% year over year to $1.21 billion during the quarter.

Read more CNBC tech news

Despite holding back on guidance, Snap reported 14% revenue growth, up from $1.19 billion a year ago to $1.36 billion. Snap’s loss also narrowed 54% to $140 million, or 8 cents per share, from about $305 million, or 19 cents, last year. The loss was due to a $70.1 million charge related to cash severance, stock-based compensation expenses and other costs associated with a 2024 restructuring.

Snap also signaled ongoing user growth. Daily active users grew to 460 million, up from 453 million the previous quarter. The company said it hit 900 million monthly active users, up from 850 million in August, the last time Snap provided that stat. DAUs fell to 99 million from 100 million in North America during the period, but Snap says it doesn’t expect more declines this quarter.

Many on Wall Street expect the company’s lack of visibility into the second quarter and macro backdrop to weigh on shares and adjusted price targets to account for it.

“While [price-to-sales ratio] is nearing a historical bottom and could support stock, we reiterate our neutral rating as Snap has been pressured more than peers in prior macro downturns,” said Bank of America’s Justin Post.

Other social media companies saw shares move lower Tuesday, including Pinterest, down 5%, Reddit, down 6%, and Meta, down 3%.

WATCH: Ad spending shifts amid tariffs: Here’s what to know

Ad spending shifts amid tariffs: Here's what to know

Continue Reading

Trending