Year: 2007

Categories
Saint Louis

Home Inns Mindray New Oriental

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Last Updated on March 7, 2007 by stlplace

These days you need some faith to hold those relatively new Chinese IPOs. I only have Mindray (MR) at this time, but I have traded HMIN and EDU before. All three stocks dropped a lot from it highs in a week. I just want to summerize my observation after spending 2 days in Shanghai, this is in no ways a comprehensive study.

Home Inns: it faces more competition. I went to Jinjiang Inn on Sunday with a friend, we need to book a room for another friend. It’s fairly easy. Maybe this is not a busy season. But I remember one or two years ago it’s not easy to book a room one day in advance. Also Marriot (the American hotel giant) bought a Chinese economy hotel chain “Xingyu Star” and renamed it as “Wan Jia Wan Hao”. It plans to open 300 hotels in a few years.

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Categories
Fun

United Adventures

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Last Updated on November 2, 2025 by stlplace

I have taken United Arlines (UA) flights from St. Louis to Shanghai couple times. This one is probablly most adventurous. The main problem was caused by the weather in Chicago. I thought this newly created ORD to PVG routes by UA and AA would benifit people in the Midwest: save one stop, for instance, if we take Northwest, we will have to stop twice, at Detroit/Minneapolis and Tokyo. But on March 2nd Chicago got wind and light snow. The flight from STL to ORD got delayed for about 3 hours. When I looked at the TV screen after I got to Chicago at 10:30, I could not find the 10:15 ORD PVG flight. So I waited patiently in a “200 miles long” line at the United customer service. This “200 miles” is quoting a lady lined after me. I also called the United hot line on the phone, all I got was the computer response. I guess there were so many delays and cancellations, and UA don’t have enough people to take the calls.

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Categories
China Stocks

Shanghai Market is Still Hot

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Last Updated on March 7, 2007 by stlplace

This is from what I feel after spending 36 hours Shanghai. I read quite a few newspaper, magazine, and watch the “finance” section on the TV (first Caijing etc.), as part of research for Xinhua Finance Media IPO, stock market is a very hot topic in all those places. The scary part is, in one program this analyst promoted how easy it is to make money using options (as Quan Zheng in Chinese).

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Categories
China Stocks

Got to Shanghai

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Last Updated on March 5, 2007 by stlplace

I am in Shanghai now. The flight connection was not as smooth as I expected, finanlly I got here about 5 and a half hours late than original schedule. I got oppertunity to see the new Beijing airport on the way: very impressive infrustructure. I guess it’s ready for the big party in 2008. I will talk more about my thoughts and airline customer experience later.

I also read Buffett latest anual shareholder letter as I talked in my previous post. Very good stuff and fairly easy to read.

My second reading assignment is Xinhua Finance Media F1 prospectus. I agree with some of the analysts the valuation is a bit high at $12  to $14. It implies a market cap of $800 m and note its 2006 revenue is about $59 m. I don’t think media and advertising industry enjoy a high margin. The growth oppertunity is there, so is the competition and challenge…I flipped through the TV channel and was impressed by the “No.1 Caijing”, the competitor program of Xinhua’s Fortune China. I tried to search for Fortune China but was not successful.  

Categories
Fun

Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Annual Letter

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Last Updated on March 1, 2007 by stlplace

Here is this year’s letter (in PDF). I read his letters a few years back. Recently I bought his book   (at right side bar, in blue), it’s essentially a collection of his annual shareholder letters. His letters are highly regarded in the investing community.

I hope one day I could go to his annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. It was said he will meet some international shareholders during the meeting, don’t know if I could qualify for the event. May be buying a B Share (BRK-B, about $3500 a piece) will do it? 

Categories
China

Be in Shanghai for a While

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Last Updated on March 1, 2007 by stlplace

I will be in Shanghai this Saturday, and stay there for an extended period of time. I am going to do some bargain hunting, after the big drop in Shanghai stock market 🙂

Just kidding. Seriously, every time I visit China, I learn something new. This is not flattering. I hope this time I can learn more. If anyone who is interested in meeting a software guy with deep interest in stocks and business, we can talk in Chinese 中文 or English.

Be aware I may not update blog for 2 days due to travel.    

Categories
China Stocks

Xinhua Finance Media Limited XFML IPO

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Last Updated on February 28, 2007 by stlplace

I received an Email from my broker WR Hambrecht asking me if I am interested in Xinhua Finance IPO. I talked it a little in a previous post; now I feel it’s not another Maritz. Also after yesterday’s crash, I got a little warmed up on it. So I called them and indicated my interest. Don’t know if I will get some. We will see.

Here is their F1 prospectus. I think some of comparables include: FMCN, JRJC in China and Viacom, Reuters in the US. Just on the top of my head, will do my reading and report my finding later. By the way, Xinhua is a very well known name and brand in China.

xinhua finance pic

Categories
China Stocks

Let’s Blame China

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Last Updated on February 28, 2007 by stlplace

First, a little disclaimer, the title was inspired by my friend Zhong Siwei “Let’s think China” blog. I think this pretty well summerizes the “blaming game” after yesterday’s global market sell off. Whether it has credit or not, from CNBC to the Newspaper and Internet, all fingers pointing to one place, China. No wonder typically soft spoken Premier Wen Jiabao, firmly declared “financial market stability is the key….”. I think he really meant “it’s not our fault”. 

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Categories
Stocks

Not a Pretty Day

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Last Updated on February 27, 2007 by stlplace

I mean the stock market. Dow lost more than 400 points. My brokage account lost about 10% of its value today. The biggest decliners are Home Inns (HMIN) and Mindray (MR); but Crocs (CROX) and Heelys (HLYS) are not helping either 🙁

Now the question is: is this a healthy correction? Or the beginning of (dare I say) bear market? I don’t have the answer. Personally I feel the market needs some sort of correction, especially in China, where the reality did not support the hefty stock prices. But do I think US consumers and business suddenly hit the break on everything? Probablly not. Same thing can be said else where.

Categories
China

What Happened to Chinese Market?

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Last Updated on February 27, 2007 by stlplace

Today, Feb 27 Tuesday, the Chinese Stock Market got a huge sell off. You can see some rationale from this Seekingalpha article. This sell off also spread to the US market, not surprisingly some of the Chinese ADRs such as HMIN and MR also dropped 10%. Is it the beginning of a bear market? Or merely a correction? I don’t know. Predicating market trend is very difficult, and it’s not my job. One thing I do know is: investing in solid companies and grow with the company.

I will visit Shanghai in couple days, more first hand analysis of Chinese market will follow.