Investing in Asian Consumers: A Wall Street Transcript Interview with Edmund Harriss, Investment Director and Fund Manager at Guinness Atkinson Asset Management
67 WALL STREET, New York - June 26, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Investing in Asia Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Investing in Asia - Longer-Term Investing - Asia Pacific Investment Theses - Investing in China - Equity Investing Strategies - China's Domestic Markets - Undervalued Asian Companies
Companies include: International Business Machine (IBM), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and many more.
In the following excerpt from the Investing in Asia Report, an expert portfolio manager discusses his portfolio-construction strategy and his investment philosophy:
TWST: Tell us about your stock-selection process. How do you find ideas for your funds and how do you vet them before selection?
Mr. Harriss: First of all, and I would select from China, one of our top holdings is Lenovo (0992.HK). It is a PC producer out of China, but really got a lift when it acquired IBM's (IBM) notebook PC business a few years back, back in 2005.
Since then, Lenovo has gone from strength to strength, and it is now the number two notebook manufacturer in the world. It has sales in China, in North America, in Europe, in Latin America, and in the Asia Pacific region. China is its most profitable area. This is where the margins were the highest because clearly there is room to expand and room to increase penetration in that marketplace.
In the U.S., however, they are also gaining considerable traction. They place a lot of importance on attaining market share of around 10% or so, because at that point, that's where they see economies of scale kicking in. In the U.S., they have just about achieved it.
And we have seen margins improve pretty significantly as a result of that. Their smartphone business is the new higher growth area, they are focusing very much more on China at the present. But that is a big growth area in China as consumers are finding that smartphones are affordable.
So Lenovo is one of our top picks. It has recently performed extremely well, and when I say performed extremely well, its operations have performed extremely well across product lines and across geographies. So this is a company that is managing its business very well by seeking to protect the markets where it is generating the most cash flow and using those cash...
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
