Fears that the Trump administration is pursuing a trade war have created a buying opportunity in shares of China’s sporting goods and appliance makers, Deutsche Bank said.
For one, the U.S. tariffs aren’t likely to target “low-tech” items, such as textiles, footwear and home appliances, with the focus instead on aeronautics, electric vehicles and tech products, the bank said in the note dated on Friday.
Additionally, the textile and footwear supply chain has already left China for the most part, the bank said. It noted one of its tariff-play picks, Taiwan-listed Eclat Textile, has no production in China.
“We argue additional tariff on Chinese textile will be even more positive for Eclat given its production is located in Vietnam and can take market share from Chinese competitors,” the bank noted.
Deutsche Bank added that if China-made home appliances were targeted, those company’s global dominance would ensure the tariff is passed on to consumers.
“We expect leading brands to remain competitive. This is due to dominating global market share by Chinese home appliances brands: there’s limited alternative for consumers,” it said, adding that two of its tariff-play picks, Midea and Qingdao Haier, have diverse production bases globally.
Even if the home appliances import tariff was doubled, it would only require and around 10 percent increase in retail prices to pass on the additional cost, Deutsche Bank estimated, adding that would be achievable for those two players because of their dominant market position.
Deutsche Bank tipped its tariff-play picks as: Qingdao Haier, Midea, Feng Tay, Shenzhou, Yue Yuen and Eclat Textile.
