ML 美林:对A股市场泡沫的看法
The beginning, not the end, of China’s asset price bubble
Investment Strategy | China 25 May 2007 11页
How big is China’s A-share market bubble?
This question is as hot as the A-share itself. In our view, we are seeing the
beginning, not the end, of the A-share bubble. True, forward-looking P/Es at 37x
for 2007 and 29x for 2008 are already way above those for the H-share and other
emerging markets. But we think consensus earnings forecasts are overly
conservative (p4: Chart 3 and Table 2; p5: Charts 4 and 5). As long as there is no
fundamental deterioration in the earnings outlook, there should not be any derating
of the A-share market. As long as there is no de-rating, we believe the Ashare
market bubble will get bigger in the coming 6-12 months, swelled by
liquidity and investors irrational exuberance. Already, we note that the bubble is
starting to cross over into the property market in China and the H-share market in
Hong Kong.
Government intervention to limit bubble size
The best way to prevent the bubble from getting bigger is for the People’s Bank of
of China (PBOC) to contain liquidity by hastening its hike of reserve requirement
ratio, the Ministry of Finance to increase stamp duties for stock trading, and
further down the road, to impose capital gains tax at different rates for different
durations of stock holdings.
Market volatility won’t have much negative wealth effect
Official cooling down measures have come slower than what we have anticipated,
but are still likely to be implemented within the coming six months, which will
cause market correction. Also, market sentiment could be hurt by US concerns
from time to time or possible tension with Taiwan early next year.
Concerns over negative wealth effect should not be exaggerated, in our view