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Consumer stocks are making a comeback in Hong Kong after the city's initial public offering (IPO) market recovered from a multi-year slump and stocks gained a valuation upgrade induced by DeepSeek's breakthroughs.
Mixue's IPO attracted a record HK$1.8 trillion (US$231 billion) of orders from retail investors before the Chinese fresh drinks chain started trading on Monday. Cosmetics producer Mao Geping gained 153 per cent since December, while jewellery maker Laopu Gold has risen more than 1,000 per cent since its debut in June.
Toymaker Pop Mart has soared 442 per cent over the past 12 months as sales gained momentum in overseas markets, while peer Bloks Group, whose retail portion of IPO was 6,000 times subscribed, has advanced 36 per cent since its first day of trading last month.
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"Retail investors' enthusiasm is rooted in the fact that sizeable consumer companies with solid fundamentals and sector tailwinds have finally emerged after a lull," said Richard Lin, chief consumer analyst at Shanghai-based investment bank SPDB International. "If you're a market leader and your valuation is cheap enough, people are going to clamour for you."
Consumer discretionary stocks within the Hang Seng Composite Index have risen 23 per cent this year, outpacing the 17 per cent gain of the benchmark Hang Seng Index. Part of the run-up was fuelled by improved sentiment, after DeepSeek sparked a bull run in technology stocks and the broader market.
Meanwhile, some analysts said consumer stocks may fail to live up to expectations if Beijing holds back on injecting further economic stimulus in the forthcoming two sessions later this month, said Ivan Su, a senior equity analyst for Morningstar.
"If no major stimulus is introduced, growth for the remainder of 2025 is likely to remain at current levels," he said. While this might initially be viewed negatively by the market, many Chinese consumer stocks - particularly those with strong shareholder distribution policies - still present forcing value."
For now, investors are indeed looking at the brighter side of the story. Mixue's IPO subscription ratio, for one, reflects their confidence in the size of its business, its brand power and its appealing stock valuation despite the cutthroat competition in the bubble-tea sector.