Billionaire investor David Tepper increased his positions in a number of China-related stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last quarter, despite uncertainties about tariffs and China’s slow economic growth.
The president and founder of Appaloosa Management, who said in September that he would buy “everything” related to China, increased his firm’s holdings in companies including JD.com, Alibaba Group Holding and PDD Holdings in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Tepper’s China buying spree increased Appaloosa’s holdings in JD.com by 43 per cent, Alibaba by 18 per cent, Baidu by 7 per cent, KE Holdings by 18 per cent, and PDD by 1 per cent, according to a filing on Monday. Holdings in two ETFs – KranShares CSI China Internet and iShares China Large-Cap – also increased, by 21.5 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.
China-linked stocks and ETFs accounted for about 37 per cent of Tepper’s portfolio at the end of December.
Chinese stocks enjoyed a bull run starting in late September when Beijing unveiled a slew of measures to boost the economy. This prompted Tepper’s promise to buy “everything” China-related, although the American did reduce his positions in Alibaba and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF in the third quarter.
The bull run lost momentum through the fourth quarter as investors became frustrated with Beijing’s stimulus implementation, before picking up again last month. More recently, the overnight fame of artificial-intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek led to a rally in Chinese technology stocks, pushing the Hang Seng Index to its best weekly performance in four months last week.
