05/31/2011
Inception Date
5.44%
YTD Return
(as of 06/17/2021)
$20.94
Price
(as of 06/17/2021)
$464.03 million
Fund Assets
(as of 05/31/2021)
Long-term capital appreciation.
Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, which include borrowings for investment purposes, in the common and preferred stocks of Small Companies located in China. China includes its administrative and other districts, such as Hong Kong. The Fund seeks to invest in smaller companies capable of sustainable growth based on the fundamental characteristics of those companies, including balance sheet information; number of employees; size and stability of cash flow; management’s depth, adaptability and integrity; product lines; marketing strategies; corporate governance; and financial health.
Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. Investing in emerging markets involves different and greater risks, as these countries are substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than securities markets in more developed markets. In addition, investments in a single-country fund, which is considered a non-diversified fund, may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific country. The Fund is non-diversified as it concentrates its investments in small sized companies. Investing in small- and mid-size companies is more risky and volatile than investing in large companies as they may be more volatile and less liquid than larger companies.
The risks associated with investing in the Fund can be found in the prospectus.
| Inception Date | 05/31/2011 | |
| Fund Assets | $464.03 million (05/31/2021) | |
| Currency | USD | |
| Ticker | MCSMX | |
| Cusip | 577-125-404 | |
| Portfolio Turnover | 152.9% | |
| Benchmark | MSCI China Small Cap Index | |
| Geographic Focus | China - China includes its administrative and other districts, such as Hong Kong | |
| Gross Expense Ratio | 1.52% | |
| Net Expense Ratio | 1.43% | |
Unusually high returns may not be sustainable.
Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.
Assumes reinvestment of all dividends and/or distributions before taxes. All performance quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with market conditions so that when redeemed, shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund’s fees and expenses had not been waived. Performance differences between the Institutional class and the Investor class may arise due to differences in fees charged to each class.
Additional performance, attribution, liquidity, value at risk (VaR), security classification and holdings information is available on request for certain time periods.
Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.
The performance data and graph do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on dividends, capital gain distributions or redemption of fund shares.
Ratings (as of 03/31/2021)
CATEGORY: China Region
Quartile & Rankings (as of 03/31/2021)
CATEGORY: China Region Funds
Ratings agency calculation methodology
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. High ratings and rankings does not assure favorable performance.
The Overall Morningstar® Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted-average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and (if applicable) ten-year ratings.
Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.
Lipper Analytical Services, Inc., rankings are based on total return, including reinvestment of dividends and capital gains for the stated periods. Funds are assigned a rank within a universe of funds similar in investment objective as determined by Lipper. For the absolute rankings shown the lower the number rank, the better the Fund performed compared to other funds in the classification group. Lipper also calculates a quartile ranking which divides the peer group into quartiles to identify funds of similar quality. Funds in the 1st or 2nd quartile had outperformed the average fund in the peer group while funds in the 3rd or 4th quartile had underperformed.
Lead Manager
Portfolio Manager
Andrew Mattock is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews Asia and manages the firm's China and China Small Companies Strategies. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, he was a Fund Manager at Henderson Global Investors for 15 years, first in London and then in Singapore, managing Asia Pacific equities. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Business majoring in Accounting from ACU. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Lead Manager
Portfolio Manager
Winnie Chwang is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews Asia and manages the firm’s China Small Strategy and co-manages the China and Pacific Tiger Strategies. She joined the firm in 2004 and has built her investment career at the firm. Winnie earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business and received her B.A. in Economics with a minor in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. She is fluent in Mandarin and conversational in Cantonese.
Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.
Source: FactSet Research Systems
Top 10 holdings may combine more than one security from the same issuer and related depositary receipts.
Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.
Sector data based on MSCI’s revised Global Industry Classification Standards. For more details, visit www.msci.com.
The Fund defines Small Companies as companies with market capitalization generally between $100 million and $5 billion or the largest company included in the Fund’s primary benchmark. The Portfolio’s market cap exposure breakdown presented is used for comparison purposes and the definition of the capitalization breakdown is from MSCI.
Source: FactSet Research Systems.
Percentage values in data are rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent, so the values may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Percentage values may be derived from different data sources and may not be consistent with other Fund literature.
Visit our Glossary of Terms page for definitions and additional information.
The Markit iBoxx Asian Local Bond Index tracks the total return performance of a bond portfolio consisting of local-currency denominated, high quality and liquid bonds in Asia ex-Japan. The Markit iBoxx Asian Local Bond Index includes bonds from the following countries: China (on- and offshore markets), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The J.P. Morgan Asia Credit Index (JACI) tracks the total return performance of the Asia fixed-rate dollar bond market. JACI is a market cap-weighted index comprising sovereign, quasi-sovereign and corporate bonds and is partitioned by country, sector and credit rating. JACI includes bonds from the following countries: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
The MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Index is a free float–adjusted market capitalization–weighted index of the stock markets of China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index is a free float–adjusted market capitalization–weighted index of the stock markets of Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The MSCI China Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index of Chinese equities that includes H shares listed on the Hong Kong exchange, B shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, Hong Kong-listed securities known as Red chips (issued by entities owned by national or local governments in China) and P Chips (issued by companies controlled by individuals in China and deriving substantial revenues in China) and foreign listings (e.g. ADRs).
The MSCI China All Shares Index captures large and mid-cap representation across China A shares, B shares, H shares, Red chips (issued by entities owned by national or local governments in China), P chips (issued by companies controlled by individuals in China and deriving substantial revenues in China), and foreign listings (e.g. ADRs). The index aims to reflect the opportunity set of China share classes listed in Hong Kong,Shanghai, Shenzhen and outside of China.
The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Asia Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index of the stock markets of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index of the stock markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index of the stock markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted small cap index of the stock markets of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungry, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
The S&P Bombay Stock Exchange 100 (S&P BSE 100) Index is a free float–adjusted market capitalization–weighted index of 100 stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The MSCI Japan Index is a free float–adjusted market capitalization–weighted index of Japanese equities listed in Japan.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) is a market capitalization–weighted index of all common stocks listed on the Korea Stock Exchange.
The MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index is a free float–adjusted market capitalization–weighted small cap index of the stock markets of China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The MSCI China Small Cap Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted small cap index of the Chinese equity securities markets, including H shares listed on the Hong Kong exchange, B shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges,Hong Kong-listed securities known as Red Chips (issued by entities owned by national or local governments in China) and P Chips (issued by companies controlled by individuals in China and deriving substantial revenues in China), and foreign listings (e.g., ADRs).
The information contained herein has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation, but no representation or warranty (express or implied) is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any of this information. Neither the funds nor the Investment Advisor accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information.
The views and opinions in the commentary were as of the report date, subject to change and may not reflect current views. They are not guarantees of performance or investment results and should not be taken as investment advice. Investment decisions reflect a variety of factors, and the managers reserve the right to change their views about individual stocks, sectors, and the markets at any time. As a result, the views expressed should not be relied upon as a forecast of the Fund's future investment intent. It should not be assumed that any investment will be profitable or will equal the performance of any securities or any sectors mentioned herein. The information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any securities mentioned.
Commentary
Period ended March 31, 2021
For the quarter ending March 31, 2021, the Matthews China Small Companies Fund returned 1.01% (Investor Class) and 1.06% (Institutional Class), while its benchmark, the MSCI China Small Cap Index, which returned 12.34%.
Market Environment:
Stocks in the MSCI China Small Cap Index rose in the quarter, generating attractive gains. Notably, the Index contains only 230 stocks, listed exclusively in Hong Kong and New York. The Index does not contain any domestically listed stocks, known as A-shares. In contrast, the broader universe of Chinese small-cap stocks includes more than 5,000 companies, with strong representation among domestically listed shares. Strong Index performance was driven by a lower-quality stock rally, fueled by money from mainland Chinese investors who were investing in Hong Kong and New York listed stocks. Gains among domestically listed small-cap stocks were most modest in the quarter.
Chinese economic growth prospects and data points illustrate robust recovery, but not enough to spur central bank policy tightening beyond what markets have already experienced. Small companies remain driven by domestic demand. As investors take a closer look at company fundamentals, the share prices of domestically listed companies may gain more traction. While there was a bit of a “junk” rally in the first quarter among lower-quality stocks, that trend could reverse as investors become more attuned to long-term growth prospects.
Performance Contributors and Detractors:
Stock selection in information technology was a detractor from relative performance. The benchmark has a heavy concentration among two information technology companies focused on solar energy that the Fund does not own. These particular benchmark constituents each experienced a major run-up in stock prices in the quarter, despite no clear catalyst for the jump. The Fund owns other solar energy companies that we find more attractive over the long term based on fundamentals and valuations. On the other hand, stock selection in the real estate sector was a contributor. Property management services is a growing industry in China, as homeowners look for more convenience and more professionals services for condominiums and HOAs.
Among individual securities, SITC International was a contributor. SITC is a very efficient intra-Asia logistics provider. With a superior management team who is very knowledgeable about the region, the company has executed very well in past years. SITC has done well amid rising shipping rates given tighter supply. On the other hand, Flat Glass, a photovoltaic (PV) glass manufacturer, was a detractor. The company benefits from the roll out of more alternative energy investments in China. However, there is more concern about elevated pricing about PV glass and with a potential reduction of solar farm subsidies, more parts of the solar value chain are experiencing reduction in prices, albeit with the offset of still strong volume growth. Valuations for Flat Glass have also corrected down to more attractive levels.
Notable Portfolio Changes:
During the quarter, we continued to rebalance the portfolio, taking profit from expensive areas such as information technology, health care and consumer staples and repositioning into either more attractively valued opportunities. The portfolio’s exposure to materials and financials have increased over the past couple of quarters. New positions include Pan Jit International, a Taiwanese company that manufactures key components for semiconductors. Despite being a Taiwanese company, Pan Jit derives the bulk of its revenues from China and benefits from China’s push to use more locally made semiconductor components. The company also is able to commercialize on its Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) product, a three-terminal semiconductor-switching device, after going through several years of certification with auto manufacturers. We believe that its growth momentum will continue to accelerate on new product launches and product mix upgrades. The addition of the company to the portfolio is a good example where we have repositioned from more expensive tech names into more attractively valued tech names. Another new position is Sinoma Science and Technology, which produces advanced, specialty materials for the automotive industry as well as for wind blades used in wind energy generation. The company has benefitted from the growth in alternative energy installations for its wind blades business. Its fiberglass business is one where the industry dynamics are a lot more concentrated and attractive for future pricing improvements.
Outlook:
Looking ahead, we expect China small companies to remain engines of growth for China’s broader economy. Keeping the coronavirus under control is key to maintaining China’s V-shaped economic recovery. While China is only in the very early stages of its vaccination program, its strict border controls and data-driven approach to minimizing outbreaks remains highly successful. China’s approach to combatting the virus has been more effective than any other large economy. Because COVID is largely under control in China, people have been able to resume a normal life. Consumption is rising, auto sales are growing, restaurants have long lines and consumers are feeling comfortable gathering indoors. The depth and diversity of the opportunity set among small companies in China continues to expand. Key themes the portfolio management team is following include technology upgrades, health and wellness trends, services that enhance quality of life and premium consumer goods. As always, we continue to look for attractive long-term growth opportunities driven by the Chinese consumer.
As of March 31, 2021, the securities mentioned comprised the Matthews China Small Companies Fund in the following percentages: SITC International Holdings Co., Ltd., 3.5%; Flat Glass Group Co., Ltd. H Shares, 1.0%; Pan Jit International, Inc., 1.6%; Sinoma Science & Technology Co., Ltd. A Shares, 2.0%. Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to change and risk.
Average Annual Total Returns - MCSMX as of 03/31/2021
All performance quoted is past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund's fees and expenses had not been waived. Please see the Fund's most recent month-end performance.
Fees & Expenses
Matthews has contractually agreed to waive fees and reimburse expenses to limit the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses until April 30, 2022. Please see the Fund’s prospectus for additional details.
Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. Investing in emerging markets involves different and greater risks, as these countries are substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than securities markets in more developed markets. In addition, investments in a single-country fund, which is considered a non-diversified fund, may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific country. The Fund is non-diversified as it concentrates its investments in small sized companies. Investing in small- and mid-size companies is more risky and volatile than investing in large companies as they may be more volatile and less liquid than larger companies.