ZTE US, India Moves Smell of Desperation 中兴通讯急了

There are a couple of tidbits coming from ZTE (HKEx: 763; Shenzhen: 000063), both of which hint at pressure the company must be feeling from investors after posting results last week that showed sharply slowing growth. (English results; Chinese results). In the first piece of news, we learn that ZTE is launching a US portal: clearly a move aimed at making people believe it thinks it can crack this difficult market in the near future. In the second, Chinese media are reporting the company has fired its India chief (Chinese report), a clear response to the company’s weak performance lately in this once promising market. As I’ve said before, I do think ZTE will eventually crack the US market, though not for at least a year and possibly longer. India also looks tough, and it’s going to take more than firing one executive to revive its fortunes there. In the meantime, it’s also going to take more than this kind of news to revive ZTE’s bottom line, which looks set for more slow-growth for at least the next year.

Bottom line: ZTE’s superficial efforts to restart its growth won’t pay any dividends in the near-term.

中兴通讯<0763.HK><000063.SZ>传出的几则消息表明，继其上周公布业绩显示增长急剧减速後，它已经感受到了来自投资者的压力。首先，中兴通讯面向美国市场开设了英文网站(http://www.zteusa.com/)，摆出意欲进军美国市场的架势。另外，中国媒体报导称中兴解雇了自己的印度分部总裁，明显是对该公司近期在印度市场表现疲软做出的回应。我一向认为中兴最终能够进入美国市场，但至少要在一年以後，甚至有可能更长时间。至于印度市场，仅仅换帅肯定是不够的。同样，开设美国网站、撤换印度总裁之类的动作，也无法改变中兴通讯近期增长放缓的总体趋势。

一句话：中兴通讯的小动作在短期没什麽效果，无助於刺激增速。