China’s stock market has quietly staged a comeback in 2025 – but it’s still trading at a discount to many global peers. That mix of recovering sentiment, low valuations and heavy policy support for “new economy” sectors is exactly why Chinese stocks are back on many investors’ radar this December. [1]
This article looks at the best Chinese stocks to research now, based on fresh analyst reports, macro forecasts and market data as of 5 December 2025. It focuses on companies listed in Shanghai/Shenzhen, Hong Kong and U.S. ADRs that are:
- Widely highlighted as Buys or top picks by major research houses
- Aligned with Beijing’s long‑term priorities (AI, EVs, advanced manufacturing, consumption)
- Generating real revenues and (ideally) cash flow
Important: This is not personal investment advice. Markets are volatile, Chinese policy can change quickly, and your portfolio, risk tolerance and tax situation are unique. Treat this as a starting point for your own research.
1. China’s Stock Market in December 2025: Risky Recovery, Not a Euphoric Rally
Indexes are up strongly… but still cheap
- China’s blue‑chip CSI 300 index is trading around 4,580, up roughly 17% over the past year as of early December. [2]
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up about 30% year‑to‑date and on track for its best annual gain since 2017, outpacing even the S&P 500 in 2025. [3]
- Across Asia, the MSCI Asia ex‑Japan price‑to‑book multiple has climbed from about 1.8 to 2.1 this year, yet still trades at a notable discount to the U.S. market. [4]
In other words, part of the upside has already been captured – but the region is still far from expensive on historical metrics.
Macro: moderate growth, policy support – and a property hangover
- The IMF and World Bank both expect China’s economy to grow around 4.5–4.8% in 2025, slowing modestly toward 4% in 2026 – steady but not spectacular. [5]
- Goldman Sachs recently raised its forecasts for 2026–27, expecting 5–6% annual export growth, arguing that the new Five‑Year Plan will keep pushing manufacturing and exports. [6]
- The services sector is still expanding but cooling: a private services PMI slipped to 52.1 in November, its weakest reading since June. [7]
The big drag remains property. A Reuters poll released on 5 December 2025 now expects home prices to fall 3.7% in 2025 and another 2.8% in 2026, with investment and sales dropping sharply. [8]
That’s crucial for stock pickers: property and banks remain under pressure, while policy and capital are being re‑directed toward EVs, AI, green tech and advanced manufacturing. [9]
Policy: “anti‑involution” and the new Five‑Year Plan
Beijing’s new 15th Five‑Year Plan (2026–2030) and recent policy speeches emphasize: [10]
- Tech self‑reliance (especially semiconductors and AI)
- Upgrading traditional manufacturing
- Green energy and EVs
- Boosting domestic consumption
On 5 December, the commerce minister also pledged to boost imports and sign more trade and investment deals from 2026 to 2030, with policies to encourage car purchases and appliance upgrades – a tailwind for autos, EVs and consumer stocks. [11]
Meanwhile, local fund managers talk about “anti‑involution” – policy aimed at curbing ruinous price wars and overcapacity. They argue that cyclical and industrial stocks are “relatively cheap” and that earnings could improve as these measures take effect. [12]
Bottom line: China’s stock rally is real, but underpinned by low starting valuations, strong flows from domestic investors and heavy policy support for “new China” sectors – not a macro boom. That’s exactly the backdrop in which stock selection matters more than ever.
2. How This List of “Best Chinese Stocks” Was Built
For December 2025, the most credible “best stock” lists cluster around a similar cast of characters:
- Morningstar and Morningstar Asia repeatedly highlight Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com and Yum China as high‑quality Chinese names trading below their estimate of fair value. [13]
- IG Singapore’s “Top Chinese stocks to watch in 2025” focuses on Alibaba, Tencent, JD Logistics, Xiaomi and Baidu, citing earnings growth, AI exposure and attractive upside based on broker price targets. [14]
- Ultima Markets’ “Top 7 Chinese Stocks to Buy” features Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, JD Logistics, Xiaomi and Yum China, pointing to AI, cloud and export momentum. [15]
- TipRanks’ latest “3 Best Chinese Stocks to Buy Now” spotlights Alibaba, Bilibili and NetEase, all carrying Strong Buy ratings and double‑digit upside based on analyst targets. [16]
- EV‑focused lists from Investing.com, DailyForex and others consistently put BYD, XPeng, Li Auto and NIO among the top Chinese electric‑vehicle stocks for 2025. [17]
From these independent sources, we can derive a consensus “core list” across four themes:
- Platform tech & AI – Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, NetEase, Bilibili
- EV & smart mobility – BYD, XPeng, Li Auto, NIO, plus Xiaomi’s EV ambitions
- Chips & advanced manufacturing – Moore Threads, SMIC, and Baidu’s Kunlunxin
- Domestic consumption – Yum China, Xiaomi and food‑delivery / e‑commerce platforms
Let’s look at each theme and the standout stocks.
3. Platform Tech and AI: China’s Digital Backbone
Alibaba Group (BABA, 9988 HK)
Alibaba remains the flagship China tech stock in most “best Chinese stocks” lists for 2025, and recent earnings help explain why. [18]
- Business mix: e‑commerce, logistics, cloud, digital payments and local services
- Earnings momentum: In its FY2025 March quarter, adjusted net income rose about 22% year‑on‑year, while cloud revenue grew 18%, with AI products delivering multiple quarters of triple‑digit growth. [19]
- Analyst sentiment:
Why investors like it now
- Leveraged to Chinese consumption and cloud/AI at the same time
- Still trading at a discount to U.S. peers despite the 2025 rally
- Aggressive share buybacks and restructuring aimed at unlocking value
Key risks
- Ongoing regulatory and antitrust scrutiny
- Competition from short‑video commerce and emerging platforms
- Slower macro environment if consumer demand disappoints
Tencent Holdings (0700 HK, TCEHY)
Tencent is often described as the “operating system” of Chinese consumer internet, and it continues to show strong cash‑generation and AI upside. [22]
- Q2 2025 results: Revenue grew 15% year‑on‑year, gross profit 22%, and net profit 16%, driven by gaming and a 20% jump in marketing services helped by AI‑driven advertising. [23]
- Balance sheet: Net cash of about 74.6 billion yuan, with healthy free cash flow and ongoing buybacks. [24]
- Valuation: Shares are up around 42% in 2025 but still roughly 18% below all‑time highs, according to IG. [25]
Why it’s on so many “best stocks” lists
- Wide moat built on WeChat, gaming, fintech and advertising
- Direct beneficiary of AI in ad targeting and game development
- Strong corporate governance relative to many local peers
Baidu (9888 HK, BIDU): Search, Cloud and Now Chips
Baidu has quietly repositioned itself from “China’s Google” into a search + AI cloud + AI chip story.
- Earnings: In Q2 2025, Baidu’s net profit rose around 30% year‑on‑year while its AI Cloud business grew 34%, outpacing the core ad business. [26]
- AI chips (Kunlunxin): On 5 December, Reuters reported that Baidu’s AI chip arm Kunlunxin completed a funding round valuing it at about 21 billion yuan and is now preparing for a Hong Kong IPO, with more than half of its 2025 revenue expected from external clients. [27]
- Analyst view: Ultima Markets and Morningstar both include Baidu among top Chinese stocks to buy, citing its “earnings plus AI optionality” profile. [28]
Why investors are watching it
- Direct play on China’s domestic AI stack – from models to cloud to chips
- Beneficiary of U.S. export restrictions that force local companies onto Chinese AI hardware and cloud platforms [29]
- Still trading at lower multiples than many global AI leaders
JD.com (JD, 9618 HK) and JD Logistics (2618 HK)
JD.com is China’s logistics‑heavy e‑commerce champion, known for fast delivery and strict quality control. Its logistics arm is increasingly becoming a pure‑play export and supply‑chain story.
- The IG list puts JD Logistics in the top five Chinese stocks to watch, noting ~17% year‑on‑year revenue growth in Q2 2025 and rapid expansion of warehouses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. [30]
- Yahoo Finance’s tech stock roundup highlights improving profitability in JD’s core retail business, with operating profit up roughly 38% in 2025. [31]
Investment angle
- JD.com offers broad exposure to e‑commerce and first‑party logistics in China.
- JD Logistics is more cyclical and margin‑sensitive but gives focused exposure to cross‑border e‑commerce and export‑driven warehousing.
NetEase (NTES) and Bilibili (BILI): Gaming and Youth Culture
NetEase and Bilibili round out TipRanks’ list of the three best Chinese stocks to buy now, alongside Alibaba. [32]
- NetEase:
- Up about 50% year‑to‑date, with 7 of 8 analysts rating it a Buy and average targets implying roughly 20% upside. [33]
- Strong cash‑generating gaming franchise with international expansion.
- Bilibili:
- A youth‑focused video and anime platform, up about 33% this year, with 9 of 12 analysts rating it a Buy and price targets suggesting ~25% upside. [34]
These are higher‑beta plays: deeply exposed to regulatory swings (content rules, game approvals) but also central to China’s digital advertising and youth culture.
4. Electric Vehicles and Smart Mobility: BYD, XPeng, Li Auto, NIO – and Xiaomi
China remains the world’s largest EV market, and local brands are gaining global share. Policy support, export growth and aggressive pricing have put several Chinese EV stocks at the centre of 2025 “best ideas” lists.
BYD (1211 HK, BYDDY)
Multiple sources call BYD the benchmark Chinese EV investment:
- An Investing.com / WarrenAI review notes BYD’s 5‑year revenue CAGR around 11%, net margin of 5.2%, ROE close to 25%, and a fair‑value model that sees nearly 50% upside, even though short‑term technicals flash “strong sell”. [35]
- Another EV stock screen shows analysts’ average price targets implying “excellent upside” and highlights BYD’s high (but growth‑driven) P/E around the low‑60s. [36]
BYD is not cheap on earnings, but it is:
- Profitable in a sector where many peers are still loss‑making
- Leveraging scale in batteries, buses, trucks and passenger EVs
- Benefiting from strong sales in both China and Europe [37]
XPeng (XPEV, 9868 HK): High‑Growth, High‑Risk
XPeng is widely seen as the high‑risk/high‑reward EV name:
- Delivered the best 1‑year price return (~59%) among the main Chinese EV names, with a 3‑year revenue CAGR of 48.1%. [38]
- Analysts forecast ~91% revenue growth in 2025, with consensus targets pointing to around 27% upside from late‑November levels. [39]
- November deliveries hit 36,728 vehicles, up 19% year‑on‑year, with strong overseas growth. [40]
However:
- XPeng still has negative margins and relatively high debt‑to‑equity (around 58%), and technical indicators show the stock as oversold and volatile. [41]
Li Auto (LI) and NIO (NIO)
The WarrenAI review paints a nuanced picture: [42]
- Li Auto
- Share price down ~22% year‑to‑date, trading near 52‑week lows.
- Fundamentals remain solid with mid‑teens EPS and revenue CAGRs, and one of the strongest Pro Scores in the peer group.
- Analysts still see roughly 25% upside, but technicals show deeply oversold conditions and recent recalls add headline risk.
- NIO
- Delivered a record 34,749 vehicles in September, up 64% year‑on‑year, and has one of the highest upside projections (~39%) in analyst targets. [43]
- But margins are sharply negative and leverage is high, making it a speculative turnaround rather than a steady compounder.
Xiaomi (1810 HK): Smartphones + EVs
Xiaomi is appearing more often in “best Chinese stocks” lists because of EVs:
- In Q2 2025, Xiaomi reported record adjusted net profit, up 75% year‑on‑year, driven by its smart EV segment, which generated over 20 billion yuan in revenue. [44]
- Global smartphone shipments have grown for eight consecutive quarters, giving Xiaomi about 14.7% global market share. [45]
- Management expects the EV business to break even by the second half of 2025, and plans to enter the European EV market by 2027; UOB’s target price implies substantial upside from current levels. [46]
For investors who want EV exposure without betting only on car sales, Xiaomi offers a diversified mix of smartphones, IoT, and autos under one brand.
5. AI Chips and Advanced Manufacturing: Moore Threads, SMIC and the Policy Tailwind
If 2023–24 was about AI software and models, late‑2025 in China is about AI hardware.
Moore Threads (STAR Market): China’s First Pure‑Play GPU Stock
On 5 December 2025, Chinese AI GPU maker Moore Threads made a spectacular debut on Shanghai’s STAR Market:
- Shares jumped roughly 425%, from an IPO price of 114.28 yuan to around 600 yuan on day one, raising about 8 billion yuan and valuing the company in the 40–50+ billion yuan range depending on the source. [47]
- The listing is the largest tech IPO in China this year and was oversubscribed thousands of times, underlining local enthusiasm for home‑grown AI chips. [48]
Moore Threads is still loss‑making, and faces export‑control constraints after being added to the U.S. Entity List. But the IPO signals:
- Deep domestic capital support for AI hardware
- A pipeline of similar deals from peers like MetaX, Biren and Enflame [49]
For investors comfortable with IPO volatility and policy risk, Moore Threads is a pure AI‑chip momentum play, closely tied to Beijing’s tech self‑reliance agenda.
SMIC (0981 HK): The Foundry Backbone
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) is China’s leading foundry, and its 2025 results show how local demand is holding up despite export controls:
- Q3 2025 revenue rose 9.7% year‑on‑year to about $2.38 billion, while profit jumped roughly 29%; utilisation hit ~96%, a sign of strong domestic orders. [50]
- SMIC expects flat to low‑single‑digit revenue growth in Q4, with gross margins between 18–20% – not explosive, but steady. [51]
In parallel, policy papers on Made in China 2025 and follow‑on strategies show that mature‑node chip capacity in China has grown far faster than global demand, with Chinese firms projected to deliver nearly half of new mature‑node capacity in the next few years. [52]
That combination makes SMIC a core “picks and shovels” holding for investors betting on China’s continued push into domestic chips.
6. Domestic Consumption Winners: Yum China and Services Platforms
While property drags on household wealth, policymakers are trying to push consumption higher through targeted incentives and trade policy. [53]
Yum China (YUMC)
Yum China, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut and other brands on the mainland, appears on Morningstar’s lists of best Chinese stocks to buy and top global companies to invest in now. [54]
The investment case:
- Direct exposure to rising food‑service penetration in lower‑tier cities
- Beneficiary of policy moves to stimulate consumer spending (including travel, autos, upgrades of household goods that often correlate with eating‑out trends) [55]
- U.S. listing plus strong governance and cash generation, making it a relative defensive play within Chinese equities
Meituan and Pinduoduo (PDD): Honourable Mentions
Baillie Gifford highlights Meituan and PDD as examples of companies benefitting from:
- The shift toward industrial and green‑tech leadership
- High levels of innovation and domestic demand
- Attractive valuations after several years of underperformance [56]
These names are widely followed, but because of past regulatory shocks and intense competition, they may suit investors comfortable with policy and execution risk.
7. High‑Momentum Small/Mid‑Caps: Proceed with Caution
A NerdWallet analysis of U.S‑listed Chinese stocks as of 3 December 2025 shows eye‑popping 12‑month returns in smaller names: [57]
- Regencell Bioscience (RGC): up more than 7,000% over the last year
- Hesai Group (HSAI): lidar maker with returns above 130%
- VNET Group (VNET) and Futu (FUTU): data‑centre and online brokerage plays with double‑digit gains
- Kanzhun (BZ): online recruitment platform with ~75% 1‑year return
While these show there is speculative momentum in parts of the China space, they are typically:
- Much more volatile
- Sensitive to narrow themes (e.g., a single technology or regulatory change)
- Less covered by high‑quality research
For most investors, they belong in the “satellite” bucket, if at all – not as core holdings.
8. Prefer Not to Stock‑Pick? Consider China ETFs
If you want exposure to the best Chinese stocks without choosing individual names, several research houses highlight broad ETFs such as:
- iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) – a diversified China equity basket, mentioned in Morningstar’s “best Chinese stocks to buy” piece alongside individual names like Tencent and Yum China. [58]
- iShares China Large‑Cap ETF (FXI) – Investors.com notes it as a way to own Alibaba, BYD, Tencent and JD.com with less single‑stock risk. [59]
ETFs can dilute company‑specific upside but also buffer policy shocks and earnings disappointments.
9. Building a China Stock Strategy for 2026
If you’re considering China exposure going into 2026, many professional investors are following a structure roughly like this: [60]
- Core holdings in:
- Broad China ETFs (MCHI, FXI, etc.)
- Large‑cap platforms with strong cash flow: Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com
- Growth satellites in:
- EVs – BYD as the profitable incumbent; XPeng/Li Auto/NIO as higher‑risk growth
- AI & chips – SMIC and, for aggressive investors, Moore Threads and other AI hardware plays
- Consumption names – Yum China, Xiaomi, Meituan/PDD
- What to treat carefully
- Highly leveraged property developers and banks exposed to the housing downturn [61]
- Thinly traded ADRs and micro‑caps with extreme one‑year returns
Risk controls matter more than ever:
- Limit position size in single‑name EV and AI plays
- Diversify across onshore A‑shares, Hong Kong listings and ADRs
- Expect headline shocks around trade, tariffs and export controls, especially in tech and chips. [62]
10. The Bottom Line
As of December 5, 2025, the best Chinese stocks to consider researching cluster around a consistent set of themes:
- Platform tech & AI: Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, JD.com, NetEase, Bilibili
- EV & smart mobility: BYD, XPeng, Li Auto, NIO and Xiaomi
- Chips & advanced manufacturing: SMIC and newly listed Moore Threads
- Domestic consumption: Yum China and services platforms like Meituan and PDD
They’re benefiting from a slow‑motion market recovery, structural policy support and still‑reasonable valuations – but they also sit at the intersection of powerful macro, regulatory and geopolitical forces. [63]
For long‑term investors who can stomach volatility and do deep company‑level research, China in 2025–26 looks less like a value trap and more like a selective opportunity set – provided you focus on quality balance sheets, alignment with policy priorities and durable competitive advantages, rather than chasing every short‑term rally.
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