BATX Stocks

What Are BATX Stocks?

BATX is an acronym for four very popular Chinese technology stocks: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi. The term came into existence much like that of the FAANG stocks acronym — the acronym for five of the top U.S. technology stocks: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet’s Google.

BATX was coined around the time when the leading Chinese smartphone maker company, Xiaomi, announced its plans to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2018. Globally, these Chinese technology firms are ever-increasing in clout.

Understanding BATX Stocks

BATX is made up of four companies: Baidu Inc. (BIDU), which is listed on the NASDAQ; Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. (BABA), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); Tencent Holdings Ltd. (ADR), which is listed in the over-the-counter markets; and Xiaomi Corp., which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

BATX Growth and Expansion

BATX companies are not only growing organically, but they are also making strategic investments at global levels. With millions of users in global markets and more than 150 direct global investments and acquisitions, BATX companies have gained a strong foothold in American, European, and Asian markets. For instance, in November of 2017, Tencent spent $2 billion to buy a 12% stake of Snap Inc. (SNAP). At the time, it represented the fifth-largest investment involving a Chinese firm acquiring a stake in a U.S. technology firm. While Uber lost ground to Didi Chuxing in China, Alibaba and Tencent invested in Uber-competitor Taxify in August last year to intensify the competition in Europe. In July last year, Baidu purchased Kitt.ai, an American startup specialized in natural language and artificial intelligence (AI).

The firms have collectively incubated more than 1,000 new ventures over the past decade and they actively cater to more than 20 different sectors. Their operations facilitate both online and offline offerings and are increasingly big in hardware electronics. They’ve had an average annual growth exceeding 50%, and are growing exponentially across multiple sectors. Baidu Search is one of the most popular search engines in the country. While Alibaba Group first started as an e-commerce company in 1999 in Hangzhou China, now it has become a giant corporation with branches in various sectors, such as e-commerce, entertainment, online payment, cloud computing, and AI technology. Tencent was first started as a social network platform, although most Chinese came to know Tencent through its messaging platform. Finally, Xiaomi focuses on tangible hi-tech devices such as smartphones, smarthomes, smartTV, and other smart devices.

In October 2020, Baidu has a market capitalization of $43.14 billion, and Alibaba has a market capitalization of $810.99 billion. After 2015, some other notable technology companies joined the ranks of the BATX stocks — Huawei, DIDI, JD, and ByteDance.