Of the 368 listed ADRs in the U.S. market — and there are many more that trade OTC — the top 20 tell an interesting story. Even though the Chinese market is the biggest laggard of the BRIC quartet, seven of the top 20 ADRs are geared towards China (Taiwan is a de facto China play).  There is only one from India.

The discrepancy comes from the fact that there can be large differences between the A-Share indexes which trade in renminbi, the H-Share securities of the same companies traded in Hong Kong dollars and the Chinese companies which have primary listing in the U.S.. We focus largely on the ADRs considering that the A-Shares are largely out of reach for most U.S.-based investors, but there is an exception — the Morgan Stanley A-Share Fund (NYSE: CAF).

Administered by Morgan Stanley, this fund gives you a unique opportunity to participate in the A-Share market that often moves quite a bit differently than Hong Kong and Taiwan. With valuations depressed due to the monetary tightening, considering CAF may be a good option here, especially given that it trades 4% below its net asset value. The holdings of the fund simply cannot be purchased in any other form.

Looking at our ADR ranking, there is little more to say about Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) than that it is eating Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) lunch in China. The recent 10:1 stock split makes the shares more accessible, but it still seems that it has run too high too fast. The fact that the stock has refused to correct along with other Chinese stocks also shows that it is too early to talk about economic cyclicality for the company.

Both Spreadtrum Communications (NASDAQ: SPRD) and Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ: SIMO) are small cap fabless communications chip makers. There is nothing competitive about them other than lower costs.

Both China Southern Airlines (NYSE: ZNH) and China Eastern Airlines (NYSE: CEA) have done extremely well despite high oil prices in 2010. Given the breakneck economic growth in China, both airlines are geared towards guaranteed air traffic growth. Fuel prices are regulated, so high oil prices do not necessarily have direct pass-through in the Chinese economy. Domestic air travel is regulated too, and it is unlikely that disruptive regulation will appear anytime soon to drive the airlines out of business. A correction in both of these stocks is an opportunity to build positions — a big contrast with U.S. airlines that are burdened with overcapacity and the simple inability to earn their cost of capital over time.

O2 Micro International (NASDAQ: OIIM) is an IC power management maker for the PC and TV industry. The company is heavily cyclical, and right now we are in the upswing for its industry. In a strange way, it is a beneficiary of the Chinese demand for consumer electronics, which also makes it a domestic demand play. 

Finally, New Oriental Education (NYSE: EDU) is high-growth outfit centering on language training and test preparation in China. Sales are growing in the 50% to 60% range and are not expected to slow in the next couple of years.

To see which ADRs we expect to be the top performers for the second half of 2010, sign up for a FREE subscription to Asia Insider today!

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