When it comes to East Asia’s economy, China is “the straw that stirs the drink,” as the saying goes. Although China’s economy has slowed meaningfully and has major problems, it has certainly not stagnated. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund is projecting that China expanded 5.4% last year. They also predict that China will grow another 4.6% in 2024. Moreover, Beijing, which in the past has proven to be quite adept at boosting economic growth, is expected to lower interest rates. It is also predicted that it will reduce the amount of capital that banks must hold in reserve. Furthermore, the country already announced that it would spend $140 billion more than previusly planned. Given these points, I expect many East Asian retail stocks to perform better than many expect in 2024. Here are three compelling names within that sector.

Miniso (MNSO)

Miniso (NYSE:MNSO) is a “Chinese operator of lifestyle retail stores geared toward young women,” according to an Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) article printed in August.

Miniso’s “Lego-like toy bricks” and “collectible sets” that contain “characters” are very popular in China IBD reported. Also resonating with Chinese consumers are Miniso’s “perfume and hair accessories.”

The retailer has 5,800 stores in total and more than 2,200 outlets outside of China. Moreover, it has stores in more than 20 American states. In November, MNSO reported that it intends to expand to “new regions” of America.

In Miniso’s fiscal first quarter that ended in September, its top line jumped 36.7% versus the same period a year earlier to $520 million, while its operating profit soared 55% year-over-year to $108 million.

Given that rapid growth, the stock’s forward price-earnings ratio of 21.9 is attractive.

Coupang (CPNG)

South Korean-based e-commerce retailer Coupang (NYSE:CPNG) reported generally strong third-quarter results on Nov. 7 as its net revenue jumped 21% versus the same period a year earlier, while its bottom line soared to $91 million versus $1 million in Q3 of 2022. Encouragingly, CPNG’s customer base increased 14% year-over-year to 20.4 million.

Also noteworthy is that the firm’s operating cash flow for the 12 months that ended in September came in at a very robust $2.6 billion versus an operating cash loss of $200 million during the same period a year earlier.

Coupang’s profit was slightly below analysts’ mean estimate, and its overall margin was only 1.5%. However, the firm is still growing very rapidly and is obviously generating a great deal of cash.

PDD (PDD)

On Dec. 1, Morgan Stanley named rapidly up-and-coming Chinese e-commerce company PDD (NASDAQ:PDD) as its favorite pick in the Asian nation’s e-commerce sector.

The bank predicts that PDD’s market share will keep climbing “thanks to its favorable business model,” Seeking Alpha reported.

Specifically, after surveying roughly 2,000 people in China, Morgan Stanley believes that the nation’s consumers are very focused on obtaining low prices and that they view PDD as the best e-commerce platform on which to obtain bargains.

What’s more, PDD’s app, Temu, is successfully making major inroads in the United States, as it had obtained a “nearly 17%” share of American discount shoppers as of last month, Reuters reported.

Last quarter, PDD’s revenue soared 94% versus the same period a year earlier, while its operating profit jumped 60% year-over-year to $2.28 billion.

Despite this extremely rapid growth, the shares have a rather low forward price-earnings ratio of 20.5.

On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines