ALIBABA: VISUAL CHINA GROUP VIA GET T Y IMAGES; LE AHY: COURTESY OF CDW; CAR: COURTESY OF TESL A
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FORTUNE.COM // NOVEMBER 2019
Facebook
49 U.S. (FB, $180)
Read the news and
you’d think Facebook
was finished. Regula-
tors are coming for it.
Privacy advocates are
furious with it. Enemies
of democracy manipu-
late it. And yet users of
Facebook, Instagram
and Whats App are still
powering torrid reve-
nue growth (a three-
year average rate of
46%), and the company
generates more than
$23 billion annually in
cash from operations.
Sunac China
50 CHINA ($4)*
With signs that Beijing
is loosening its restric-
tions on the property
market, Sunac China
Holdings, already one
of China’s largest
property developers,
may benefit. While the
company would be
susceptible to a down-
turn, annual average
revenue growth of 76%
in the past three years
make this a company
to watch.
CDW
47 U.S. (CDW, $122)
LED BY CEO CHRISTINE LEAHY (above) who took
over earlier this year, the Illinois company sells
hardware, software, and tech “solutions” to busi-
nesses of all sizes. For the 12 months ending in
June, CDW, No. 191 on the Fortune 500, reported
$17 billion in revenue, a gain of 10% over 2018.
Fortive
36 U.S. (FTV, $65)
Industrial conglomer-
ate Fortive Corp. has
managed to sustain a
growing business just
three years after spin-
ning off from global
science and technol-
ogy giant Danaher. Now
it plans to split into
two publicly traded
companies by the sec-
ond half of 2020.
Contemporary Amperex Technology
4 CHINA ($10)*
Founded in Ningde, China, in 2011, CATL is the
world’s largest supplier of electric-vehicle batter-
ies by sales, raking in $512 million in profits in
- CATL supplies batteries to Volkswagen,
BMW, and Honda, plus several major Chinese car
companies, and it’s partnering with Toyota to
codevelop technology. CATL’s strong growth in re-
cent quarters positions it well against foreign
competition. Two possible areas for concern: the
ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., as well as an
expected decline in EV subsidies, which the Chi-
nese government is phasing out.
Tesla
48 U.S. (TSLA, $245)
THE ELECTRIC CAR MARKET and its foremost automaker have enormous potential—but
investors are unclear when it will finally be realized. Tesla delivered a record 97,000
new cars in the third quarter of 2019, but analysts remain doubtful that the company
will be able to turn an annual profit this year (something it has never done since it
was founded in 2003). China’s expanding electric vehicle market could hold the key
going forward with Tesla’s third Gigafactory under construction in Shanghai. In the
meantime, CEO Elon Musk will look to repair his relationship with the SEC following last
year’s investigations. That might help plug the leak of C-suite executive departures.
*Shares are traded only on a local exchange in China.
APPROACH WITH CAUTION
A Te s la
Model S being
assembled
at a Fremont,
Calif., plant.
NEW INDUSTRIALS
Big bets always involve risk, but some more so than others. Whether they’re attracting
regulatory scrutiny, or their fortunes rest on an erratic founder, these three companies
carry the potential of upside—with an extra serving of unpredictability.
