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Matthews China Fund
MCHFX

Snapshot
  • High-conviction equity portfolio seeks companies benefiting from China’s domestic consumption
  • All-cap fundamental GARP approach driven by on-the-ground, proprietary research
  • Combines long-term core holdings with more opportunistic ideas to provide consistency through cycles

02/19/1998

Inception Date

-0.52%

YTD Return

(as of 04/17/2025)

$13.37

NAV

(as of 04/17/2025)

+0.09

1 Day NAV Change

(as of 04/17/2025)

Objective

Long-term capital appreciation

Strategy

Under normal circumstances, the Matthews China Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, which include borrowings for investment purposes, in the common and preferred stocks of companies located in China. The Fund seeks to invest in companies capable of sustainable growth based on the fundamental characteristics of those companies, including balance sheet information; number of employees; size and stability of cash flow; management’s depth, adaptability and integrity; product lines; marketing strategies; corporate governance; and financial health.

Risks

Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. Investing in emerging markets involves different and greater risks, as these countries are substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than securities markets in more developed markets. In addition, investments in a single-country fund, which is considered a non-diversified fund, may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific country.

These and other risks associated with investing in the Fund can be found in the prospectus.

Fund Facts
Inception Date 02/19/1998
Fund Assets $392.43 million (03/31/2025)
Currency USD
Ticker MCHFX
Cusip 577-130-701
Benchmark MSCI China Index MSCI China All Shares Index
Geographic Focus China - China includes its administrative and other districts, such as Hong Kong
Fees & Expenses
Gross Expense Ratio 1.15%

Performance

  • Monthly
  • Quarterly
  • Calendar Year
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As of 03/31/2025
Average Annual Total Returns
Name 1MO 3MO YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
Matthews China Fund - MCHFX
02/19/1998
MCHFX
0.48% 10.34% 10.34% 33.74% -0.13% 1.78% 4.32% 7.92%
MSCI China Index
1.98% 15.06% 15.06% 40.79% 3.74% 1.63% 2.69% 3.75%
MSCI China All Shares Index
1.39% 9.26% 9.26% 28.82% 0.29% 2.26% 1.15% n.a.
As of 03/31/2025
Average Annual Total Returns
Name 1MO 3MO YTD 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
Matthews China Fund - MCHFX
02/19/1998
MCHFX
0.48% 10.34% 10.34% 33.74% -0.13% 1.78% 4.32% 7.92%
MSCI China Index
1.98% 15.06% 15.06% 40.79% 3.74% 1.63% 2.69% 3.75%
MSCI China All Shares Index
1.39% 9.26% 9.26% 28.82% 0.29% 2.26% 1.15% n.a.
For the years ended December 31st
Name 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
Matthews China Fund - MCHFX
MCHFX
17.87% -19.22% -24.40% -12.26% 43.05% 34.56% -21.42% 59.37% -5.18% 2.41%
MSCI China Index (USD)
19.68% -11.04% -21.80% -21.64% 29.67% 23.66% -18.75% 54.33% 1.11% -7.62%
MSCI China All Shares Index (USD)
16.67% -11.35% -23.47% -12.80% 33.61% 27.87% -23.15% 41.43% -7.69% -2.88%

MSCI China Index since inception value calculated from 2/28/98.

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.

Assumes reinvestment of all dividends and/or distributions before taxes. All performance quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with market conditions so that when redeemed, shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund’s fees and expenses had not been waived. Performance differences between the Institutional class and the Investor class may arise due to differences in fees charged to each class.

Additional performance, attribution, liquidity, value at risk (VaR), security classification and holdings information is available on request for certain time periods.

Growth of a Hypothetical $10,000 Investment Since Inception

(as of 03/31/2025)

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc. All performance is in US$.

The performance data and graph do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on dividends, capital gain distributions or redemption of fund shares.

Ratings

  • OVERALL
  • out of 79 funds
  • 3 YEAR
  • out of 79 funds
  • 5 YEAR
  • out of 69 funds
  • 10 YEAR
  • out of 43 funds

Ratings agency calculation methodology

Portfolio Managers

Andrew  Mattock, CFA photo
Andrew Mattock, CFA

Lead Manager

Winnie  Chwang photo
Winnie Chwang

Co-Manager

Sherwood  Zhang, CFA photo
Sherwood Zhang, CFA

Co-Manager

Portfolio Characteristics

(as of 03/31/2025)
Fund Benchmark
Number of Positions 70 568
Weighted Average Market Cap $146.4 billion $196.8 billion
Active Share 55.2 n.a.
P/E using FY1 estimates 11.0x 11.3x
P/E using FY2 estimates 10.1x 10.4x
Price/Cash Flow 5.6 7.7
Price/Book 1.5 1.6
Return On Equity 16.3 15.7
EPS Growth (3 Yr) 12.7% 9.9%

Sources: Factset Research Systems, Inc.

Risk Metrics (3 Yr Return)

(as of 03/31/2025)
-3.20%
Alpha
1.05
Beta
98.41%
Upside Capture
105.13%
Downside Capture
-0.13
Sharpe Ratio
-0.40
Information Ratio
9.57%
Tracking Error
93.08

Fund Risk Metrics are reflective of Investor share class.

Sources: Zephyr StyleADVISOR

Top 10 Holdings

(as of 03/31/2025)
Name Sector % Net Assets
Tencent Holdings, Ltd. Communication Services 10.2
Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. Consumer Discretionary 8.7
JD.com, Inc. Consumer Discretionary 4.6
PDD Holdings, Inc. Consumer Discretionary 4.1
China Construction Bank Corp. Financials 4.1
China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. Financials 4.0
Meituan Class B Consumer Discretionary 4.0
Ping An Insurance Group Co. of China, Ltd. Financials 3.2
DiDi Global, Inc. Industrials 2.8
Wuliangye Yibin Co., Ltd. Consumer Staples 2.3
TOTAL 48.0

Top 10 holdings may combine more than one security from the same issuer and related depositary receipts.

Source: BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.

Portfolio Breakdown (%)

(as of 03/31/2025)
  • Sector Allocation
  • Market Cap Exposure
  • China Exposure
Sector Fund Benchmark Difference
Consumer Discretionary 29.1 32.3 -3.2
Financials 22.5 17.2 5.3
Communication Services 14.6 21.8 -7.2
Industrials 8.9 4.1 4.8
Information Technology 6.1 8.1 -2.0
Consumer Staples 6.1 3.7 2.4
Real Estate 4.7 1.8 2.9
Health Care 2.8 3.6 -0.8
Energy 2.5 2.6 -0.1
Materials 1.7 2.8 -1.1
Utilities 0.0 2.0 -2.0
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 1.1 0.0 1.1

Sector data based on MSCI’s revised Global Industry Classification Standards. For more details, visit www.msci.com.

Equity market cap of issuer Fund Benchmark Difference
Mega Cap (over $25B) 64.4 74.8 -10.4
Large Cap ($10B-$25B) 19.4 13.2 6.2
Mid Cap ($3B-$10B) 9.9 11.9 -2.0
Small Cap (under $3B) 5.2 0.0 5.2
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 1.1 0.0 1.1
China Exposure Portfolio Weight
Hong Kong Listed Companies 64.3
Mainland China Listed Companies 22.9
ADR/GDR 11.2
Other 0.5
Cash and Other Assets, Less Liabilities 1.1

Mainland China listed companies includes A Share and B Shares. A Shares are Mainland Chinese companies incorporated in China and listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen exchanges, available mostly to local Chinese investors and qualified institutional investors. B Shares are mainland Chinese companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, available to both Chinese and non-Chinese investors. ADRs are American Depositary Receipts and GDRs are Global Depositary Receipts. Hong Kong Listed Companies include SAR (Hong Kong) companies, China-affiliated corporations, and H Shares. SAR companies are companies that conduct business in Hong Kong and/or mainland China. China-affiliated corporations [CAC], also known as "Red Chips," are mainland China companies with partial state ownership listed in Hong Kong, and incorporated in Hong Kong. H Shares are mainland Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong exchange but incorporated in mainland China. Other represents Chinese companies listed in other countries or non-China companies with a majority of revenue coming from China such as Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States or other non-China companies.

Source: FactSet Research Systems.

Percentage values in data are rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent, so the values may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Percentage values may be derived from different data sources and may not be consistent with other Fund literature.

Distributions

Record Date Ex, Pay and
Reinvest Date
Ordinary
Income
Short Term
Capital Gains
Long Term
Capital Gains
Total Distributions
Per Share
% of NAV Nondividend Distribution (Return of Capital)
12/17/2024 12/18/2024 $0.25688 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.25688 1.8% N.A.
12/13/2023 12/14/2023 $0.09054 $0.00000 $0.00000 $0.09054 0.8% N.A.
12/13/2022 12/14/2022 $0.00000 $0.00000 $1.09205 $1.09205 6.8% N.A.
12/14/2021 12/15/2021 $0.05000 $1.52705 $1.62473 $3.20178 12.9% N.A.
12/15/2020 12/16/2020 $0.06025 $0.17213 $0.10568 $0.33806 1.3% N.A.

 

There is no guarantee that the Fund will pay or continue to pay distributions. 

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Commentary

Period ended March 31, 2025

Market Environment

  • China was the best-performing major equity market in the first quarter. Offshore markets performed well, due in part to the surprise success of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) open-source platform DeepSeek, which upended assumptions about the high-capex dominance of U.S. based-AI services. Xi Jinping’s pivot to publicly back China’s private sector and big tech firms like Tencent and Albaba also helped bolster offshore markets.
  • While offshore markets did well, mainland markets—representative of China’s real estate, consumer and export sectors—were largely flat. We have yet to see a pickup in growth in China’s domestic economy, as the property market remained challenged and business and consumer confidence remained weak. Consequently, earnings growth of mainland stocks generally stayed subdued and didn’t provide a catalyst for equity price upside.

Contributors and Detractors

  • For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the Matthews China Fund returned 10.34%, (Investor Class) and 10.36% (Institutional Class) while its benchmark, the MSCI China Index, returned 15.06% over the same period.
  • On a sector basis, the top two contributors to relative performance were utilities due to zero allocation and energy due to stock selection. The top three detractors were information technology (IT), consumer discretionary and real estate due to stock selection.
  • The largest contributors to absolute performance included Alibaba Group, an e-commerce platform company, Tencent Holdings, an online gaming and social media conglomerate, and JD.com, a leading e-commerce platform. The top three detractors included BYD Electronic (International) Co., a unit of electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD Company that manufactures mobile handset components, Times China Holdings, a real estate development company, and Lenovo Group Ltd., a maker of PCs and consumer electronics.

Outlook

  • U.S. tariff policy and how it impacts China’s economy and markets will be an important variable in the outlook for Chinese equities, in our view. Manufacturing sectors that count the U.S. as a major customer will continue to be impacted while domestic-oriented companies should be relatively more insulated.
  • The health of China’s domestic economy is the biggest factor that will influence the drivers of returns in China. While earnings growth was uneven during the quarter, there were encouraging signs of economic recovery, alongside promising innovation in AI and technology. That said, consumer sentiment is still weak, and for it to strengthen we will need to see stronger job creation and more wealth generation.
  • We also view the government’s increasingly pro-business stance as a positive, potentially signaling the start of a long-term cycle where private entrepreneurs regain confidence to invest in China’s economy. While it’s still early, it may be timely. When the global economy is under pressure, we believe domestic-driven economies are more resilient than markets that are heavily exposed to global trade.

 

View the Fund’s Top 10 holdings as of March 31, 2025. Current and future holdings are subject to change and risk.

Average Annual Total Returns - MCHFX as of 03/31/2025
1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR Since Inception Inception Date
33.74% -0.13% 1.78% 4.32% 7.92% 02/19/1998

All performance quoted is past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate with changing market conditions so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the return figures quoted. Returns would have been lower if certain of the Fund's fees and expenses had not been waived. For the Fund's most recent month-end performance visit matthewsasia.com

Fees & Expenses
Gross Expense Ratio 1.15%

Investments in Asian securities may involve risks such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. Investing in emerging markets involves different and greater risks, as these countries are substantially smaller, less liquid and more volatile than securities markets in more developed markets. In addition, investments in a single-country fund, which is considered a non-diversified fund, may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific country.

 

Visit our Glossary of Terms page for definitions and additional information.

Index Definitions

The information contained herein has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation, but no representation or warranty (express or implied) is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any of this information. Neither the funds nor the Investment Advisor accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information.

The views and opinions in the commentary were as of the report date, subject to change and may not reflect current views. They are not guarantees of performance or investment results and should not be taken as investment advice. Investment decisions reflect a variety of factors, and the managers reserve the right to change their views about individual stocks, sectors, and the markets at any time. As a result, the views expressed should not be relied upon as a forecast of the Fund's future investment intent. It should not be assumed that any investment will be profitable or will equal the performance of any securities or any sectors mentioned herein. The information does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any securities mentioned.