Tencent Holdings
Market value: $510.5 billion
Industry: Conglomerate
If you had to choose one stock, anywhere in the world, to be the one stock you owned for the next 20 years, Tencent Holdings (TCEHY, $53.44) - one of the largest social media, streaming video and video-game companies in the world - should at least be in the discussion.
If tomorrow, China and the U.S. fall into a legitimate cold war and trade between the countries really takes a hit, Tencent is going to take a lot less damage than the vast majority of Chinese companies. Chinese consumers aren't likely to stream less video or play fewer mobile video games even during a deep recession.
Tencent's social media and gaming revenues have continued to grow at a healthy clip. But the explosive growth has come from its investments in fintech and mobile payments, primarily via its Weixin and WeChat apps.
Ask yourself a very simple question: Five years from now, do you expect to see more people paying with their phone or fewer people? Regardless of what happens over the coming months following the coronavirus scare and any long-lasting hostility to China, that trend would appear to be safe.
Tencent's market cap, at $511 billion, is slightly smaller than that of Alibaba. It will be interesting to see which of these top Chinese stocks crosses the trillion-dollar mark first.