Chinese Stocks Are a Screaming Bargain. Don’t Buy Them.

Another brutal selloff for China’s tech champions presents U.S. investors with a dangerous bargain. Shares like

Alibaba

are deeply discounted compared with their U.S. counterparts. But “shares” might be the wrong word to describe them. Cryptostock, perhaps. Gains depend on a form of economic make-believe that’s becoming increasingly difficult to buy into. 

Two years ago, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (BABA) was growing faster than

Amazon.com

(AMZN), with better profits, and half the stock market value. A tariff spat with the U.S. loomed, but what good value stock doesn’t come with a few warts?