After getting severely burned for much of last year, Chinese vaping companies and their investors are looking forward to clearer air in 2023 under a new, well-defined regulatory regime for the young industry.
That appears to be the key takeaway from industry leader RLX Technology Inc.’s (RLX.US) latest financial report released early last Friday. Rather than dump the company’s shares after it said its revenue plunged 82% in last year’s fourth quarter, investors actually bid up the stock by 15% following the report’s release.
The fourth-quarter revenue plunge is about equal to the decline in RLX’s stock price since its January 2021 IPO, showing just how far it has fallen over the last two years amid all the changes in its industry. The stock was down by even more late last year, but has rallies about 170% from its all-time low last October.