Why NetEase Shares Are Falling

NetEase Inc NTES shares are under pressure, down 4.4% to $96.49 Tuesday afternoon, as China's latest economic data highlights a challenging environment for consumer-driven sectors. November trade figures revealed a 3.9% year-over-year drop in imports, signaling weakening domestic demand.

This is a troubling indicator for NetEase, whose revenue heavily depends on consumer spending on online games, digital content and other services in China.

What To Know: NetEase faces mounting challenges in a market overshadowed by a housing crisis and sluggish economic activity. Despite promises of fiscal and monetary stimulus from Beijing, investors remain skeptical of their efficacy given China's towering debt levels and recent signs of deflationary pressures. This casts doubt on the broader recovery of consumer spending, critical for NetEase's sustained growth.

Adding to NetEase's woes, geopolitical tensions and regulatory uncertainties loom over China's tech sector. While exports showed growth, driven by manufacturers rushing to meet U.S. demand before potential tariffs, this trend offers little benefit to NetEase, whose core operations are domestically focused.

Without a stronger rebound in domestic consumption, NetEase may struggle to meet growth expectations, putting downward pressure on its stock.

Read Also: Trump’s Tariff Storm: 3 Survival Strategies US Companies Are Using To Fight Back

Investors can gain exposure to NTES by investing in the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF KWEB.

How To Buy NTES Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for NetEase – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy ‘fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

In the the case of NetEase, which is trading at $96.61 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 1.04 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to ‘go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, NTES has a 52-week high of and a 52-week low of