Spun-out from Hong Kong’s JS Global Lifestyle (1691:HKG), household appliance innovator SharkNinja (SN:NYSE) is an interesting addition to the public markets and the shares surged on their New York Stock Exchange debut (31 July) in an early feeding frenzy.

But SharkNinja’s shares then sank below the initial public offering (IPO) price amid concerns over the company’s significant China exposure at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions between the Beijing and the US.

Boston-headquartered SharkNinja is the company behind two billion-dollar brands, Shark and Ninja. It designs and manufactures household appliances ranging from smart vacuum cleaners and air fryers to electric grills, ice cream makers, blenders and hairdryers and is growing its robot vacuum market share.

By bringing disruptive products to a massive, fragmented market and entering new product categories, SharkNinja has successfully driven significant growth and market share gains.

Its products are sold through key retailers, among them Walmart (WMT:NYSE), Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ), Argos and Currys (CURY), and distributors around the world.

SharkNinja’s sales rose from $250 million in 2008 to a bumper $3.7 billion in 2022, an impressive compound annual growth rate of 20%. And in an interview with business channel CNBC on IPO day, CEO Mark Barrocas described his charge as a ‘consumer-solving engine’, insisting ‘we solve problems that others can’t’.

Listed at just over $30 per share, SharkNinja was propelled 40% higher in debut deals but the shares then sank below the issue price to close the week at $26.90 on 4 August as excitement waned. The shares are trading at $30.10 at the time of writing, giving SharkNinja a market value just shy of $4.2 billion.

While the bulk of SharkNinja’s sales are derived from North America, the market newcomer has significant exposure to China. This brings with it risks due to geopolitical tensions and the complexities of the trade relationship between the world’s two biggest economies.

Since 2020, SharkNinja has paid over $3.3 billion to JS Global subsidiaries for merchandise and goods made in China in the main, which it sells to American consumers, and continues to rely on JS Global for supply chain services. Investors are also concerned about the risk SharkNinja’s tariff exemption, applicable to certain goods sent from China to US consumers, may not necessarily be extended to SharkNinja again, creating what the company warns would be ‘a substantial increase in costs’.

And in March, the International Trade Commission ruled in favour of iRobot, the Roomba vacuum cleaner maker Amazon has agreed to acquire, after it alleged SharkNinja had infringed on one of its patents.

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