In today's market, "investing in technology" is almost synonymous with "buying AI." In the eyes of many investors, popular segments like optical modules are the "ticket" to the AI rally—if a fund manager's top ten holdings don't include one or two such stocks, their "AI" investment label might be considered questionable. However, there are exceptions, such as Zhang Jiansheng, a fund manager at Boda Fund who has deep expertise in the TMT sector.
As a typical growth-style fund manager, Zhang Jiansheng's top ten holdings rarely feature the "hottest stocks." A detailed review of his portfolio adjustments reveals his involvement in various popular sectors, often entering during the early or left-side stages of a trend. For instance, he successfully captured several high-performing stocks in semiconductor manufacturing, innovative drugs, and silver. This investment approach, which avoids chasing extreme hotspots yet delivers solid returns, defines Zhang Jiansheng's unique investment profile.
Wind data shows that the Boda Sheng Yan A fund managed by Zhang Jiansheng achieved an annual return rate of over 45% in 2025. As of January 8, 2026, the fund's cumulative return over the past three years exceeded 65%, demonstrating strong medium- to long-term performance resilience.
Valuation is a key stock selection criterion for Zhang Jiansheng, whose investment framework can be summarized as "bottom-up, moderately diversified across sectors, and balanced with a growth tilt," with particular emphasis on valuation and drawdown control. His style is closely tied to his career experience. After transitioning from sell-side to buy-side research in late 2014, he experienced significant market volatility early in his career, shaping a more cautious risk appetite compared to most growth-oriented investors. His investment operations exhibit distinct left-side trading characteristics: "buying on the left and selling on the left." He sets a target market cap range for companies and begins gradually selling once the stock price enters the predetermined zone, typically avoiding the pursuit of gains beyond the target price.
This approach results in a lower probability of high-profile stocks appearing in his top ten holdings. Zhang Jiansheng emphasizes maintaining "awe for the market" and avoiding overpaying for excessive premiums. He explains that his core stock selection logic revolves around three dimensions: competitive barriers, industry景气度 (prosperity), and valuation. For sectors outside TMT, competitive barriers carry the highest weight; for the TMT sector, which he深入研究 (deeply researches), he assigns greater importance to景气度, but valuation remains a critical filter. "The requirement not to pay excessive valuation premiums for short-term景气度 actually adds error tolerance to the portfolio," Zhang Jiansheng admits.
He believes that for highly watched market leaders with already饱满 (full) implied expectations, generating further alpha requires deep industry knowledge and offers low error tolerance. He prefers identifying "left-side" targets in early-stage industry trends where valuations do not yet include high premiums and market attention is relatively low. Even if subsequent industry progress slightly underperforms expectations, the downside risk remains relatively controllable, partly achieved through frequent communication with industry and primary market experts. This strategy stems from his experience managing absolute return products early in his career, with the core aim of building ample valuation safety margins for the portfolio.
In portfolio construction, Zhang Jiansheng limits exposure to any single industry (Shenwan primary classification) to no more than 25%. His portfolio remains diversified across three growth directions: high-end manufacturing, TMT, and泛消费 (broad consumption). This balanced allocation and moderately contrarian style result in relatively better drawdown control among growth-style fund managers. Consequently, institutional investors account for a relatively high proportion (approximately 60%) of his fund's holdings.
His emphasis on valuation enables Zhang Jiansheng to uncover opportunities in overlooked market areas, such as his前瞻性 (forward-looking) allocation to the Hong Kong market in Q1 2024 and the innovative drug sector in 2025.
In Q1 2025, several Hong Kong-listed innovative drug companies appeared in his top ten holdings, driven by the core logic that their valuations had fallen to historically attractive lows. Zhang Jiansheng admits, "I do not have a formal background in pharmaceuticals, making it extremely difficult for me to judge the long-term R&D success probability of单一管线 (single pipelines)." Therefore, he clearly defined his investment goal in innovative drugs as "profiting from valuation recovery," tending to gradually realize gains when company valuations recovered from undervalued levels to above-average ranges. In Q3 last year, he significantly reduced his position in innovative drugs, after which the sector generally experienced substantial price corrections.
However, low valuation does not necessarily guarantee stock price appreciation. For growth stock investing, the ability to identify marginal changes at the industry level is more critical, an area where Zhang Jiansheng has demonstrated acute insight. For example, his allocation to the semiconductor memory sector in 2025 was based on a dual assessment of valuation and industry trends. By mid-year, he observed that memory company valuations were generally low while positive industry signals indicated a potential upward cycle in memory prices. This combination of "low valuation + marginal industry improvement" provided a favorable risk-reward ratio for his investment. He views semiconductor manufacturing as "the foundry for domestic computing power," whose competitive landscape certainty was superior to the then highly sought-after GPU design companies, a conclusion derived from deep industry analysis alongside valuation considerations.
For his investment portfolio, he prefers building a certain梯度 (gradient), allocating some positions on the left side and gradually increasing others when right-side signals become clearer. "I never aim to buy at the absolute bottom, only within the bottom zone. Maintaining a平常心 (balanced mindset) often leads to better outcomes retrospectively, preventing actions from becoming distorted." This non-extreme strategy, combined with his insistence on valuation safety margins, forms an investment methodology with portfolio thinking, aimed at pursuing sustainable compound interest rather than short-term explosive gains.
Regarding the current market, Zhang Jiansheng's outlook is clear and optimistic: he believes the steady upward trend of A-shares is not yet over. His view is supported by three factors: first, a significant decline in risk premiums on the denominator side, with clear policy directions post-"9·24" in 2024重塑 (reshaping) long-term investment confidence; second, regulators'持续加大 (continuously strengthening) support for capital markets, with a series of measures helping to release market liquidity and boost valuations; third, signs of a bottoming recovery in corporate earnings, with many positive signals emerging during the财报季 (earnings season). He asserts that upward-trending corporate earnings, coupled with a decent liquidity environment, will continue to support market improvement.
In terms of investment directions, he focuses on three main areas. First is the AI sector. Among the four AI hardware industry chains—"computing power, storage, interconnection, and power"—he believes expectations for computing power are already quite full and will subsequently pay more attention to areas like storage and interconnection. He specifically mentioned开始重视 (starting to emphasize) investment opportunities in the AI application field in 2026, observing a shift among some leading companies from "technology-first" to "product-first," which is expected to accelerate the commercialization of AI applications in 2026. He will closely monitor the unlocking progress of vertical application fields, particularly advancements in advertising, e-commerce, and other areas by Hong Kong-listed internet giants.
Second are resource products and some high-end manufacturing sectors benefiting from "re-industrialization" and "re-globalization," such as the non-ferrous metals板块 (sector), which is a major holding focus for him, especially silver. He believes valuations for most industrial metal stocks are within a reasonable range around 15 times PE, with the US dollar interest rate cut cycle being beneficial.
Third are valuation recovery opportunities in traditional industries like chemicals and consumption, particularly the consumer sector. He stated that in 2026, he will not轻易 (easily) switch from high-risk preference品种 (varieties) to medium-risk ones, as the risk-return curve has not fundamentally changed.
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