Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport, Tracking Traffic

Daniel Hellberg

Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport

Tracking Traffic

Focusing on Asian logistics, transportation, and travel companies

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Q424 revenue growth &amp; EBITDA margin both improved noticeably vs Q324 </li>
<li>Additionally, ZTO gave FY25 parcel volume guidance that implies an acceleration of growth</li>
<li>But "key" change in revenue mix is crushing cash returns (Q424 OpCF down -28% Y/Y)</li>
</ul>


Q424 revenue growth &amp; EBITDA margin both improved noticeably vs Q324 
Additionally, ZTO gave FY25 parcel volume guidance that implies an acceleration of growth
But "key" change in revenue mix is crushing cash returns (Q424 OpCF down -28% Y/Y)


Q424 ZTO Express Results & FY25 Guidance: Revenue Growth & Margin Better, But OpCF Shrinking; AVOID

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

<ul><li>ZTO Express (ZTO)’s 1Q25 core net profit grew 5% YoY to RMB1.96bn, based on our calculation.</li><li>In particular, such increase was only supported by RMB407mn (+2.4x YoY) government subsidies and tax rebates, which are likely to be one-off in nature.</li><li>With ASP dropping 8% YoY in 1Q25, ZTO’s parcel volume growth (19.1%) was still lagging behind the industry average (21.6%) and all the major players. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

ZTO Express (ZTO)’s 1Q25 core net profit grew 5% YoY to RMB1.96bn, based on our calculation.In particular, such increase was only supported by RMB407mn (+2.4x YoY) government subsidies and tax rebates, which are likely to be one-off in nature.With ASP dropping 8% YoY in 1Q25, ZTO’s parcel volume growth (19.1%) was still lagging behind the industry average (21.6%) and all the major players. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

ZTO Express (ZTO US/2057 HK) - 1Q25 Earnings Below Expectation...

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>PCAOB officials concluded their Hong Kong visit last month and PCAOB is due to announce its annual judgment on whether it had adequate access to US listed China companies.</li>
<li>The Hong Kong visit was on the back of the 26th Aug 2022 announcement by PCAOB and CSRC that they had entered into an agreement with US authorities for access.</li>
<li>In this note, we'll talk about the latest developments, possible outcomes and implications.</li>
</ul>


PCAOB officials concluded their Hong Kong visit last month and PCAOB is due to announce its annual judgment on whether it had adequate access to US listed China companies.
The Hong Kong visit was on the back of the 26th Aug 2022 announcement by PCAOB and CSRC that they had entered into an agreement with US authorities for access.
In this note, we'll talk about the latest developments, possible outcomes and implications.


China ADRs Delisting - Friday Could Be Judgment Day for over US$800bn Mcap of Stocks

<ul>
<li>March and Q125 parcel volume growth slowed only slightly vs strong Q424 and FY24</li>
<li>Single-Digit unit price declines should be manageable for most of the express companies</li>
<li>But express "story" generally unexciting, and most shares should continue to lag Alibaba</li>
</ul>


March and Q125 parcel volume growth slowed only slightly vs strong Q424 and FY24
Single-Digit unit price declines should be manageable for most of the express companies
But express "story" generally unexciting, and most shares should continue to lag Alibaba


Monthly Chinese Express Tracker | March, Q125 Growth Solid | But Shares Lag Alibaba (April 2025)

<ul><li>ZTO Express (ZTO)’s 4Q24 core net profit grew 11% YoY to RMB2.49bn, which is in line with our expectation.</li><li>The company targets to achieve full year parcel volume of 40.8-42.2bn (20-24% YoY growth), which is expected to outpace the industry growth of 15% (ZTO’s forecast).</li><li>This suggests a shift of strategy from profitability to volume growth, which we believe was due to the continuous decline in market share (18.8% in 4Q24, in terms of parcel volume). </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

ZTO Express (ZTO)’s 4Q24 core net profit grew 11% YoY to RMB2.49bn, which is in line with our expectation.The company targets to achieve full year parcel volume of 40.8-42.2bn (20-24% YoY growth), which is expected to outpace the industry growth of 15% (ZTO’s forecast).This suggests a shift of strategy from profitability to volume growth, which we believe was due to the continuous decline in market share (18.8% in 4Q24, in terms of parcel volume). Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

ZTO Express (ZTO US/2057 HK) - Shifting Back to Volume Growth Strategy

China

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. operates as an express delivery company. The Company provides express delivery service through their nationwide network, as well as other value-added logistics services. ZTO Express serves customers globally.

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ZTO Express Cayman (ZTO US)

Q424 ZTO Express Results & FY25 Guidance: Revenue Growth & Margin Better, But OpCF Shrinking; AVOID

ZTO's revenue momentum and core margin improved in Q424, but at the cost of deteriorating Cash Flow. We view the strong recent growth of "key...

Tracking Traffic

ZTO Express (ZTO US/2057 HK) - 1Q25 Earnings Below Expectation...

In particular, such increase was only supported by RMB407mn (+2.4x YoY) government subsidies and tax rebates, which are likely to be one-off in...

CMB International

China ADRs Delisting - Friday Could Be Judgment Day for over US$800bn Mcap of Stocks

PCAOB officials concluded their Hong Kong visit last month and PCAOB is due to announce its annual judgment on whether it had adequate access to US...

Sumeet Singh

Monthly Chinese Express Tracker | March, Q125 Growth Solid | But Shares Lag Alibaba (April 2025)

In March and Q125, express volume growth remained firm, and unit price declines should be manageable for most express companies. But as an...

Tracking Traffic

ZTO Express (ZTO US/2057 HK) - Shifting Back to Volume Growth Strategy

The company targets to achieve full year parcel volume of 40.8-42.2bn (20-24% YoY growth), which is expected to outpace the industry growth of 15%...

CMB International

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