Company Reports

Autohome reported in-line first-quarter revenue, but net profit came in slightly below our expectations. Revenue increased 5% year over year, with faster growth in data products offsetting the revenue decline in the media services segment. User traffic, as measured by mobile daily active users, rose slightly by 2% from the last quarter to 69 million. Increased traffic acquisition efforts during the period led to 23% growth in selling and marketing expenses from last year.

Autohome is China’s largest automobile online media platform in terms of user traffic. The firm started providing media services in 2008 with a focus on new car content and building an active online forum to gain user traffic. According to QuestMobile, its mobile daily active users, or DAUs, reached 69.4 million in March 2024, demonstrating its leadership among automotive platforms.

Autohome reported in-line December quarter revenue, but profit was missed. Revenue increased 1% year on year with faster growth in data products offsetting revenue decline in the media service segment. Gross margin was stable year over year but remained under pressure due to rising content costs as Autohome built out its content ecosystem. User traffic, as measured by mobile daily active users, grew 25% from last year to 68 million. Increased traffic acquisition efforts during the period led to an 8.5% growth in marketing expenses from last year. As a result, net profit came in under our expectations.

Autohome is China’s largest automobile online media platform in terms of user traffic. The firm started providing media services in 2008 with a focus on new car content and building an active online forum to gain user traffic. According to QuestMobile, its mobile daily active users, or DAUs, reached 68.2 million in December 2023, demonstrating its leadership among automotive platforms.

Autohome reported in-line third-quarter results. Revenue increased 3% versus a year ago, driven by faster growth in data products and the company’s new retail initiatives. Gross margin narrowed 2 percentage points year over year due to rising content costs as Autohome built out its content ecosystem. User traffic, as measured by mobile daily active users, grew nicely by 10% from last quarter to 69 million, but the increased traffic acquisition during the period also led to 8% growth in marketing expenses from last year. While the operating profit run-rate came in below our full-year forecast, interest income and contribution from equity investments brought net profit back in line with our expectation.

Autohome is China’s largest automobile online media platform in terms of user traffic. The firm started providing media services in 2008 with a focus on new car content and building an active online forum to gain user traffic. According to QuestMobile, its mobile daily active users, or DAUs, reached 62.7 million in June 2023, demonstrating the company’s leadership among automotive platforms.

We initiate Autohome with a no-moat rating and fair value estimate of USD 29.20 per ADS (HKD 56.70 per share), which falls in Morningstar 3-star territory. Autohome, hosting 62.7 million daily active users, or DAUs, as of June 2023, is the largest online auto platform in China as measured by user traffic. Although we like the firm for its leading position among automobile media platforms, growth for Autohome’s traditional advertising business seems to have peaked in 2020-22, with traffic growth slowing to the teens level and with declining spending from automakers and dealers. Meanwhile, we anticipate rising content and traffic cost will continue to depress return on invested capital. We forecast average net margin declining to 27% in 2023-25, versus 35% in the last five years.

Autohome is China’s largest automobile online media platform in terms of user traffic. The firm started providing media services in 2008 with a focus on new car content and building an active online forum to gain user traffic. According to QuestMobile, its mobile daily active users, or DAUs, reached 62.7 million in June 2023, demonstrating the company’s leadership among automotive platforms.