Company Reports

Estun’s second-quarter revenue increased 4% year on year, while adjusted operating profit more than quadrupled. Adjusted operating margin expanded to 8.5% from 2.0% a year ago.

Estun plans to acquire Nanjing Estun Codroid Technology, a collaborative and humanoid robot company, in an all-cash deal from a seller group led by its parent. The price has yet to be determined. After the deal, Estun would own 100% of Codroid, up from approximately 14%.

Estun’s first-quarter revenue slipped 2% year on year, but adjusted operating profit surged 85%, with margin widening by 2.5 percentage points to 5.3%. Together with a sizable one-off fair value estimate gain, net profit attributable to shareholders soared nearly eightfold.

Estun Automation's 2025 revenue rose 22% year on year to CNY 4.9 billion, with net margin turning positive at 0.9% from a loss in 2024.

As of December 2025, Estun Automation is the largest industrial robot manufacturer in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun competes with foreign peers through competitive pricing, better service, and customized products. Estun’s robots are priced about 20%-30% below similar products offered by leading foreign peers. Besides, Estun customizes robots for strategic customers. Those customers are mostly industry leaders, and their endorsement helps Estun market similar products to other customers in the same industry.

As of December 2025, Estun Automation is the largest industrial robot manufacturer in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun competes with foreign peers through competitive pricing, better service, and customized products. Estun’s robots are priced about 20%-30% below similar products offered by leading foreign peers. Besides, Estun customizes robots for strategic customers. Those customers are mostly industry leaders, and their endorsement helps Estun market similar products to other customers in the same industry.

We initiate coverage of Estun Automation's H-shares, which debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 9. We already provide coverage of the Shenzhen-listed A-shares.

Estun Automation for preliminary 2025 net profit attributable to shareholders in the range of CNY 35 million-CNY 50 million, marking a turnaround from the loss in 2024.

As of December 2025, Estun Automation has become the largest industrial robot manufacturer in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun competes with foreign peers through competitive pricing, better service, and customized products. Estun’s robots are priced about 20%-30% below similar products offered by leading foreign peers. Besides, Estun customizes robots for strategic customers. Those customers are mostly industry leaders, and their endorsement helps Estun market similar products to other customers in the same industry.

Estun's third-quarter revenue grew by 5% year on year, with operating margin improving to 2.2% from 1.0%.

Estun posted 17% year-on-year revenue growth for the first half and achieved breakeven, marking a significant improvement from the loss recorded during the same period last year.

As of December 2024, Estun Automation is the largest domestic industrial robot manufacturer and ranks second by shipment in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun benefited from the exponential growth of emerging industries such as the photovoltaic and lithium-ion battery industries. It is one of the largest industrial robot suppliers to the photovoltaic industry, with a leading market share in photovoltaic typesetting. In addition, its robots have landed in the factories of top lithium-ion battery companies such as BYD and CATL.

Estun struggled in the fourth quarter of 2024, with revenue declining by 55% year on year leading to an operating loss; but the first quarter of 2025 saw a rebound with revenue up 24% year on year and adjusted operating margin recovering to 2.8%.

As of December 2024, Estun Automation is the largest domestic industrial robot manufacturer and ranks second by shipment in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun benefited from the exponential growth of emerging industries such as the photovoltaic and lithium-ion battery industries. It is one of the largest industrial robot suppliers to the photovoltaic industry, with a leading market share in photovoltaic typesetting. In addition, its robots have landed in the factories of top lithium-ion battery companies such as BYD and CATL.

While we are disappointed with Estun’s preliminary loss of CNY 650 million-CNY 760 million for 2024, we maintain our fair value estimate of CNY 11.30 per share, as over half of the loss is attributable to noncash goodwill impairment, which does not affect our discounted cash flow-based valuation. We have revised our net loss estimate to CNY 700 million for 2024 but are retaining our estimates for 2025-28, pending the release of the full results on April 27.

We maintain our fair value estimate at CNY 11.30 following Estun’s mixed third-quarter results. Although revenue grew 22% year on year, gross margin declined by 291 basis points to 30.3%, likely due to the lingering effects of price competition from the first half of the year. We think the shares are overvalued, trading at a 30% premium to our fair value estimate and 127 times our projected 2025 price/earnings ratio. While we believe Estun will benefit from domestic substitution and gain market share from foreign industrial robot manufacturers, we think the positive long-term outlook is already reflected in the current share price.

As of December 2023, Estun Automation is the largest domestic industrial robot manufacturer and ranks second by shipment in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun benefited from the exponential growth of emerging industries such as the photovoltaic and lithium-ion battery industries. It is one of the largest industrial robot suppliers to the photovoltaic industry, with a leading market share in photovoltaic typesetting. In addition, its robots have landed in the factories of top lithium-ion battery companies such as BYD and CATL. However, both industries are currently facing heavy overcapacity. This will weigh on Estun's shipment growth in the near term.

Estun’s net loss of CNY 80 million in the second quarter is in line with preliminary guidance and reflects sluggish downstream demand, notably in the solar industry, coupled with intense price competition. We now factor in weaker demand, leading to 5%-10% cuts to our revenue forecasts for 2024-28 and 14%-34% reductions in our net income estimates for 2025-28. We project Estun to stay profitable in 2024, but with a thin 0.6% net margin. Consequently, we cut our fair value estimate by 15% to CNY 11.30 per share, and consider the shares fairly valued.

Estun’s preliminary losses of CNY 65 million-CNY 85 million in the first half translates to CNY 72 million-CNY 92 million losses in the second quarter, falling short of our expectations and market consensus. Estun attributed the losses to declining sales and margin contraction due to a steep decline in shipments to new-energy industries, especially solar. We think the challenge will persist over the next two years, considering significant overcapacity in those industries. As a result, we slashed our 2024 earnings estimate by 95% to CNY 13 million, which barely breaks even. We also reduced our earnings estimates by 17%-55% for 2025-28. As a result, we lowered our fair value estimate by 11% to CNY 13.30. The shares fell 4% after the preliminary result and closed 2% below our fair value estimate on July 11. We suggest investors wait for a better entry point.

As of December 2023, Estun Automation is the largest domestic industrial robot manufacturer and ranks second by shipment in China, a market that used to be dominated by foreign companies. As a late mover, Estun benefited from the exponential growth of emerging industries such as the photovoltaic and lithium-ion battery industries. It is one of the largest industrial robot suppliers to the photovoltaic industry, with a leading market share in photovoltaic typesetting. In addition, its robots have landed in the factories of top lithium-ion battery companies such as BYD and CATL. However, both industries are currently facing heavy overcapacity. This will weigh on Estun's shipment growth in the near term.