On May 21st, the robotics sector experienced a collective surge. Haozhi Electromechanical (300503.SZ) soared by 14%, while Estun Automation (002747.SZ) hit the daily limit-up. Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd. (002050.SZ) saw its intraday gains exceed 7% at one point, closing the afternoon session at 52.83 yuan per share, up 4.51%. Its trading volume surpassed 16.2 billion yuan, with its total market capitalization climbing back above 220 billion yuan. This marked its highest single-day trading volume since retreating from its peak in January of this year. This rebound began in late April, but its strength has been moderate, with a 20% gain over half a month. Even so, for the company's 670,000 shareholders, waiting for this rebound could be described as a long and anxious wait. Since 2026, Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd.'s stock price has not seen significant sustained growth. From the beginning of the year to now, its stock price has fluctuated from 60.77 yuan, hitting a low near 42 yuan in late March, representing a maximum decline of over 30% during that period. Despite some recovery in May, the year-to-date cumulative pullback remains significant, with the first half of the year spent digesting its high valuation. According to East Money Choice data, since April, six robotics concept stocks, including Guangpu Co., Ltd., Huaxingyuanchuang, Sunvision Technology, Bojie Shares, Dio Micro, and Qiaofeng Intelligent, have seen their stock prices double. Additionally, Taijing Technology and Shenglan Co., Ltd. have gained over 90% since April. In contrast, Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd., once the most favored leader in the humanoid robotics concept, seems to be lagging behind.
01: From Air Conditioning Valves to Global Leadership Sanhua Holding was founded in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, in 1984. Its core listed entity, Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd., was formally established in 1994, listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Main Board in 2005, and initiated the application for a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing in 2025, advancing its dual-listing A+H share strategy. The company's actual controllers are Zhang Daocai and his son, Zhang Yabo. Zhang Yabo currently serves as Chairman and President. The controlling shareholder, Sanhua Holding Group, and its concert parties have consistently maintained a combined stake of around 40%, with the family governance model providing strong strategic continuity and operational stability. After over thirty years of technological iteration and capacity expansion, Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd. has firmly secured its position as the global leader in refrigeration control components. The company's core products, electronic expansion valves and four-way reversing valves, hold a global market share exceeding 50%. It has deep supply chain ties with leading global home appliance manufacturers like Midea, Gree, and Daikin, establishing formidable barriers.
02: Robotics Business Awaits Traction Currently, Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd. has three core business segments: home appliance refrigeration, new energy vehicle thermal management, and humanoid robotics. Home appliance refrigeration is the foundational business. In 2025, it generated revenue of 18.585 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 60% of total revenue, with a stable gross margin of 28.77%. It generates substantial free cash flow annually, providing ammunition for R&D and capacity expansion in new businesses. Automotive thermal management is the second growth engine. In 2025, revenue reached 12.427 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.14%, accounting for about 40% of total revenue. The company has deep partnerships with mainstream automakers like Tesla, BYD, NIO, and Li Auto, with products covering core areas such as battery cooling and vehicle heat pump systems. What truly determines the stock price direction is the third segment: the humanoid robotics business. The company has successfully transferred the high-precision electromechanical control, precision transmission, and liquid cooling technologies accumulated in the new energy vehicle field to humanoid robot joints, becoming a core supplier for the rotary joint actuator assembly of Tesla's Optimus. Its self-developed joint modules integrate planetary roller screws and liquid cooling systems, offering clear advantages in key metrics like torque density and cooling efficiency. On the capacity front, the company is also accelerating its layout: a dedicated 3.8 billion yuan production line at its Hangzhou base is under continuous construction, and its Mexico base has already commenced smooth production. Located adjacent to Tesla's industrial park, this significantly shortens delivery cycles. In 2025, the robotics business confirmed annual revenue of 820 million yuan. While this sounds substantial, within the total revenue of 31 billion yuan, it accounts for less than 3%. Simultaneously, the company's overall performance is also showing signs of "deceleration." In 2025, the company achieved annual revenue of 31.012 billion yuan, an 11% year-on-year increase, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 4.063 billion yuan, a significant 31.1% year-on-year surge. However, in the first quarter of 2026, the company reported revenue of 7.774 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 928 million yuan, representing only slight year-on-year increases of 1.36% and 2.68%, respectively. This indicates a clear pause in the previous high-speed earnings growth. Following the Q1 report, Nomura Securities downgraded Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd.'s rating from "Buy" to "Neutral," with the core logic being the significant uncertainty surrounding the realization of robotics business performance. Sustained cooling market sentiment has consequently led to stock price pressure.
03: Has Valuation Peaked? Pessimists argue that the current forward P/E ratio remains around 60x. This valuation entirely hinges on the expectation of volume ramp-up in the new robotics and AI liquid cooling businesses. If the pace of realization continues to be delayed, a systematic downward shift in the valuation center is almost inevitable. Optimists have their own grounds for confidence: over 70% of institutions maintain a "Buy" rating, with target prices generally above the current stock price. This locks in expectations for a valuation re-rating following the large-scale volume ramp-up of new businesses in 2026-2027. J.P. Morgan concurrently raised its medium-term profit forecast for the company, explicitly stating that 2026 could usher in multiple industry catalysts for the company. According to industry plans, Tesla's third-generation Optimus is expected to debut around mid-2026, with small-batch production starting in Q3 2026 and gradual commercialization in 2027. If this timeline proceeds as scheduled, the robotics business could potentially scale from the current several billion yuan level to tens of billions or even a hundred billion yuan, which is not without foundation. Simultaneously, leveraging the high technological commonality between its core components like valves, pumps, heat exchangers, and liquid cooling systems, Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd. has entered the lucrative AI data center liquid cooling track. It has established a dedicated project team to build a liquid cooling product matrix covering all scenarios and the entire industry chain, catering to diverse emerging cooling needs in data centers, energy storage, and other areas. Unlike the robotics business, which is still in its early realization phase, the company's liquid cooling layout has a faster and more certain pace of implementation. It already achieved high-speed business growth in 2025 and is steadily expanding its market share through continuous industry chain collaboration and optimization of mass production and adaptation capabilities. This segment has become a core new growth curve for the company to hedge against the slowdown in traditional business growth and balance the uncertainty in the robotics business. It can be said that Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co.,Ltd. is currently in a transitional period of shifting between old and new growth drivers. Traditional automotive business growth is peaking, the humanoid robotics business has not yet entered the performance realization phase, and while AI liquid cooling offers incremental growth, it is not yet sufficient to support the current valuation. The sustained stock price weakness is essentially not due to a breakdown in the growth narrative, but rather the market's unwillingness to continue paying a high premium for a "long-term story," waiting for actual financial reports to provide verification. For long-term investors, the current phase represents a potential window for positioning characterized by "unfalsified logic, retreated valuation, and resilient fundamentals," with the core test being portfolio patience and time cost. For short-term capital, the unclear realization timeline for new businesses and significant valuation fluctuations still present relatively high trading difficulty. Personal opinion, for reference only.
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