Shares of BILIBILI-W (09626) plummeted 5.13% during intraday trading on Friday, marking a significant decline for the video streaming platform's Hong Kong-listed stock.
Analysts attributed the sell-off to growing concerns over the company's increased investment in artificial intelligence, which is expected to pressure its profit margin improvement trajectory. This comes despite Bilibili reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, with adjusted EPS of CNY1.94 beating the CNY1.82 estimate and revenue rising 7.6% year-over-year to CNY8.32 billion.
Nomura noted that the profit outlook is "dented by AI investment," while Citi highlighted "unexpected AI investments" as a concern amid muted gaming performance. Jefferies estimates that while Q1 gross profit margin may improve slightly quarter-over-quarter, operating expenses are expected to increase year-over-year due to AI-related research and development spending.
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