In March 2026, POP MART delivered a nearly flawless financial report: revenue surpassed 37.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase exceeding 180%; net profit attributable to the parent company reached 12.78 billion yuan, a surge of over 300%. By both scale and profitability metrics, this performance redefined the industry's potential. However, the market reaction was unexpected. Following the earnings release, the stock price fell instead of rising. This stark divergence between performance and stock price quickly shifted the company's narrative from a "growth miracle" to a focal point of "valuation debate." This is not merely a sentiment fluctuation but a classic case of market misperception: while the company continues to accelerate, capital is already applying the brakes prematurely. Understanding this requires looking beyond surface-level numbers to deeper structural factors and expectations.
In response to irrational selling, POP MART's management demonstrated strong confidence in value realization through substantial capital allocation. It is understood that during the five trading days of significant price volatility following the earnings report, POP MART executed intensive, large-scale share repurchases. As of this writing, the company has cumulatively bought back nearly 1.3 billion HKD worth of shares. This market support operation, conducted at a level considered severely undervalued, is the management's most powerful statement regarding the company's true worth and sends a clear signal to the market: despite capital market mood swings, the intrinsic growth logic of the company remains robust.
Assessing the true quality of the 2025 performance, POP MART's results achieved what could be termed a "Davis Double Play" in profitability. This structural optimization was not accidental but stemmed from qualitative improvements in the supply chain. On one hand, refined supply chain management is yielding dividends. Through more precise production scheduling and AI-assisted decision-making, the company has significantly reduced inventory redundancy and production waste, greatly enhancing the efficiency of resource utilization per unit. On the other hand, expansion into overseas markets has brought higher premium pricing, strengthening product pricing power. More importantly, operating leverage has begun to materialize. In 2025, the company's profit growth rate significantly outpaced its revenue growth, indicating it has crossed the "scale cost" threshold and entered a new phase of "efficiency drive." Simply put, the same level of investment now yields greater profits.
Regarding its IP asset portfolio, POP MART has successfully countered previous market skepticism about over-reliance on a single major IP by building a stable, multi-layered IP matrix. Notably, LABUBU achieved a phenomenal global breakout in 2025, with this single IP contributing a remarkable 14.16 billion yuan in revenue, accounting for 38.1% of the total. This is not just a commercial marvel but also signifies that POP MART possesses a decade-spanning "star-making capability," able to continuously operate a classic IP and push it into mainstream global culture. Concurrently, veteran IPs like SKULLPANDA and DIMOO showed no signs of fatigue; instead, they experienced a "second awakening" with growth exceeding expectations, all achieving triple-digit percentage increases. The new IP "星星人" (Xing Xing Ren) saw an astounding growth rate of 1602%. This enduring vitality across different cultural contexts proves its products are not short-lived fast-moving consumer goods but cultural symbols with deep emotional connections.
Given such solid fundamentals, why did the market choose to exit at this time? The answer lies not within the company but within the market itself. Firstly, there was an over-anticipation of future performance. During the previous year's price surge, the market had already priced in substantial optimism. When some investors pushed growth expectations to extreme levels, even an excellent reported performance could fail to deliver a new positive surprise. Any gap between actual data and the "imagined better" scenario triggers an adjustment. This phenomenon is particularly evident in institutionally-driven markets. For these funds, "good" is not a buy reason; "better than expected" is. However, when expectations themselves become unanchored, any reality can seem unsatisfactory.
Secondly, behavioral differences arise from the nature of the capital involved. After a significant price increase over a year, an earnings release becomes a natural profit-taking point. Some foreign capital focuses more on short-term returns and risk balance; locking in profits when valuations are high is a rational choice. Concentrated actions by such capital can amplify short-term volatility but do not necessarily indicate a change in fundamentals.
Thirdly, there is a fundamental disagreement regarding the industry's nature. A significant portion of the market still views潮流玩具 (toy collectibles) as having short lifecycles and high volatility. Within this cognitive framework, LABUBU's success appears more like a偶然 event rather than a demonstration of capability. Consequently, any marginal change in the growth rhythm is easily interpreted as a "peak signal." However, viewing POP MART as an IP platform undermines the logic of these concerns. A platform's core lies in continuously producing and amplifying value, not relying on a single hit. As long as the IP matrix continues to expand and operational capabilities strengthen, its growth possesses endogenous momentum.
A deeper issue is that the market has not fully adapted to this "new species." It is neither as stable as traditional consumer companies nor as流量-dependent as internet platforms. It exists in a hybrid space with both content and consumer attributes. This complexity can lead to short-term pricing discrepancies.
Finally, a frequently overlooked factor is the company's own active efforts to "cool down" certain aspects. During a high-growth phase, POP MART has not blindly pursued scale but has instead focused on controlling its pace, including adjusting inventory, stabilizing the price system, and slowing the release cadence for some IPs. This strategy may impact short-term growth rates but is intended to extend IP lifecycles and avoid prematurely exhausting market enthusiasm over the long term. In other words, some of the perceived "slowdown" is not due to weakening demand but is a result of proactive management. While short-term capital might view this as a risk, from a long-term perspective, it is a sign of maturity.
In the face of short-term volatility, a mature perspective should focus on the intangible assets and strategic layouts that will determine the company's fate over the next three to five years. The most valuable metric in the 2025 report is the increase in overseas revenue contribution to 43.8%, marking a transition in the company's international strategy from simply "going global" to "localized operations." Particularly impressive were the staggering growth rates of 748.4% in the Americas and 506.3% in Europe, validating the cross-cultural applicability of POP MART's business model.
It is worth noting that behind this impressive overseas performance, POP MART's domestic "home base" in China also remained strong. In 2025, Mainland China operations achieved triple-digit growth from a very high base, with revenue reaching 20.85 billion yuan. Annual revenue from retail stores surpassed the 100 billion yuan mark for the first time. The inherent channel advantages and operational logic honed in the Chinese market are now being effectively replicated and adapted in the global expansion. For instance, the "盲盒机" (blind box machine) model, which leads online sales growth in China and possesses strong user acquisition and IP lifecycle extension capabilities, has been successfully deployed on official websites and apps in multiple overseas countries, boosting the proportion of overseas e-commerce revenue. Furthermore, by implementing localized organizational structures tailored to different regions, POP MART is building a formidable competitive moat through its "global operational capability."
Management's repeated emphasis on "health metrics" and the "medium to long term" during the earnings conference reveals a "slow is fast" operating philosophy. While the market frantically chases extreme growth rates, the company chooses to proactively control the release节奏 of its IPs, even employing measures to temporarily reduce supply to regain scarcity. This seemingly "anti-commercial" behavior is essentially trading short-term growth speed for the long-term vitality of its IPs and fan brand loyalty. For short-term speculators, this might be seen as a "hidden worry" about growth乏力, but in the eyes of long-term investors, this management discipline—capable of restraining greed and maintaining strategic focus—is the true hallmark of a trustworthy investment.
From a broader perspective, POP MART is undergoing a fundamental transition from a "product company" to an "IP platform company." It is no longer merely a toy retailer but increasingly resembles an ecosystem with strong incubation and traffic aggregation capabilities. Through the operation of offline theme parks and potential future developments in film and television content, it is building a deep, multi-layered IP ecosystem, steering its revenue structure towards diversification and higher risk resilience. When a system hosts dozens of IPs with long-term viability within its matrix, it begins to sketch the轮廓 of an enduring enterprise.
Looking ahead, the market needs to accept that POP MART is entering a "new normal" of more stable, albeit still robust, growth. While 184% growth is undoubtedly exhilarating, as the revenue base elevates, pursuing "certainty" will hold more value than chasing "volatility." For a multinational consumer brand with annual revenue in the tens of billions, true resilience comes from healthy inventory turnover, a highly loyal fan base with strong repurchase rates, and a continuously evolving supply chain体质. The 2025 financial report precisely demonstrates that POP MART's operational体质 has become stronger even during its rapid sprint.
Investor 段永平 recently indicated on social media that he would retract his previous commitment not to invest in POP MART, perhaps because he sees in the company a cyclical resilience akin to that of Apple or NVIDIA. Investing is a bet on future aggregate value, and with LABUBU providing "acceleration," POP MART is poised to cover greater distance per unit of time. Capital markets are inherently myopic and sensitive, with sentiment often swinging erratically. But for POP MART, short-term fluctuations are merely an episode in a long journey. After the emotional tide recedes, the critical question is not whether growth is slowing, but whether the company continues to build long-term capabilities. From this vantage point, the answer is becoming increasingly clear.
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