Following a strong start to 2026 for the A-share market, activity has significantly increased, with numerous thematic hotspots emerging. The focus of brokerage research has begun to shift, gradually turning towards popular sectors like AI applications and brain-computer interfaces. In particular, the recently market-favored GEO concept, whose core logic involves embedding brand content directly into AI-generated answers, has attracted concentrated research from brokerages, with firms like Yi Wang Yi Chuang receiving significant attention. Overall, recent brokerage research has centered on clues such as high industry prosperity, earnings certainty, and valuation attractiveness. Industry experts pointed out that brokerage research trends reflect three major market shifts: first, a move towards more balanced styles, covering high-growth areas like AI and advanced manufacturing alongside recovering sectors like consumer and cyclical industries; second, a transition from speculative theme-chasing to a focus on earnings realization, with particular attention on specialized leaders backed by orders and cash flow; third, a continued emphasis on the dual themes of domestic substitution and global expansion, seeking out high-quality companies with global competitiveness in the evolving industrial chain. Institutional research activity has been fervent at the start of 2026. According to Wind data, from January 1st to January 14th, over 260 A-share listed companies received institutional research visits. Among these, more than 230 companies were researched by brokerages. Specifically, since the beginning of the year, GEO concept stock Yi Wang Yi Chuang, AI-plus-pharmaceuticals concept stock Chengdu Lead, and brain-computer interface concept stock Xiangyu Medical have been researched by 27, 25, and 23 brokerages respectively, making them the three most popular companies among brokers. During these research sessions, institutions showed considerable interest in the technological R&D progress and business development potential of these companies. For example, Yi Wang Yi Chuang addressed questions concerning its R&D investment, the resources and support obtained from the Alibaba platform, and its strategy for capturing GEO opportunities on other platforms like Douyin's Doubao. Yi Wang Yi Chuang believes that Alibaba possesses the most mature product graph, commercial ecosystem, and data infrastructure, making the current collaboration with Alibaba the deepest and most certain. The company stated it has the capability and experience to serve multiple platforms and that the underlying logic of content optimization from SEO to GEO is fundamentally similar across platforms, with the main difference being the need to adapt to different underlying large models. It plans to build on its first-mover advantage with Alibaba and gradually expand its full-scope GEO service capabilities based on the technological maturity and commercialization progress of each platform. During the same period, Kaishang Technology and Haitian Ruisheng also garnered significant brokerage attention, with 22 and 21 brokerages researching them, respectively; the former continues to drive technological and product innovation in display and application materials, while Haitian Ruisheng is one of China's earliest specialized providers of AI training data. Aipeng Medical, CIMC, and Zhenjiang Shares were each researched by 19 brokerages. Among them, Aipeng Medical is also part of the brain-computer interface sector, CIMC is a supplier of logistics and energy equipment, and Zhenjiang Shares is a manufacturer of heavy electrical equipment. Furthermore, Jinwo Shares, Shuanglin Shares, Tangyuan Electric, Xinyichang, and Nancal Technology were also key targets for brokerages, with the number of researching institutions ranging from 15 to 18. Among these, Tangyuan Electric, a provider of rail transit operation and maintenance solutions, saw institutional interest in its strategic cooperation with Xinyichang in the field of embodied intelligent robots; Nancal Technology serves the digital and intelligent transformation of industrial enterprises and counts over 200 aerospace customers among those it serves. Liu Youhua, Research Director at Paipai Network, attributed the brokerage focus on these companies to three core factors: first, high industry prosperity, where sectors like AI, advanced manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals benefit from expectations of technological iteration and order growth; second, earnings certainty, where some companies are clear beneficiaries of consumption recovery or import substitution, with clear profit paths; third, attractive valuations, where prices have become relatively reasonable after market adjustments, aligning with institutional strategies seeking a match between fundamentals and valuation. It is worth noting that Xiangyu Medical, Haitian Ruisheng, Aipeng Medical, and Yi Wang Yi Chuang were not only popular among brokerages but also saw concentrated research from other institutions like fund companies and private equity firms recently. Additionally, various institutions simultaneously showed strong interest in commercial rocket concept stock Chaojie Shares and fintech concept stock Tianyang Technology. Wind data shows that from January 1st to January 14th, 208, 207, and 142 institutions researched Xiangyu Medical, Haitian Ruisheng, and Aipeng Medical, respectively, ranking them as the top three companies by number of researching institutions. The number of institutions researching Yi Wang Yi Chuang, Chaojie Shares, and Tianyang Technology were 94, 121, and 91, respectively. In Liu Youhua's view, brokerage research trends reflect three major market shifts: a move towards more balanced styles; a transition from theme speculation to earnings realization; and a continued focus on domestic substitution and global expansion. The sectors attracting concentrated institutional research are precisely the current focus of capital flows. According to Wind statistics, from January 5th to January 15th, 2026, the AI Application Index and the GEO Index rose by 18.30% and 44.14%, respectively; the Wind Brain-Computer Interface Theme Index also gained 18%. The surge in the GEO sector benefits from catalysts related to the密集落地 of AI applications. "The logic for AI application commercialization is expected to first scale in B2B applications. GEO is leading the AI application trend due to brands competing for control over traffic flows in the AI era, thereby enhancing its commercial value," a China Galaxy Securities research report noted. Looking ahead, some institutions are relatively optimistic about the prospects for the GEO and AI application sectors. The CITIC Securities research team explicitly stated in a report that it is optimistic about the sustainability of the current AI application rally. It judges that this trend is not a single-theme surge but a mid-term industrial trend driven by continued investment from major tech firms and the gradual clarification of commercialization paths on the application side. Regarding market size, a Guosen Securities report indicated that the global GEO market is expected to reach $24 billion in 2026 and could hit $100 billion by 2030. Domestically, the market is projected to reach 11.1 billion yuan in 2026 and 36.5 billion yuan by 2028. The transition from pilot projects to widespread application is anticipated in 2026, with the market potentially experiencing exponential growth thereafter. Regarding investment opportunities, the Guosen Securities analysis suggests that GEO is restructuring traffic patterns, shifting the entry point from "listed links" to "direct answers," compressing intermediary value while amplifying the value of original content. Traditional agency models face obsolescence; marketing service providers with MarTech capabilities and corpus construction are positioned for high growth; meanwhile, the value of high-quality content corpora will continue to be amplified. Within the GEO mega-trend, investment opportunities exist across the upstream content corpus, midstream marketing services, and downstream platform traffic entry points. The report is particularly bullish on the AI marketing sector, recommending focusing on opportunities in AI-generated comics and content corpora. Extending to AI applications more broadly, a China Galaxy Securities computer industry report stated, "The cost-reduction and efficiency-improvement effects of AI models within enterprises are gradually becoming apparent. We recommend focusing on the explosion of AI applications in B2B scenarios, such as AI+marketing, AI+industrial software, AI+healthcare, AI+finance, etc. Furthermore, traditional high-quality C-end product application companies possess user bases and brand influence; empowering their products with AI could further solidify their moats, suggesting attention to C-end application companies with long-term investment value." However, regarding investment timing, a Shenwan Hongyuan Securities report cautioned that AI applications are still in the early stages of monetization, investment exhibits clear calendar effects, and investors should focus on marginal changes in the industry and be mindful of rotation cycles. On the other hand, some institutions recommend continued attention to opportunities in the brain-computer interface sector. A China Merchants Securities report stated that Brain-Computer Interface establishes a direct channel for information exchange between a biological brain and an intelligent machine, capable of both interpreting brain signals to control external devices and encoding information for input into the brain. Commands generated by BCI systems after feature extraction and conversion can be used to control various external devices for different functions, with future potential applications in exoskeletons, neuroregulatory stimulators, robots, head-mounted displays, wheelchairs, smart home systems, drones, and numerous other scenarios. "Currently, there are no fewer than 30 application scenarios for brain-computer technology, with medical, consumer, and industrial safety being hot application areas. The continued deepening and diversification of application scenarios will be the core driver of long-term industry growth," the report mentioned, adding that looking ahead to 2026, the BCI industry is entering a critical period of "accelerating technological iteration and differentiated scenario implementation," and it is optimistic about sector-wide performance in 2026. The Everbright Securities research team also analyzed in a report that, based on projections from multiple institutions, the global brain-computer interface market size will reach $7.63 billion by 2029, signaling the accelerated opening of a nearly hundred-billion-dollar blue ocean market. The team recommended focusing on three types of targets: first, integrators in medical scenarios, which benefit from medical insurance coverage and existing rehabilitation needs, and can rapidly realize value through medical channels and clinical resources; second, leaders in invasive/semi-invasive technology, whose significant technical advantages promise long-term potential; third, providers of full-process support services, which focus on high-certainty segments like supply chain production and clinical implementation.
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