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2023-03-03
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Zhongtong Explosive Thunder? Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices
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Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices","url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2316419995","media":"华尔街见闻","summary":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来","content":"<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling organization, the profit margin of ZTO Express was once comparable to that of Apple, and the profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than that reported in the United States. In the United States, the number of employees was low, labor costs were lowered, and capital expenditures were falsely reported, resulting in the illusion of ultra-high profit margin, which helped it raise over $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insider real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese stocks continue to rebound, Chinese logistics leaders<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency in the United States, released a report, believing that ZTO Express may have profits that are much higher than those of its peers only because of forging financial statement data. Considering Zhongtong's artificially exaggerated profit margin and the adoption of multiple valuation adjustment estimate, the report believes that Zhongtong's current trading price of U.S. stocks is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>Profit margins more than double that of domestic peers Once comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>The above-mentioned Grizzly Research report opens by saying that ZTO Express is the leader in the fiercely competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF, YTO, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once comparable to that of blue-chip companies with higher profit margins such as Apple. For a company to achieve such great results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. And Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's significantly higher profit margins are really just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications understated its operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Low number of employees and lower labor costs, resulting in the illusion of high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said its report highlighted hard evidence of inconsistencies with ultra-high profit margins, including ongoing financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>The SAIC filing shows that ZTO's profit margin is actually comparable to its peers in the express delivery industry. Between 2019 and 2021, ZTO's net profit margin ranged from 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company reported a net profit margin of 15.5% to 25.7% in its financial statements filed with the SEC.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report points out that ZTO reports a large number of employees in China, but it is below that level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports low numbers of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data, justifying ultra-high profit margins. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true headcount and associated labor costs could be more than double the numbers the division reported to the SEC.</p><p><b>Falsely reporting capital expenditures helped raise more than $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>In order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also misstated capital expenditures in its financial report to the SEC, according to the report. The division sought to justify the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeding revenue. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its ultra-high profit margins to raise funds because false capital expenditure data could explain the high profits. So far, ZTO's approach seems to be working well. In 2016 at<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenses show no tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisitions expand insiders use undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insiders real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or to balance the company's accounts. ZTO bought franchisees it calls network partners from related parties at a price much higher than the start-up costs of those partners, company documents show. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the transaction. This may be because these entities already operate as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research wonders if ZTO spent its shareholders' money for nothing and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are personally owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO, or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research field trips uncovered more potential undisclosed related parties, those purportedly independent entities operating close to each other and also sharing logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed connected transactions are worrying. The report argues that because ZTO's large loans stem from the company's funding of insider's property investment, public shareholders are needlessly taking risks in China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investor, not the related party to whom the loan benefits.</p><p></body></html></p>","source":"wallstreetcn_api","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Zhongtong Explosive Thunder? Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nZhongtong Explosive Thunder? Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"head\">\n<strong class=\"h-name small\">华尔街见闻</strong><span class=\"h-time small\">2023-03-03 09:29</span>\n</p>\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\n<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling organization, the profit margin of ZTO Express was once comparable to that of Apple, and the profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than that reported in the United States. In the United States, the number of employees was low, labor costs were lowered, and capital expenditures were falsely reported, resulting in the illusion of ultra-high profit margin, which helped it raise over $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insider real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese stocks continue to rebound, Chinese logistics leaders<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency in the United States, released a report, believing that ZTO Express may have profits that are much higher than those of its peers only because of forging financial statement data. Considering Zhongtong's artificially exaggerated profit margin and the adoption of multiple valuation adjustment estimate, the report believes that Zhongtong's current trading price of U.S. stocks is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>Profit margins more than double that of domestic peers Once comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>The above-mentioned Grizzly Research report opens by saying that ZTO Express is the leader in the fiercely competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF, YTO, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once comparable to that of blue-chip companies with higher profit margins such as Apple. For a company to achieve such great results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. And Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's significantly higher profit margins are really just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications understated its operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Low number of employees and lower labor costs, resulting in the illusion of high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said its report highlighted hard evidence of inconsistencies with ultra-high profit margins, including ongoing financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>The SAIC filing shows that ZTO's profit margin is actually comparable to its peers in the express delivery industry. Between 2019 and 2021, ZTO's net profit margin ranged from 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company reported a net profit margin of 15.5% to 25.7% in its financial statements filed with the SEC.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report points out that ZTO reports a large number of employees in China, but it is below that level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports low numbers of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data, justifying ultra-high profit margins. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true headcount and associated labor costs could be more than double the numbers the division reported to the SEC.</p><p><b>Falsely reporting capital expenditures helped raise more than $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>In order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also misstated capital expenditures in its financial report to the SEC, according to the report. The division sought to justify the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeding revenue. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its ultra-high profit margins to raise funds because false capital expenditure data could explain the high profits. So far, ZTO's approach seems to be working well. In 2016 at<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenses show no tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisitions expand insiders use undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insiders real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or to balance the company's accounts. ZTO bought franchisees it calls network partners from related parties at a price much higher than the start-up costs of those partners, company documents show. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the transaction. This may be because these entities already operate as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research wonders if ZTO spent its shareholders' money for nothing and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are personally owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO, or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research field trips uncovered more potential undisclosed related parties, those purportedly independent entities operating close to each other and also sharing logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed connected transactions are worrying. The report argues that because ZTO's large loans stem from the company's funding of insider's property investment, public shareholders are needlessly taking risks in China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investor, not the related party to whom the loan benefits.</p><p></body></html></p>\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n<p> source：<a href=\"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191\">华尔街见闻</a></p>\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/659e9f729bba48dc59353a363b665949","relate_stocks":{"ZTO":"中通快递"},"source_url":"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191","is_english":false,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"2316419995","content_text":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来募资超30亿美元；中通还利用未披露关联方转移运营费用，将大笔贷款用于支持内部人房产投资。热门中概股持续反弹之际，中概物流龙头中通快递被曝财务造假。美东时间3月2日周四，美国卖空机构Grizzly Research发布报告，认为中通快递可能只是因为伪造财务报表数据，才有表面看来远高于同行的利润。考虑到中通人为夸大的利润率，并采用倍数估值调整估算，报告认为，中通目前的美股交易价远高于公允价值，至少有50%的下行空间。利润率是国内同行两倍多 一度堪比苹果上述Grizzly Research报告开篇称，在竞争激烈的中国物流市场中，中通快递是领头羊，虽然整个行业都已标准化，但中通的利润率却是国内同行――顺丰、圆通、韵达和申通平均水平的两倍多。报告称，数据显示，中通的盈利能力一度和苹果这种利润率较高的蓝筹公司相当。一家公司能有如此出色的成绩，要么拥有出色的管理团队，要么财务状况好得令人难以置信。而Grizzly Research通过尽职调查发现，中通欺骗了投资者。报告写道：我们认为，中通明显较高的利润率实际上只是可能伪造财务报表的结果。我们相信，为了编造这些出色的成绩，中通通讯低报了营业收入和成本。报低员工人数 压低人力成本 造成利润率超高假象Grizzly称，其报告突出了和超高利润率不符的确凿证据，包括持续的融资、财会数据不一致以及众多利益冲突。其中特别提到，中通在中国国家工商总局的报告数据和该司递交美国证监会（SEC）的数据截然不同。工商总局的备案文件显示，中通的利润率实际上与快递业的同行相当，2019年至2021年间，中通的净利润率在6.3%到10.6%，但该公司在递交SEC的财务报表中报告，净利润率为15.5%到25.7%。报告指出，中通在中国报告的员工人数庞大，在美国却低于这一水平。因为中通故意报低员工人数，就可以支持其报告的劳动力成本数据，证明超高的利润率合理。以保守的薪资估计，中通的真实员工人数和相关人工费用可能比该司向SEC报告的数字高出一倍以上。虚报资本支出 帮助上市以来募资超30亿美元报告认为，为了让财务欺诈看似合理，中通还在递交SEC的财报中虚报了资本支出，该司企图证明，其物业、厂房和设备（PP&E）以及土地使用权的增长速度超过收入是合理的。但从战略上看，中通没有理由囤积土地。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通利用其超高的利润率募集资金，因为虚假的资本支出数据可以解释为何利润高。迄今为止，中通的这种做法似乎很有效。2016年在纽交所上市以来，中通已经募资超过30亿美元，尽管公司支出没有显示有形的股东价值。虚假收购扩充内部人 利用未披露关联方转移运营费用 大笔贷款用于内部人房产投资报告称，中通利用2014年和2015年的一些收购扩大了内部人的数量，并且、或者让公司的账目平衡。公司文件显示，中通从关联方收购了被其称为网络合作伙伴的特许经营商，收购价远高于这些合作伙伴的启动成本。令人担忧的是，在中国的记录显示，交易后，所有权没有发生变化。这可能是因为这些实体已经作为中通子公司运营。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通是否白白花了股东的钱，没有取得任何回报。报告认为，中通已利用未披露的关联方网络将运营费用转出资产负债表。中通的几个交易对手由受雇于中通、或其管理团队的亲友个人所有和控制。报告称，Grizzly Research实地考察发现了更多潜在的未披露关联方，那些据称独立的实体彼此运营距离很近，还共享logo。就连中通已披露的关联交易也令人担忧。报告认为，因为中通的大笔贷款源于公司为内部人士的房产投资提供资金，公众股东不必要地承担了中国房地产行业风险。这些个人项目违约的风险落在了投资者身上，而不是贷款受益的关联方。","news_type":1,"symbols_score_info":{"ZTO":0.9}},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":2384,"authorTweetTopStatus":1,"verified":2,"comments":[],"imageCount":0,"langContent":"EN","totalScore":0}],"hots":[{"id":9940884798,"gmtCreate":1677812711914,"gmtModify":1677813469477,"author":{"id":"4127809978923482","authorId":"4127809978923482","name":"福綠壽星","avatar":"https://community-static.tradeup.com/news/0f1972f9c2d478705726cd03c4863339","crmLevel":2,"crmLevelSwitch":1,"followedFlag":false,"authorIdStr":"4127809978923482","idStr":"4127809978923482"},"themes":[],"htmlText":"[可爱] [可爱] [可爱] ","listText":"[可爱] [可爱] [可爱] ","text":"[可爱] [可爱] [可爱]","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9940884798","repostId":"2316419995","repostType":2,"repost":{"id":"2316419995","kind":"news","pubTimestamp":1677806968,"share":"https://ttm.financial/m/news/2316419995?lang=en_US&edition=fundamental","pubTime":"2023-03-03 09:29","market":"sh","language":"zh","title":"Zhongtong Explosive Thunder? Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices","url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2316419995","media":"华尔街见闻","summary":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来","content":"<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling organization, the profit margin of ZTO Express was once comparable to that of Apple, and the profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than that reported in the United States. In the United States, the number of employees was low, labor costs were lowered, and capital expenditures were falsely reported, resulting in the illusion of ultra-high profit margin, which helped it raise over $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insider real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese stocks continue to rebound, Chinese logistics leaders<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency in the United States, released a report, believing that ZTO Express may have profits that are much higher than those of its peers only because of forging financial statement data. Considering Zhongtong's artificially exaggerated profit margin and the adoption of multiple valuation adjustment estimate, the report believes that Zhongtong's current trading price of U.S. stocks is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>Profit margins more than double that of domestic peers Once comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>The above-mentioned Grizzly Research report opens by saying that ZTO Express is the leader in the fiercely competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF, YTO, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once comparable to that of blue-chip companies with higher profit margins such as Apple. For a company to achieve such great results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. And Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's significantly higher profit margins are really just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications understated its operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Low number of employees and lower labor costs, resulting in the illusion of high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said its report highlighted hard evidence of inconsistencies with ultra-high profit margins, including ongoing financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>The SAIC filing shows that ZTO's profit margin is actually comparable to its peers in the express delivery industry. Between 2019 and 2021, ZTO's net profit margin ranged from 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company reported a net profit margin of 15.5% to 25.7% in its financial statements filed with the SEC.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report points out that ZTO reports a large number of employees in China, but it is below that level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports low numbers of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data, justifying ultra-high profit margins. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true headcount and associated labor costs could be more than double the numbers the division reported to the SEC.</p><p><b>Falsely reporting capital expenditures helped raise more than $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>In order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also misstated capital expenditures in its financial report to the SEC, according to the report. The division sought to justify the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeding revenue. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its ultra-high profit margins to raise funds because false capital expenditure data could explain the high profits. So far, ZTO's approach seems to be working well. In 2016 at<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenses show no tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisitions expand insiders use undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insiders real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or to balance the company's accounts. ZTO bought franchisees it calls network partners from related parties at a price much higher than the start-up costs of those partners, company documents show. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the transaction. This may be because these entities already operate as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research wonders if ZTO spent its shareholders' money for nothing and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are personally owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO, or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research field trips uncovered more potential undisclosed related parties, those purportedly independent entities operating close to each other and also sharing logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed connected transactions are worrying. The report argues that because ZTO's large loans stem from the company's funding of insider's property investment, public shareholders are needlessly taking risks in China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investor, not the related party to whom the loan benefits.</p><p></body></html></p>","source":"wallstreetcn_api","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Zhongtong Explosive Thunder? Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nZhongtong Explosive Thunder? Short-selling institutions refer to fraudulent financial reports in the United States and at least 50% downside of stock prices\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"head\">\n<strong class=\"h-name small\">华尔街见闻</strong><span class=\"h-time small\">2023-03-03 09:29</span>\n</p>\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\n<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling organization, the profit margin of ZTO Express was once comparable to that of Apple, and the profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than that reported in the United States. In the United States, the number of employees was low, labor costs were lowered, and capital expenditures were falsely reported, resulting in the illusion of ultra-high profit margin, which helped it raise over $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insider real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese stocks continue to rebound, Chinese logistics leaders<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency in the United States, released a report, believing that ZTO Express may have profits that are much higher than those of its peers only because of forging financial statement data. Considering Zhongtong's artificially exaggerated profit margin and the adoption of multiple valuation adjustment estimate, the report believes that Zhongtong's current trading price of U.S. stocks is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>Profit margins more than double that of domestic peers Once comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>The above-mentioned Grizzly Research report opens by saying that ZTO Express is the leader in the fiercely competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF, YTO, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once comparable to that of blue-chip companies with higher profit margins such as Apple. For a company to achieve such great results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. And Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's significantly higher profit margins are really just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications understated its operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Low number of employees and lower labor costs, resulting in the illusion of high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said its report highlighted hard evidence of inconsistencies with ultra-high profit margins, including ongoing financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>The SAIC filing shows that ZTO's profit margin is actually comparable to its peers in the express delivery industry. Between 2019 and 2021, ZTO's net profit margin ranged from 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company reported a net profit margin of 15.5% to 25.7% in its financial statements filed with the SEC.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report points out that ZTO reports a large number of employees in China, but it is below that level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports low numbers of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data, justifying ultra-high profit margins. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true headcount and associated labor costs could be more than double the numbers the division reported to the SEC.</p><p><b>Falsely reporting capital expenditures helped raise more than $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>In order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also misstated capital expenditures in its financial report to the SEC, according to the report. The division sought to justify the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeding revenue. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its ultra-high profit margins to raise funds because false capital expenditure data could explain the high profits. So far, ZTO's approach seems to be working well. In 2016 at<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenses show no tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisitions expand insiders use undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insiders real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or to balance the company's accounts. ZTO bought franchisees it calls network partners from related parties at a price much higher than the start-up costs of those partners, company documents show. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the transaction. This may be because these entities already operate as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research wonders if ZTO spent its shareholders' money for nothing and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are personally owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO, or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research field trips uncovered more potential undisclosed related parties, those purportedly independent entities operating close to each other and also sharing logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed connected transactions are worrying. The report argues that because ZTO's large loans stem from the company's funding of insider's property investment, public shareholders are needlessly taking risks in China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investor, not the related party to whom the loan benefits.</p><p></body></html></p>\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n<p> source：<a href=\"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191\">华尔街见闻</a></p>\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/659e9f729bba48dc59353a363b665949","relate_stocks":{"ZTO":"中通快递"},"source_url":"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191","is_english":false,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"2316419995","content_text":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来募资超30亿美元；中通还利用未披露关联方转移运营费用，将大笔贷款用于支持内部人房产投资。热门中概股持续反弹之际，中概物流龙头中通快递被曝财务造假。美东时间3月2日周四，美国卖空机构Grizzly Research发布报告，认为中通快递可能只是因为伪造财务报表数据，才有表面看来远高于同行的利润。考虑到中通人为夸大的利润率，并采用倍数估值调整估算，报告认为，中通目前的美股交易价远高于公允价值，至少有50%的下行空间。利润率是国内同行两倍多 一度堪比苹果上述Grizzly Research报告开篇称，在竞争激烈的中国物流市场中，中通快递是领头羊，虽然整个行业都已标准化，但中通的利润率却是国内同行――顺丰、圆通、韵达和申通平均水平的两倍多。报告称，数据显示，中通的盈利能力一度和苹果这种利润率较高的蓝筹公司相当。一家公司能有如此出色的成绩，要么拥有出色的管理团队，要么财务状况好得令人难以置信。而Grizzly Research通过尽职调查发现，中通欺骗了投资者。报告写道：我们认为，中通明显较高的利润率实际上只是可能伪造财务报表的结果。我们相信，为了编造这些出色的成绩，中通通讯低报了营业收入和成本。报低员工人数 压低人力成本 造成利润率超高假象Grizzly称，其报告突出了和超高利润率不符的确凿证据，包括持续的融资、财会数据不一致以及众多利益冲突。其中特别提到，中通在中国国家工商总局的报告数据和该司递交美国证监会（SEC）的数据截然不同。工商总局的备案文件显示，中通的利润率实际上与快递业的同行相当，2019年至2021年间，中通的净利润率在6.3%到10.6%，但该公司在递交SEC的财务报表中报告，净利润率为15.5%到25.7%。报告指出，中通在中国报告的员工人数庞大，在美国却低于这一水平。因为中通故意报低员工人数，就可以支持其报告的劳动力成本数据，证明超高的利润率合理。以保守的薪资估计，中通的真实员工人数和相关人工费用可能比该司向SEC报告的数字高出一倍以上。虚报资本支出 帮助上市以来募资超30亿美元报告认为，为了让财务欺诈看似合理，中通还在递交SEC的财报中虚报了资本支出，该司企图证明，其物业、厂房和设备（PP&E）以及土地使用权的增长速度超过收入是合理的。但从战略上看，中通没有理由囤积土地。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通利用其超高的利润率募集资金，因为虚假的资本支出数据可以解释为何利润高。迄今为止，中通的这种做法似乎很有效。2016年在纽交所上市以来，中通已经募资超过30亿美元，尽管公司支出没有显示有形的股东价值。虚假收购扩充内部人 利用未披露关联方转移运营费用 大笔贷款用于内部人房产投资报告称，中通利用2014年和2015年的一些收购扩大了内部人的数量，并且、或者让公司的账目平衡。公司文件显示，中通从关联方收购了被其称为网络合作伙伴的特许经营商，收购价远高于这些合作伙伴的启动成本。令人担忧的是，在中国的记录显示，交易后，所有权没有发生变化。这可能是因为这些实体已经作为中通子公司运营。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通是否白白花了股东的钱，没有取得任何回报。报告认为，中通已利用未披露的关联方网络将运营费用转出资产负债表。中通的几个交易对手由受雇于中通、或其管理团队的亲友个人所有和控制。报告称，Grizzly Research实地考察发现了更多潜在的未披露关联方，那些据称独立的实体彼此运营距离很近，还共享logo。就连中通已披露的关联交易也令人担忧。报告认为，因为中通的大笔贷款源于公司为内部人士的房产投资提供资金，公众股东不必要地承担了中国房地产行业风险。这些个人项目违约的风险落在了投资者身上，而不是贷款受益的关联方。","news_type":1,"symbols_score_info":{"ZTO":0.9}},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":2384,"authorTweetTopStatus":1,"verified":2,"comments":[],"imageCount":0,"langContent":"EN","totalScore":0}],"lives":[]}