Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport, Tracking Traffic

Daniel Hellberg

Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport

Tracking Traffic

Focusing on Asian logistics, transportation, and travel companies

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>March and Q125 parcel volume growth slowed only slightly vs strong Q424 and FY24</li>
<li>Single-Digit unit price declines should be manageable for most of the express companies</li>
<li>But express "story" generally unexciting, and most shares should continue to lag Alibaba</li>
</ul>


March and Q125 parcel volume growth slowed only slightly vs strong Q424 and FY24
Single-Digit unit price declines should be manageable for most of the express companies
But express "story" generally unexciting, and most shares should continue to lag Alibaba


Monthly Chinese Express Tracker | March, Q125 Growth Solid | But Shares Lag Alibaba (April 2025)

<ul>
<li>Q424 revenue growth &amp; EBITDA margin both improved noticeably vs Q324 </li>
<li>Additionally, ZTO gave FY25 parcel volume guidance that implies an acceleration of growth</li>
<li>But "key" change in revenue mix is crushing cash returns (Q424 OpCF down -28% Y/Y)</li>
</ul>


Q424 revenue growth &amp; EBITDA margin both improved noticeably vs Q324 
Additionally, ZTO gave FY25 parcel volume guidance that implies an acceleration of growth
But "key" change in revenue mix is crushing cash returns (Q424 OpCF down -28% Y/Y)


Q424 ZTO Express Results & FY25 Guidance: Revenue Growth & Margin Better, But OpCF Shrinking; AVOID

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

<ul><li>ZTO Express (ZTO)’s 4Q24 core net profit grew 11% YoY to RMB2.49bn, which is in line with our expectation.</li><li>The company targets to achieve full year parcel volume of 40.8-42.2bn (20-24% YoY growth), which is expected to outpace the industry growth of 15% (ZTO’s forecast).</li><li>This suggests a shift of strategy from profitability to volume growth, which we believe was due to the continuous decline in market share (18.8% in 4Q24, in terms of parcel volume). </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

ZTO Express (ZTO)’s 4Q24 core net profit grew 11% YoY to RMB2.49bn, which is in line with our expectation.The company targets to achieve full year parcel volume of 40.8-42.2bn (20-24% YoY growth), which is expected to outpace the industry growth of 15% (ZTO’s forecast).This suggests a shift of strategy from profitability to volume growth, which we believe was due to the continuous decline in market share (18.8% in 4Q24, in terms of parcel volume). Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

ZTO Express (ZTO US/2057 HK) - Shifting Back to Volume Growth Strategy

<ul>
<li>Industry and company reports show ASP declines gained momentum in April</li>
<li>April volume jumped 36% Y/Y on a weak comp from 2022 (Covid-19 lockdowns)</li>
<li>Our thesis: pricing is getting weaker, and this trend will soon impact margins</li>
</ul>


Industry and company reports show ASP declines gained momentum in April
April volume jumped 36% Y/Y on a weak comp from 2022 (Covid-19 lockdowns)
Our thesis: pricing is getting weaker, and this trend will soon impact margins


Monthly Express Tracker | Prices Continue to Slide | Volume Pops | (May 2023)

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>Recently we revisited the SHEIN vs Amazon shopping comparison we first tried in Dec 2023</li>
<li>For the items we purchased 17 months ago, total cost at AMZN was largely unchanged</li>
<li>But at SHEIN, those items almost tripled in cost, still feature slow transits, difficult returns</li>
</ul>


Recently we revisited the SHEIN vs Amazon shopping comparison we first tried in Dec 2023
For the items we purchased 17 months ago, total cost at AMZN was largely unchanged
But at SHEIN, those items almost tripled in cost, still feature slow transits, difficult returns


SHEIN Vs Amazon, Part II: What Changed Since Our Last Shopping Adventure? SHEIN Cost Nearly Tripled!

China

ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. operates as an express delivery company. The Company provides express delivery service through their nationwide network, as well as other value-added logistics services. ZTO Express serves customers globally.

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ZTO Express Cayman (ZTO US)

Monthly Chinese Express Tracker | March, Q125 Growth Solid | But Shares Lag Alibaba (April 2025)

In March and Q125, express volume growth remained firm, and unit price declines should be manageable for most express companies. But as an...

Tracking Traffic

Q424 ZTO Express Results & FY25 Guidance: Revenue Growth & Margin Better, But OpCF Shrinking; AVOID

ZTO's revenue momentum and core margin improved in Q424, but at the cost of deteriorating Cash Flow. We view the strong recent growth of "key...

Tracking Traffic

ZTO Express (ZTO US/2057 HK) - Shifting Back to Volume Growth Strategy

The company targets to achieve full year parcel volume of 40.8-42.2bn (20-24% YoY growth), which is expected to outpace the industry growth of 15%...

CMB International

Monthly Express Tracker | Prices Continue to Slide | Volume Pops | (May 2023)

In April, express volume shot up 36% against easy Y/Y comps, but ASPs deepened their recent decline. We believe pricing will continue to...

Tracking Traffic

SHEIN Vs Amazon, Part II: What Changed Since Our Last Shopping Adventure? SHEIN Cost Nearly Tripled!

Our personal shopping "experiment" suggests that SHEIN has lost most of the price advantage it enjoyed over US eComm giant Amazon a year and a half...

Tracking Traffic

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