By Sherry Qin
Chinese toy maker Pop Mart's shares continued to rally after its 2024 profit nearly tripled and as the craze for collectable toys led to stronger-than-expected guidance from management.
The Beijing-based company's Hong Kong shares advanced 10% Thursday after surging 11% on Wednesday, putting them 73% higher so far this year.
Pop Mart's net profit nearly tripled to 3.125 billion yuan last year, equivalent to $430.6 million, while total revenue more than doubled to 13.04 billion yuan, it said Wednesday.
The toy maker has gained worldwide traction among young people with its randomly packed "blind box" figurines that feature characters from established intellectual properties it licenses or designed in-house. Among the characters, the performance of Labubu, an elf with pointy ears, devilish eyes and a grin, "was particularly impressive," Pop Mart said in the earnings report.
Meanwhile, management's guidance for over 50% revenue growth in 2025 and over 100% growth in overseas sales was above market expectations.
Citi analysts think Pop Mart's strong capability in intellectual property operations and its overseas expansion will continue to underpin solid growth in 2025.
Pop Mart's shares jumped over 340% in 2024, one of the best performing stocks in Hong Kong last year.
"Pop Mart's faster-than-expected build-up of brand recognition both in domestic and overseas markets and its delivery of better-than-expected sales and earnings growth over the past two years warrants a valuation premium relative to its peers in the retail space," Nomura analysts Jizhou Dong and Riley Jin said in a research note.
Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2025 00:48 ET (04:48 GMT)
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