How did revenue and profit perform?

  • In the third quarter of 2026, Anker’s revenue was 9.535 billion yuan, up 17% year on year and 7% below Goldman Sachs’ forecast. Operating profit excluding investment losses was 1.121 billion yuan, up 51% year on year and 10% above the bank’s forecast.
  • Net profit, however, fell 27% year on year to 559 million yuan, 29% below Goldman Sachs’ forecast. The main drag was a fair-value loss on its investment in Southchip: a loss of 347 million yuan for the quarter, compared with a gain of 233 million yuan a year earlier.

Which businesses accounted for the slowdown in revenue growth?

  • Year-on-year revenue growth slowed to 17% in the third quarter from 31% in the second quarter; revenue for the first nine months of 2026 was still up 24% year on year. Goldman Sachs believes the earlier timing of Amazon Prime Day was one reason, and that weakness in businesses outside charging and energy storage, such as smart home and innovative products, may also have slowed growth.
  • Management previously said smart home and innovative products were performing weakly, particularly cleaning appliances. Downloads of the Eufy brand’s apps tracked by Goldman Sachs also showed relatively weak growth. By contrast, growth in app downloads for energy storage products in Europe accelerated markedly, and the bank expects new product launches to support charging products.

How did the operating margin improve despite rising costs?

  • The third-quarter gross margin was 46.0%, up 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier. Goldman Sachs believes an upgraded product mix and tariff refunds together offset the impact of rising costs.
  • The company has not provided a breakdown of the specific contribution from tariff refunds. Based on estimates of peer refunds and the size of Anker’s US business, Goldman Sachs calculates that the third-quarter gross margin excluding refunds was still roughly flat year on year.
  • The operating expense ratio was 34.3% in the same period, down from 37.1% in the second quarter; the research and development expense ratio fell from 11.8% in the second quarter to 10.3%. Cost control and the improved gross margin lifted the core operating margin, including the impact of tariff refunds, by 2.7 percentage points year on year to 11.8%.

Why is Goldman Sachs maintaining its buy rating?

  • Goldman Sachs expects product innovation and expansion in markets and distribution channels to support growth in core businesses including charging, home security and headphones; structural growth in energy storage products is expected to drive new businesses. The bank forecasts compound annual growth of more than 20% in both revenue and profit from 2025 to 2028.
  • Goldman Sachs maintains buy ratings on the A-shares and H-shares, with 12-month price targets of 154 yuan and 159 Hong Kong dollars, respectively. The bank is watching fourth-quarter sales trends, the energy storage business and the impact of costs on margins, and lists product launches, trade policy and competition as risks.