Unitree Q3 Revenue Jumps 70% to 665 Million Yuan but Net Profit Falls 17.4%, Missing Forecasts

Chinese robot maker Unitree said its third-quarter revenue rose 70% from a year earlier to 665 million yuan (about US$100 million), but net profit attributable to shareholders fell 17.4% to 112.7 million yuan as research spending surged, Reuters reported. The figures, disclosed in a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing on Wednesday, were the company’s first quarterly results since its listing.

The quarterly profit came in well short of the 224 million yuan that analysts had forecast, according to Reuters.

Research spending surges

Unitree’s research and development expenses for the July-September quarter jumped 249.6% to 127.0 million yuan, equal to 19.1% of revenue, Reuters said. AI Insider, citing the company’s unaudited third-quarter report, said the spending went mainly toward embodied-intelligence models, computing power and new products.

Over the first nine months of the year, revenue grew 55.7% to 1.82 billion yuan, while net profit climbed 270.5% to 386.7 million yuan. The company attributed the nine-month profit jump to higher gross profit and to “a large one-time share-based payment expense” booked in the same period a year earlier, Reuters reported.

The Hangzhou-based company, listed on Shanghai’s STAR Market and backed by Alibaba Group and Tencent, has seen sharp swings in its stock. According to Reuters, the shares slumped almost 55% from their August debut before surging more than 65% over the past two weeks. Unitree issued an abnormal trading announcement on October 21 warning of significant valuation risks.

JPMorgan raised its rating on the stock on Monday, Reuters said, and the company released a demonstration video of its H2-X humanoid robot the previous week.

On Wednesday, ahead of the results, Unitree shares rose 12% by the midday break as robot-related A-shares gained 5.2%, Reuters reported in a separate market story. Chinese technology stocks were tracking a broader Asian rally that followed SK Hynix’s quarterly earnings.

Sector under pressure

Reuters described the results as a test for China’s robotics sector. The STAR50 index has fallen 40% since July, wiping out about US$480 billion in market value, while the CSI300 is down about 20% from its June highs, the news agency said. Reuters has also reported separately that regulators are slowing initial public offerings by humanoid robot companies.

Unitree competes with Tesla and Hyundai Motor Group-owned Boston Dynamics in the robotics market, according to Reuters.

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