Cathay Securities and Haitong Securities: Maintain "Buy" rating for MEITU with a target price of HKD 11.59

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Guotai Junan has released a research report stating that it has raised the EPS forecast for MEITU (01357) for 2025-2027 to 0.21 yuan, 0.30 yuan, and 0.39 yuan respectively. The firm has cautiously considered using a reasonable valuation average based on both PE and PS valuation methods, corresponding to a target price of HKD 11.59, maintaining an "Overweight" rating. Key Points from Guotai Junan: MEITU continues to deepen its focus in the imaging field, creating a comprehensive product matrix to address diverse vertical scene demands. In the first half of 2025, the company's total revenue grew by 12.3% year-on-year to 1.8 billion yuan, with a gross margin of 73.6%, an increase of 8.7 percentage points year-on-year. The net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 30.8% year-on-year to 397 million yuan, while the adjusted net profit attributable to the parent company grew by 71.3% year-on-year to 467 million yuan. By June 2025, the company's overall MAU reached 280 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%, with MAU outside mainland China growing by 15.3% year-on-year to 98 million, and productivity tool scene MAU increasing by 21.1% year-on-year to 23 million; subscription users grew by over 42% year-on-year to approximately 15.4 million, with a subscription penetration rate of 5.5%. AI has aided in the continued development of imaging and design businesses focused on "productivity and globalization." In the first half of 2025, the revenue from MEITU's imaging and design product business grew by 45.2% year-on-year to 1.351 billion yuan, accounting for 74.2% of total revenue. According to Quest Mobile data, MEITU's flagship lifestyle products, MEITU XiuXiu and Beauty Camera, maintained the top position in the MAU rankings for mobile image beautification and licensed photography in China for the six-month period ending in the first half of 2025. In the first half of 2025, MEITU XiuXiu, with its "AI Flashlight" feature, topped the overall App Store rankings in Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei in June, and won the App Store and Google Play category championship in 12 countries including Italy and Turkey. In early October, with its AI group photo feature, it achieved the top position in the overall App Store rankings in 14 European countries; the Beauty Camera, with its "AI Dressing" feature, topped the overall App Store rankings in February in 12 countries including Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan. In the productivity scene, the e-commerce design product MEITU Design Studio focuses on e-commerce design AI workflows, while the video production product Kaipai focuses on video production AI workflows. In July 2025, it launched the multimodal AI smart assistant RoboNeo to help users generate diverse visual content. In the first half of 2025, the MAU for productivity tools in markets outside mainland China achieved over 90% year-on-year growth