POP MART remains the entity with doubling performance, but the market is no longer buying it.On March 25, POP MART disclosed its latest financial report: revenue reached 37.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 184.7%; adjusted net profit was 13.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 284.5%; the gross margin of 72.1% and adjusted net margin of 35.2% were both at historical highs.Objectively, this is a financial report that can hardly be called &#34;lackluster,&#34; but market expectations for POP MART were clearly higher previously.Over the past year, multiple investment banks have frequently raised its target price, with the core logic being: IP popularity, overseas expansion potential, and category expansion potential. When the financial report failed to further reinforce the long-term narrative of a &#34;global IP platform,&#34; a stock price pullback became almost inevitable.At the earnings call, POP MART CEO Wang Ning provided a 20% growth guidance for 2026 and explicitly stated that scale expansion would not come at the expense of profit.This &#34;steady&#34; posture, in the eyes of a capital market accustomed to 100% or even 200% growth over the past two years, looked more like an emergency brake.However, before the financial report was disclosed, subtle cracks had already appeared in market sentiment.From word-of-mouth controversies sparked by new IPs to the continuous decline in secondary market premiums, and the plush toys and figurines no longer being out of stock on store shelves, every detail has been eroding investor confidence.Pessimism and panic spiraled after the report's release, ultimately triggering a violent sell-off—POP MART recorded its largest single-day drop and turnover rate in nearly three years on that day.For POP MART, what is more unsettling to the market than &#34;LABUBU is no longer selling&#34; is the chain reaction caused by the continuous withdrawal of traffic and attention.This pain following the receding dividend has become an unavoidable hard battle for POP MART.<h2>Where the Expectation Gap Lies</h2>POP MART's &#34;failure to meet expectations&#34; is essentially not a collapse of overall scale, but the failure of certain optimistic expectations to materialize.After the third-quarter report, Morgan Stanley had forecasted 26% growth for 2026 and 20% for 2027, which is almost consistent with the guidance disclosed by the company this time.Some investors analyzed that after the significant rise over the past year, the market's holding structure has heavily tilted toward &#34;high-expectation capital.&#34;In this context, if the company's fundamentals are decent but performance fails to exceed expectations, combined with conservative management guidance, capital will naturally choose to take profits, making an exit almost inevitable.Looking at the segmented data, the fourth quarter in the domestic market was the core bleeding point. The previous third-quarter earnings announcement claimed domestic growth of 185%-190%, but ultimately, domestic growth for the entire second half was only 135%, confirming a significant quarter-on-quarter decline in the fourth quarter.The performance of overseas markets became one of the most divergent focal points after this financial report.POP MART COO Si De stated that the sales scale in the North American market for 2024 was about 800 million yuan, and it reached 6.8 billion yuan in 2025, lower than the internal expectation of 7 billion yuan held during the interim report.The uniqueness of the North American market lies in its significantly high online proportion, reaching 64%. Management explained that this was primarily due to insufficient offline store capacity, leading products to lean heavily toward online channels.Against the backdrop of a slowing overall growth pace, the &#34;old refrain&#34; of IP dependence has once again been magnified by the market.From an IP structure perspective, the THE MONSTERS series, to which LABUBU belongs, reached 14.1 billion yuan in annual revenue due to a concentrated replenishment period in the second half of the year, with its share rising to over 38%, further increasing from 34.7% in the first half. <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450256/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="LABUBU" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450256/1.jpg"/>Although other IPs have highlights—second-tier IPs like SKULLPANDA <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450257/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="SKULLPANDA" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450257/1.jpg"/>, CRYBABY <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450258/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="CRYBABY" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450258/1.jpg"/>, MOLLY <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450259/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="MOLLY" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450259/1.jpg"/>, and DIMMO <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450260/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="DIMMO" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450260/1.jpg"/> all achieved revenues of over 2.7 billion yuan, and &#34;Star People&#34; <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450261/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="Star People" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450261/1.jpg"/> saw revenue surge 16-fold year-on-year to 2 billion yuan in just one year,but LABUBU's 10-billion-level scale has set a high bar, making it exponentially harder for backup IPs to match its contribution.Another noteworthy data signal: while POP MART's total members grew significantly by 57.5%, the annual revenue growth for MOLLY, the most core IP in the early years, was only 38%.This indirectly confirms that after a single pop toy IP enters maturity, its efficiency in monetizing traffic faces diminishing marginal returns.The biggest hidden concern brought by the LABUBU effect is not the single reliance under a high base, but its irreproducibility as a &#34;super leverage.&#34;IP is the origin of everything. LABUBU contributed not just to performance but served as POP MART's core chip to leverage top global resources over the past year.From appearing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to the diplomatically-tinged &#34;deep cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand,&#34; to cross-industry collaborations with LVMH's century-old leather goods brand MOYNAT, and even content-based adventures with Sony Pictures, LABUBU carried almost all of POP MART's narrative ambitions for &#34;globalization&#34; and &#34;brand elevation.&#34; <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450262/1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="LABUBU" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://image.qidian.com/chapter/l6G580bE3aI/39079901391450262/1.jpg"/>Extreme glory has brought extreme panic: with LABUBU's peak so high, the market is uncertain about the risk of a pullback: where the bottom of the &#34;cycle&#34; lies and what will break it remains a blank.Pessimism has been derived from this and continues to spread, triggering concerns and uncertainty about the longer term—not just the 2026 performance.<h2>Who Will Hedge LABUBU</h2>External expectations always oscillate between optimism and panic, but POP MART itself continues to advance along its established strategic center.At the earnings call, Wang Ning reiterated that POP MART's strategic direction has remained consistent since its Hong Kong IPO: globalization and IP-centric group development.To support this grand narrative, POP MART completed its largest organizational restructuring in five years in 2025: establishing regional headquarters in Greater China, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, with Group Senior Vice President Wen Deyi also serving as Group Co-COO.In the structure at that time: Si De managed Greater China and the Americas, while Wen Deyi was responsible for Asia-Pacific and Europe.Just two days before the report's disclosure, POP MART completed another key personnel reshuffle: Wen Deyi was reassigned as Chief Growth Officer (CGO), focusing on mid-to-long-term strategy and breakthroughs in IP-centric group business innovation; Si De took charge of group platform departments and comprehensively managed operations in the four major regions to drive international business.This division of labor behind the scenes is that POP MART is attempting to resolve the deep contradiction between its growing performance scale and a relatively lagging organizational system.Currently, POP MART's performance share from markets outside mainland China is nearly 45%, and the volumes of plush toys and figurines are tending toward parity.As the foundations of globalization and group development take shape, the company urgently needs a more efficient &#34;central nervous system&#34; to command this massive multinational machine.But compared to the long-term goals POP MART has set for itself, this stage is still only a beginning.According to a previously circulated internal letter, POP MART hopes to grow its non-consumer goods business to nearly 50%.To this end, POP MART is simultaneously advancing multiple new formats such as theme parks, accessories, desserts, and film entertainment, and will launch small appliances in cooperation with JD.com in April 2026.The logic behind this is to use multi-dimensional consumption scenarios, channel systems, and content ecosystems to hedge against the unsustainability of single IP popularity, thereby extending the IP lifecycle and increasing the depth of single-point monetization.Compared to the accidental nature of IP explosions themselves, channel expansion, experience optimization, operational efficiency, and the discovery of new artists are the deterministic variables that the company can truly control.In the domestic market, POP MART's strategic focus has shifted from &#34;scale racing&#34; to &#34;quality of existing stock.&#34;In 2025, only 14 stores were added on a net basis, with resources mainly invested in upgrading existing stores and creating flagship stores.Management revealed that the number of store openings and renovations will increase this year, with the core logic being to enhance user dwell time and experience through the &#34;store-as-park&#34; model. Last year's data verified the feasibility of this path: after some store areas increased by 30%-40%, store efficiency doubled.Compared to the steady adjustments domestically, the overseas market remains the company's most important growth engine, as well as the source of greatest uncertainty.Management stated at the earnings call that overseas expansion has shifted from a China-HQ-centric approach to radiating from the four regional hubs, spreading from capitals to second- and third-tier cities, tourist destinations, and airport scenarios.The supply chain and logistics systems are also being reconstructed, with regional warehousing and transportation resources being integrated for centralized negotiation to lower costs and improve the alignment of shipping schedules with demand.Recently, POP MART established its U.S. headquarters in Culver City, Los Angeles, an area hosting many creative companies in the film and entertainment industries, hoping to attract more artists and content creators to participate in IP development.Localized operations are expected to be the highlight for POP MART this year.Whether promoting collaborations between local IPs and core proprietary IPs or developing IPs and commercializing products around local artists, these are seen as key paths to opening regional markets and enhancing user identity.Although the overseas market is currently a high-margin segment, increased uncertainty is directly affecting the profit end. Data from the earnings call shows that the company's gross margin dropped by 1 percentage point in January-February this year.To reduce the market's sense of uncertainty, management stated they will increase the frequency of information disclosure, adding business status updates in May and November in addition to the interim and annual reports, and will provide profit margin guidance this May.For POP MART in 2026, the company is doubling down on almost all &#34;areas of effort&#34;—heavier asset investment, more complex organizational structures, and more diverse business forms, attempting to build a long-term growth path that can transcend IP cycles.However, the natural withdrawal of traffic, marginal fluctuations in profit margins, and costs and geopolitical friction during globalization remain variables difficult for any consumer IP company to fully control.In the face of business cycles, these factors often determine a company's short-term upper and lower limits, constituting the most sensitive parts when the market re-prices.

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- Pop Mart reported a revenue of 37.12 billion yuan, marking a 184.7% increase, and a net profit of 13.08 billion yuan, up 284.5%.  
- Despite strong financials, market expectations were higher, leading to significant stock price declines following the earnings announcement.  
- The company faces challenges in sustaining growth amidst decreasing traffic and profitability pressures while committed to a global expansion strategy centered around IP development.

Braking Hard After Doubling Performance, POP MART Bids Farewell to the Era of "Hit Product Leverage"