“The high opening and crazy surge” of “Ne Zha 2” has become the biggest winner of this year’s Spring Festival box office. According to Maoyan Professional Edition’s prediction, “Ne Zha 2” may ultimately surpass 8.7 billion yuan, breaking the single-film box office record in Chinese film history.
While the movie continues to be a hit, the “Born Bond” series blind boxes launched in collaboration with “Ne Zha 2” and POP MART have sold out. Morgan Stanley believes that this phenomenon indicates that POP MART’s IP flywheel has begun to turn, and with its global expansion strategy, POP MART will become one of the preferred partners for major global IP owners.
The analyst team led by Dustin Wei from the institution pointed out in their latest report that the sales of this series of blind box dolls and plush toys are booming, with social media heat and demand far exceeding expectations, and online reservations even needing to be postponed for delivery until May.
Morgan Stanley stated that POP MART plans to launch IP toys simultaneously with upcoming films by collaborating with global film producers, which will help it better capture global market demand. The report stated:
We believe that the “Ne Zha 2” series not only brings considerable revenue to POP MART but also demonstrates the company’s influence in the IP business field.
We expect that in the field of IP toys, POP MART will become one of the preferred partners for major global IP owners to realize IP monetization and enhance IP popularity. This year, POP MART will also establish new partnerships with Japanese manga and anime IPs to meet the needs of different consumer groups.
Against this backdrop, Morgan Stanley believes that the market should not only focus on the sales of POP MART’s single IP products but should pay attention to its continuous product innovation and IP collaboration.
It is precisely POP MART’s creativity and ecosystem, combined with the IP-product flywheel effect and global expansion, that drive the company’s strong growth.
Morgan Stanley is confident about POP MART’s future development, expecting earnings per share (EPS) to reach 3.06 yuan by 2025, with a net profit of 4.091 billion yuan and a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 29.0.
Morgan Stanley has given POP MART an “Overweight” rating, with a target price of HKD 113.00, which is 11.5% higher than Wednesday’s closing price. Over the past year, POP MART’s stock price has surged nearly fivefold.
