The star stock of the Science and Technology Innovation Board "swept the ground" Rock Technology (688169) fell into the whirlpool of shareholder reductions again. According to the 2024 annual report, 4 of the top 10 shareholders sold collectively in the fourth quarter.

Capital has been withdrawn one after another

Among them, Xiaomi (01810) is Shunwei Capital fell out of the top ten shareholders, according to the 2.88% shareholding at the end of the third quarter, if all of them are reduced, they will cash out about 1 billion yuan; Hong Kong Securities Clearing reduced its holdings by 9.56 million shares, from 5.98% at the end of the third quarter to 3.52%.

What's more noteworthy is that co-founder Mao Guohua has reduced his holdings and cashed out more than 2.5 billion yuan in 2021. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Mao Guohua reduced his stake by 0.12% again, and his shareholding ratio decreased to 1.2%.

As an early investor, Shunwei Capital's shareholding ratio dropped from 5.41% at the end of 2023 to the top 10 shareholders, ending the nine-year "honeymoon" between the two parties after becoming a major shareholder of Roborock in 2016.

Hong Kong Securities Clearing has sharply reduced its shareholding to 3.52% from 6.07% at the end of 2023, with a net reduction of 2.55 percentage points for the year.

The founders fled the top and reduced their holdings, and the gross profit declined

Roborock was reduced for a variety of reasons.

One of the main reasons is that the performance did not meet the psychological expectations of investors. According to the 2024 financial report, Roborock "increased revenue but not profit", achieving revenue of 11.945 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.03%. However, its net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.977 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.64%; deducted non-net profit of 1.62 billion yuan, a sharp decline of 11.26% year-on-year. The domestic gross profit margin will decrease by 1.56 percentage points compared with 2023, and the overseas gross profit margin will plummet by 6.74 percentage points.

Considering that Roborock's overseas revenue accounts for more than 50%, the further decline in overseas gross profit undoubtedly makes investors particularly anxious.

In addition, at present, the competition in the sweeping robot industry is fierce, and Roborock's R&D model of emphasizing marketing over R&D is facing challenges. In 2024, Roborock's sales expenses will be about 3 billion yuan, an increase of more than 60% over the previous year. In the composition of sales expenses, advertising and marketing expenses account for the absolute majority, with an amount of 1.92 billion yuan in 2024, an increase of 77.5%.

Some analysts pointed out that Roborock's Amazon (AMZN) channel market share will reach 24% in 2024, and the company's gross profit margin may continue to be under pressure due to its high dependence on overseas and domestic price wars.

At the same time, Chang Jing, the founder and chairman of Roborock, personally reduced his holdings, but called on "investors can be patient" The "double standard" remarks are even more slotty. When the financial report for the third quarter of 2024 was released, Changjing had reduced his holdings and cashed out 900 million yuan. (For details, see Caizhong Society's ""Patience" on "Double Standards": Roborock Founder Changjing's Performance Reduction Peaks).

Under the demonstration of Changjing, in the secondary market, Roborock's share price has fallen from a high of 272 yuan in February to a low of 184.52 yuan in April, hitting a new low since August 2023, and its market value has evaporated by more than 7 billion yuan since 2025.

Roborock's current dynamic price-to-earnings ratio is below 20 times, nearly 70% lower than the peak of 80-90 times in 2021.

When the founding team and the strategic investors retreated simultaneously, it exposed the embarrassing turn of Roborock from "capital darling" to "cash machine". After the sweeping robot industry enters the stage of stock fighting, the tide of shareholder reduction may become the last straw that crushes market confidence.

(Article source: Caizhong Society).