Morgan Stanley Lowers Price Target for Meta Platforms by 13%, Citing Pressure from High Base

BlockBeats News, August 18th, Morgan Stanley lowered its price target for Pop Mart from HK$247 to HK$214, citing high base effect pressure in the second half of the year and a significant slowdown in overseas sales.

The analyst stated in the report that due to a lack of incremental information and high-frequency data indicating a sharp decline in overseas sales, investors are anchoring on the most bearish data before the earnings release and generally holding a bearish view.

The main downside risk remains the high expectations of retail investors, as they account for a large proportion of the shareholder structure; forecasting a 29% increase in first-half sales and an 18% increase in net profit to ¥5.4 billion; expecting management to guide second-half sales to surpass the first half, while maintaining a cautious outlook on a year-over-year basis; maintaining a 'hold' rating as the estimated earnings CAGR for 2026-2028 is expected to reach 13%, mainly driven by the reacceleration of overseas market sales; and expecting total sales to resume growth in 2027.