Hesai: 'Eyes of Intelligent Driving' Shipments Surge, Can It Soar Again?

Overall, $Hesai(HSAI.US) released its Q2 2025 financial report after the U.S. stock market closed on August 14, Beijing time. Once again, Hesai has delivered a very impressive financial report. Specifically:

1) Revenue continues to maintain a high year-on-year growth trend, with LiDAR still expanding in volume: In the second quarter, Hesai's revenue reached 710 million, with a year-on-year growth rate increasing to 54%. LiDAR continues to expand in volume, driving the high year-on-year growth trend in revenue.

2) LiDAR prices are still declining due to the continued volume expansion of low-cost ATX, but shipment volumes continue to grow significantly: This quarter, the unit price of LiDAR was 2,194 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 54% from 4,727 yuan in the same period last year, and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 16%. The main reason for the price decline is the increased proportion of shipments of lower-priced ADAS LiDAR, primarily due to the continued volume expansion of low-cost ATX (ATX's share increased from 20% in Q1 to 50%-60% in Q2).

3) LiDAR shipments in the second quarter exceeded expectations, mainly due to the volume expansion of ATX: LiDAR shipments in the second quarter reached 350,000 units, exceeding the market expectation of 300,000 units (the company's guidance value last quarter), with a year-on-year growth rate of 3 times!

The main reason for the high growth and exceeding expectations in shipments is still the volume expansion of low-cost ATX products, driving the year-on-year growth rate of ADAS radar shipments to 2.8 times. The proportion of ADAS passenger car radar in the shipment structure also increased from 75% last quarter to 86% this quarter.

4) Net profit exceeded expectations, mainly due to the release of scale effects + possible increase in the proportion of high-margin overseas orders + strong cost control capabilities: This quarter's net profit was 40 million, and after adjusting for SBC, the net profit reached 70 million, exceeding market expectations by nearly 40 million. The adjusted net profit margin reached 10%, an increase of 8.6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.

The increase in gross margin is mainly due to ① the release of scale effects, ② the possible quarter-on-quarter increase in the proportion of high-margin overseas orders, and Hesai also demonstrated strong cost control capabilities and the leverage effect on the dilution of the three expense rates, ultimately leading to a net profit that exceeded expectations.

Dolphin Research's View:

Overall, Hesai has once again delivered a very impressive report card this quarter, and the reason behind this exceeding expectation is still the continuous decline in LiDAR unit prices brought about by cost reduction in technology, leading to increased penetration and continuous expansion of application scenarios.

The main reason for the financial report exceeding expectations this quarter is the continued volume expansion of low-cost ATX, becoming the main driver of revenue and shipment growth.

Hesai is currently making very smooth progress in both the penetration of ADAS LiDAR and the expansion of robot application scenarios:

① In terms of ADAS LiDAR, Hesai's ATX shipments have replaced Suteng to become the leader:

a. New domestic customer projects are also continuously landing, including Chery (iCAR brand), Great Wall (ORA brand), ZEEKR (multiple popular models), Geely (new models), Toyota, etc.;

Hesai's market share in domestic pre-installed LiDAR installations reached 33% in 1H25, replacing Suteng to become the leader in the ADAS LiDAR market after ATX began mass production and shipment.

b. Overseas, Hesai has also entered the C-sample stage with top European car manufacturers, with the potential for mass production in 2026.

② Continuous breakthroughs in scenario expansion

In terms of robotics, Hesai, in addition to pursuing large clients with the JT series, is also expanding to other clients. As of Q2, the JT series has delivered over 100,000 units, and recently reached cooperation with Vbot and New Era Dynamics.

Currently, Hesai's stock price corresponds to a P/S multiple of about 6 times for 2025. Dolphin Research believes that Hesai's current valuation still has considerable upward space and potential, mainly due to:

Continuous cost reduction through three technological paths: ① Expansion of technological routes (from solid-state to semi-solid rotating mirror technology); ② Continuous improvement of Hesai's self-developed chips; ③ Cost reduction brought by the chip Moore's Law effect;

At the same time, it has dual engines in scenario penetration: ① Acceleration of intelligent driving popularization: Intelligent driving equality is expected to continue to be implemented, driving high growth in LiDAR shipments; ② Expansion of robot application scenarios.

For Dolphin Research's in-depth coverage of Hesai, please see ""4x Hesai: Why the LiDAR Abandoned by Tesla is Shining Again?"" Please look forward to Dolphin Research's next in-depth study on Hesai for specific valuation calculations.