Business Description
Hesai Group, along with its various subsidiaries, focuses on the creation, production, and marketing of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technologies. These sophisticated LiDAR solutions are utilized in a diverse array of applications, including advanced driver-assistance systems for both passenger and commercial automobiles, autonomous transportation services for people and goods, and specialized robotics like delivery robots, street-cleaning robots, and logistics robots operating in confined spaces. Founded in 2014, the company maintains its headquarters in Shanghai, China.
Business History
Generated: Jun 20, 2026 3:02amPrice Overview
Last updated: Jun 27, 2026 8:01am (just now)Price History (1 Year)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
| Period | Revenue | Net Income | Net Margin | YoY/QoQ |
|---|
Key Metrics
EPS (Diluted): 3.08
Total Equity: $8.96B
Shares: 146,437,135
Total Debt: $877.72M
Cash: $1.67B
EBITDA: $609.50M
Total Debt: $877.72M
Cash: $1.67B
Revenue: $3.03B
Revenue: $3.03B
Revenue: $3.03B
Total Equity: $8.96B
Tax Rate: 6.6%
Equity: $8.96B
Total Debt: $877.72M
Cash: $1.67B
Current Liabilities: $1.90B
Long-Term Debt: $278.90M
Total Debt: $877.72M
Total Equity: $8.96B
Shares: 146,437,135
Shares: 146,437,135
CapEx: -$300.94M
Shares: 146,437,135
Stock Price: $14.80
Net Income: $435.88M
Industry Benchmarks
Deep Analysis
Pre-flight intelligence scans the company first, then routes to the right analytical methods.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Jun 21, 2026 7:13pm (5d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $720.8M | $1.2B | $1.9B | $2.1B | $3.0B |
| Cost of Revenue | $339.0M | $730.7M | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.8B |
| Gross Profit | $381.8M | $472.0M | $661.4M | $884.6M | $1.3B |
| Operating Expenses | $647.1M | $850.2M | $1.2B | $1.1B | $1.1B |
| Operating Income | -$265.3M | -$378.2M | -$571.6M | -$204.9M | $123.5M |
| Net Income | -$244.8M | -$300.8M | -$476.0M | -$102.4M | $435.9M |
| EBITDA | -$217.6M | -$247.2M | -$385.9M | -$2.2M | $609.5M |
| EPS | $-23.39 | $-5.95 | $-3.81 | $-0.79 | $3.08 |
| EPS (Diluted) | — | — | — | — | — |
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Jun 27, 2026 8:01am (just now)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash & Equivalents | $449.4M | $913.3M | $1.6B | $2.8B | $1.7B |
| Total Current Assets | $3.5B | $3.1B | $4.4B | $4.7B | $7.1B |
| Total Assets | $4.0B | $3.8B | $5.7B | $6.0B | $11.3B |
| Current Liabilities | $892.2M | $955.5M | $1.3B | $1.6B | $1.9B |
| Long-Term Debt | $0 | $18.5M | $285.9M | $269.4M | $278.9M |
| Total Liabilities | $902.5M | $997.7M | $1.8B | $2.1B | $2.3B |
| Total Equity | -$2.5B | -$3.1B | $3.9B | $3.9B | $9.0B |
| Retained Earnings | -$2.2B | -$2.8B | -$3.3B | -$3.4B | -$3.0B |
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Jun 21, 2026 7:13pm (5d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Cash Flow | -$228.4M | -$696.0M | $57.3M | $63.5M | $113.8M |
| Capital Expenditure | -$281.6M | -$240.4M | -$414.7M | -$271.4M | -$300.9M |
| Free Cash Flow | -$510.0M | -$936.4M | -$357.4M | -$207.9M | -$187.1M |
| Acquisitions (net) | $0 | $0 | -$40.0M | $0 | $4.1M |
| Debt Repayment | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dividends Paid | — | — | — | — | — |
| Stock Buybacks | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net Change in Cash | $192.7M | $463.9M | $644.8M | $1.3B | -$1.1B |
Analyst Estimates (Annual)
Last updated: Jun 26, 2026 6:54pm (13h ago)| Metric | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue |
$6.1B $6.0B – $6.2B
|
$7.8B $7.2B – $8.7B
|
$8.5B $7.8B – $9.5B
|
$9.9B $9.1B – $10.9B
|
| EBITDA |
-$621.7M -$631.6M – -$611.8M
|
-$804.0M -$893.1M – -$741.5M
|
-$872.4M -$969.2M – -$804.6M
|
-$1.0B -$1.1B – -$932.0M
|
| Net Income |
$867.0M $674.8M – $1.1B
|
$1.4B $798.0M – $1.9B
|
$1.5B $1.4B – $1.7B
|
$1.8B $1.6B – $2.0B
|
| EPS | — | — | — | — |
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Jun 21, 2026 7:13pm (5d ago)| Metric | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Growth | +66.9% | +56.1% | +10.7% | +45.8% |
| Gross Profit Growth | +23.6% | +40.1% | +33.7% | +43.0% |
| Operating Income Growth | -42.6% | -51.1% | +64.2% | +160.3% |
| Net Income Growth | -22.8% | -58.3% | +78.5% | +525.8% |
| EBITDA Growth | -13.6% | -56.2% | +99.4% | +28,435.7% |
Insider Trading (Recent)
All SEC Form 4 codes
- P Purchase
- Open-market or private purchase of shares.
- S Sale
- Open-market or private sale of shares.
- A Award / grant
- Grant or award of securities (RSUs, options, etc.) under Rule 16b-3.
- D Return to issuer
- Securities disposed back to the company under Rule 16b-3.
- F In-kind (tax)
- Shares withheld or delivered to pay the option-exercise price or tax — not an open-market sale.
- I Discretionary
- Discretionary transaction under an employee plan — Rule 16b-3(f).
- M Option exercise
- Exercise or conversion of a derivative (option/RSU) into shares — exempt.
- C Conversion
- Conversion of a derivative security into the underlying shares.
- E Short expiration
- Expiration of a short derivative position.
- H Long expiration
- Expiration or cancellation of a long derivative position with value received.
- O OTM exercise
- Exercise of an out-of-the-money derivative.
- X ITM exercise
- Exercise of an in-the-money or at-the-money derivative.
- G Gift
- Bona fide gift of securities.
- L Small acquisition
- Small acquisition under Rule 16a-6.
- W Inheritance
- Acquisition or disposition by will or the laws of descent.
- Z Voting trust
- Deposit into or withdrawal from a voting trust.
- J Other
- Other acquisition or disposition (explained in a Form 4 footnote).
- K Equity swap
- Transaction in an equity swap or similar instrument.
- U Tender / buyout
- Disposition via tender of shares in a change-of-control transaction.
Compensation-plan codes (A, D, F, M) are routine and rarely directional. Open-market P (buy) and S (sale) carry the most signal.
| Date | Insider | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-25 | Xiang Shaoqing | A-Award | 157,000.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| 2026-03-25 | Wang Hui (Jasmine) | A-Award | 6,565.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| 2026-03-25 | Li Yifan | A-Award | 157,000.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| 2026-03-25 | Sun Kai | A-Award | 157,000.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| 2026-03-18 | Sun Kai | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Ren Jia | 2,372.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Fan Peng | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Fan Peng | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Fan Peng | 8,000.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Fan Peng | 11,468.00 | $0.90 | $10,321 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Li Yifan | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Zhang Yi | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Zhang Yi | 5,953.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Wang Hui (Jasmine) | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Xiang Shaoqing | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Xiang Shaoqing | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Yang Cailian | 0.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2026-03-18 | Yang Cailian | 1,000.00 | $0.00 | $0 | |
| 2021-07-03 | Yang Cailian | 181,042.00 | $2.10 | $380,188 | |
| 2025-08-31 | Yang Cailian | 9,443.00 | $3.30 | $31,162 |
Narrative Economics
market-narrative step).
Delvantic AI Findings
The quarterly trajectory is the single most important fact here and the synthesis layer is glossing over it. Q1 2026 revenue of $680.6M is down 32% sequentially from Q4 2025's $1.00B, and net margin collapsed from 15.3% to 2.7%. Yes, Q1 is seasonally weak in Chinese auto supply, but the YoY compare is also softening: Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025 is +30% revenue, materially slower than the +46% annual print models are anchoring on. The Q3 2025 net income spike to $256M on $795M revenue (32% margin) looks like a one-time gain — possibly tax/investment-related — because it isn't repeated and the surrounding quarters run 6-15% margins. Strip that out and "normalized" 2025 NI is probably closer to $200M, not $436M, which means trailing P/E is more like 11x than 5.5x. Still cheap, but not the screaming bargain the synthesis layer implies.
The pre-flight and narrative layers correctly identify that this is a LiDAR platform play, but the synthesis verdict ("Disconnected from Fundamentals") is too credulous about the headline numbers. I'd push back: a P/S of 0.7x for a Chinese hardware company with -$187M FCF, $301M capex, customer concentration (Sony/Chinese EV OEMs), VIE structure risk, and active delisting/sanctions overhang is *not* obviously mispriced. The market is applying a China-tech discount that is rational given 2024-2026 precedent (DiDi, multiple ADR wipeouts, Pentagon "Chinese Military Company" list — Hesai was on it, sued, and the situation remains live). The 2.4x P/B and 26x EV/EBITDA tell a less flattering story than the 5.5x P/E: this business consumes capital, gross margin at 41.8% is below the "40%+" bull-case bar (and trending down from 47% in 2023), and operating margin of 4% on $3B revenue is thin for something called a "platform."
The contrarian case writes itself: LiDAR ASPs are falling 20-30% annually as RoboSense, Seyond, and Huawei's in-house solution scale; BYD is internalizing sensor stacks; Tesla remains explicitly anti-LiDAR which caps the Western OEM TAM; and the Q1 2026 margin compression to 2.7% is exactly what commoditization looks like — volume up, price down, mix deteriorating. The insider awards on 2026-03-25 (multiple 157,000-share grants) are compensation, not conviction buys, and the synthesis label of "No Insider Transactions" is misleading — there's nothing open-market here. FCF of -$187M against $1.67B cash gives ~9 years of runway at current burn, which is fine, but the bull thesis requires margin expansion, not cash burn, to justify a re-rating. Market Forces calling this "Neutral" with "severe earnings quality issues" is closer to right than the synthesis "Disconnected" verdict.
I dissent from the synthesis "Disconnected from Fundamentals = undervalued" framing. The right read is: HSAI is cheap on headline multiples *because the market correctly suspects* (a) 2025 earnings were goosed by a non-recurring item, (b) Q1 2026 signals margin normalization toward low-single-digits, (c) geopolitical tail risk is non-trivial, and (d) FCF remains negative. Fair value on normalized $200M NI at a China-discounted 15x is ~$3B market cap, or roughly $23/share — meaning there *is* upside from $16.89, but it's ~35%, not the 2-3x the synthesis layer implies. A starter position is defensible only if you can stomach the binary geopolitical risk and believe Q1 was seasonal rather than structural. I'd want to see the Q2 2026 print confirming sequential recovery before scaling. The narrative layer's "moderate durability" rating is correct; the synthesis layer's enthusiasm is not.
GPT Critique
In reviewing Hesai Group's financials, several key points emerge. Hesai's revenue trajectory is impressive, with a 46% annual growth rate and a recent quarterly revenue of $680.6M for Q1 2026, although this represents a significant sequential decrease from Q4 2025's $1.00B. This pattern highlights potential seasonal volatility, underscored by the net income margin's drop from 15.3% to 2.7%. Historically, Hesai swung from negative net income in early 2024 to a profitable 2025, with $435.9M net income on $3.03B revenue. The company's balance sheet is robust with $1.67B in cash but weak on cash flow generation, reporting negative free cash flow of -$187.1M in 2025, indicating heavy capital expenditure without immediate returns. The P/E ratio of 37.86 and a P/S ratio of 7.20 suggest that while the company is valued above its earnings, it is still priced as a growth stock, albeit with skepticism due to its geopolitical exposure and operational challenges.
Opus's analysis highlights several critical points I agree with. The assertion that Q1 2026's margin collapse might reflect more than seasonality is crucial. The steep drop in both revenue and margin from Q4 2025 to Q1 2026 raises concerns about potential structural issues, beyond seasonal patterns, particularly given the company's reliance on Chinese EV OEMs and Sony, which enhances its customer concentration risk. Furthermore, I concur with Opus’s skepticism regarding the sustainability of the Q3 2025 spike in net income, which indeed seems anomalous given surrounding quarters' performance, suggesting a non-recurring gain may have inflated earnings.
However, I diverge from Opus on the potential undervaluation narrative. Opus mentions that Hesai's market cap of $2.20B and its current price reflect the market's skepticism about its future earnings power, given the geopolitical risks and sector-specific challenges. While I agree that these risks are significant, I question Opus’s dismissal of the "Disconnected from Fundamentals" synthesis. The rapid revenue growth and transition to profitability indicate a company with substantial potential, which might indeed be underappreciated by the market due to excessive discounting for geopolitical and sector risks.
A careful skeptic might argue that both Opus's and my analyses overemphasize short-term earnings volatility without sufficiently considering longer-term strategic shifts and potential technological advancements in the LiDAR sector. They might posit that if Hesai can leverage its partnerships, particularly with Sony, to achieve scale and cost advantages, it could potentially overcome margin pressures and geopolitical headwinds, warranting a re-evaluation of its growth prospects and valuation.