On August 19, Unitree Robotics, hailed as the "first humanoid robot stock," officially debuted on the STAR Market. Opening at 1,100 yuan per share, the stock experienced significant intraday volatility before closing at 845 yuan, a surge of 460.34% from its issue price of 150.8 yuan, bringing its total market capitalization to 341.77 billion yuan at the close.
On August 20, Unitree Robotics opened lower and continued to decline, with a rebound attempt failing before another drop. The stock retreated more than 18% for the day, yet the closing price remained at 687 yuan, with a market value still near 280 billion yuan. While these results have left some investors "crying and others laughing," a specific group of investors remains unfazed, having secured substantial gains. Who are they?
Public funds reap nearly 8.4 billion yuan in paper gains on debut day
These investors are the institutional players who acquired substantial "pre-IPO" share allocations during Unitree Robotics' online and offline issuance. Statistics show that 5,117 fund products from 95 public fund companies collectively secured allocations worth 1.82 billion yuan, or 12.07 million shares, in this offering. Based on the first-day closing price, these holdings generated paper gains of 8.378 billion yuan. Among them, six institutions, including E Fund, Southern Fund, ICBC Credit Suisse, China Asset Management, Guotai Asset Management, and China Merchants Fund, each secured allocations exceeding 100 million yuan, leading their peers in floating profits.
Four top-tier quant funds exceed 100 million yuan in floating gains
The private fund sector has also enjoyed the benefits of the new listing, with quantitative private funds performing particularly prominently. Large-scale private equity firms with over 10 billion yuan in assets form the core force in IPO allocations. Third-party statistics reveal that among the 134 private funds that secured allocations, 62 are billion-yuan firms, collectively receiving allocations worth 344 million yuan, accounting for over 90% of the total private fund allocations. Institutions such as Century Frontier, Jiukun Investment, Ningbo Huanfang Quantitative, and Yanfu Investment each saw their first-day floating profits exceed 100 million yuan. Other leading quant firms like Minghong Investment and Chengqi Private Fund also recorded floating gains in the tens of millions. Moreover, most of the shares allocated to private funds are tradable immediately upon listing, with only a small portion locked up for six months, making the profit effect even more substantial.
Post-listing valuation digestion process draws market attention
While public and private funds are enjoying substantial IPO gains, market disagreement over Unitree Robotics' valuation is quickly intensifying, as evidenced by its performance on the second trading day. The divergence in industry views primarily centers on long-term fundamental judgments. On one hand, Unitree Robotics is a rare leading player in China's humanoid robot sector, and it is reasonable for the secondary market to grant it a growth premium. On the other hand, the company's profit structure appears less stable, with non-GAAP net profit attributable to shareholders falling 52.55% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, showing signs of slowing earnings growth. These contrasting views highlight the market's uncertainty about whether the company's earnings prospects can remain stable. Additionally, based on 2025 non-GAAP net profit, the company's issuance price-to-earnings ratio reached 219.23 times, significantly higher than the industry's static average of 38.56 times for general equipment manufacturing. Multiple institutional research reports have cautioned that the high 219-times issuance valuation implies strong assumptions for sustained high growth over the coming years.