Changjiang: CAOCAO INC (02643) completes the business loop from "scale expansion" to "efficiency harvesting"

Recently, Changjiang released a deep securities research report, covering CAOCAO INC (02643) for the first time and giving it a "buy" investment rating. The report believes that CAOCAO INC deeply relies on Geely Group's industrial chain to build differentiation competitive barriers, successfully converting supply chain advantages into substantial profit growth and cash flow improvement, completing the transition from "scale expansion" to "efficiency harvest" in the business cycle. At the same time, the company is actively exploring its second growth curve, and the Robotaxi business is expected to optimize the company's profit model. The report points out that CAOCAO INC is a leading travel service platform with customized fleets as its core, possessing dual advantages. Firstly, the low-cost model of customized vehicles can convert traditional high customer acquisition costs (CAC) into stable productivity inputs, optimizing platform margin rates and translating into net gross profit growth. Secondly, the low-cost advantage of customized vehicles effectively expands the net income space for drivers, builds a high-stickiness, standardized compliance pool of capacity, and achieves a dual leap in cost efficiency and supply quality. The report also notes that CAOCAO INC drivers earn higher hourly income than the industry average. Changjiang stated that Robotaxi is an important long-term strategic for CAOCAO INC as the most important commercial carrier of Geely Holdings Group. The company has started the expansion of the Robotaxi business in 2025, setting a clear goal of "ten years, hundreds of cities, billions of development", and gradually promoting the full commercial landing from test operation through a three-step strategy. Currently, CAOCAO INC is exploring the transition from primary driving safety officers to unmanned operations and the next stage will see the full commercial operation of Robotaxi customized vehicles globally. The report points out that CAOCAO INC's Robotaxi operation model integrates "intelligent customized vehicles + intelligent driving technology + intelligent operations". The Eva Cab, a fully customized car model jointly developed by the company, Geely and related partners, made its debut at the Beijing Auto Show at the end of April 2026. This model adopts an original low resistance integrated design, with no steering wheel and no co-pilot, and supports automatic battery swapping and cleaning. The design lifespan of the entire vehicle can reach 2-3 times that of ordinary passenger cars, with key components surpassing the lifespan of ordinary passenger cars, significantly extending maintenance cycles, and reducing procurement and operation costs, ensuring asset return for the fleet with a very low TCO, paving the way for profitable scale. Changjiang revealed that CAOCAO INC plans to use Eva Cab as the main carrier for future commercial operation of Robotaxi, with the model set to go into production in 2027 and a plan to deploy 100,000 units by 2030. According to the report's calculations, the proportion of gross profit from the Robotaxi business in GTV is expected to optimize more than 20% compared to traditional ride-hailing services. Changjiang predicts that CAOCAO INC's operating revenue for 2026-2028 will be 25.6 billion yuan, 31.7 billion yuan, and 38.1 billion yuan, corresponding to P/S ratios of 0.42 times, 0.34 times, and 0.28 times, respectively. The current valuation is at a lower level, with a higher safety margin. The report believes that CAOCAO INC's main online travel business profitability continues to improve, AI technology continues to improve driver scheduling efficiency and user subsidy distribution efficiency, combined with unique advantages of customized vehicles to drive steady profit progress. At the same time, the Robotaxi business is expected to optimize CAOCAO INC's profit model, therefore, it is recommended to give a "buy" rating upon first coverage.