Guotai Junan Securities: Li Ning still faces pressure from marketing expenses in the short term, but operating efficiency is improving. Maintain "outperform market" rating.

Guosen Securities research report stated that Li Ning still faces marketing expense pressure in the short term but operating efficiency is improving, and is expecting mid-term sales growth to accelerate and drive profit recovery. In the first half of 2025, the company achieved stable performance in a challenging operating environment, especially with good profit performance after excluding non-recurring effects. In the second half of the year, short-term additional expenses will be incurred due to resource investments such as cooperation with the Chinese Olympic Committee, but these will gradually be transformed into sales driving force. We maintain profit forecasts, expecting the company to achieve a net profit attributable to the parent company of 25.1/28.3/30.4 billion yuan in 2025-2027, with year-on-year changes of -16.6%/12.5%/7.7%. We are optimistic about the company's current healthy operational foundation and potential for brand growth acceleration through future marketing efforts, and have raised the fair value to 21.1-22.3 Hong Kong dollars, corresponding to 2026 PE 18-19x, maintaining an "outperform the market" rating.