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2023-03-03
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Zhongtong thunder explosion? Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential
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Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential","url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2316419995","media":"华尔街见闻","summary":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来","content":"<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency, ZTO Express's profit margin was once comparable to Apple's. The profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than the level reported in the United States. It reported a low number of employees in the United States, lowered labor costs, and falsely reported capital expenditures. The illusion of high profit margins has helped it raise more than US $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insiders' real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese concept stocks continue to rebound, Chinese concept logistics leader<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, an American short-selling agency, released a report, arguing that ZTO Express may have profits that appear to be much higher than those of its peers only because it falsified financial statement data. Considering ZTO's artificially exaggerated profit margin and using multiple valuation adjustment estimates, the report believes that ZTO's current U.S. stock trading price is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>The profit margin is more than twice that of domestic peers, and one degree comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>At the beginning of the above-mentioned Grizzly Research report, ZTO Express is the leader in the highly competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF Express, Yuantong, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once equivalent to that of a blue-chip company with higher profit margins like Apple. For a company to have such outstanding results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's apparently higher profit margins are actually just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications underreported operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Reporting low number of employees lowers labor costs and creates the illusion of super high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said that its report highlighted conclusive evidence that was inconsistent with ultra-high profit margins, including continuous financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>According to the filing documents of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, ZTO's profit margin is actually equivalent to that of its peers in the express delivery industry. From 2019 to 2021, ZTO's net profit margin is 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company is submitting its financial statements to the SEC. According to the report, the net profit margin is 15.5% to 25.7%.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report pointed out that ZTO reported a huge number of employees in China, but it was lower than this level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports a low number of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data and prove that the ultra-high profit margin is reasonable. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true number of employees and related labor expenses may be more than double the figures reported by the division to the SEC.</p><p><b>Misreporting capital expenditures helped raise more than US $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>According to the report, in order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also falsely reported the capital expenditure in the financial report submitted to the SEC. The company tried to prove that it was reasonable that the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeded its income. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its super-high profit margins to raise funds, because false capital expenditure data can explain why the profits are high. So far, ZTO's approach seems to have worked very well. In 2016 in<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenditure has not shown tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisition expansion insider uses undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insider real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or keep the company's accounts balanced. According to company documents, ZTO acquired franchisees it called network partners from related parties, and the purchase price was much higher than the start-up costs of these partners. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the deal. This may be because these entities are already operating as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research doubts whether ZTO has spent shareholders' money in vain and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are individually owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research's field visit found more potential undisclosed related parties. Those allegedly independent entities operate in close proximity to each other and share logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed related party transactions are worrying. According to the report, because ZTO's large loan stems from the company providing funds for insiders' real estate investment, public shareholders unnecessarily bear the risks of China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investors, not the related parties benefiting from the loans.</p><p></body></html></p>","source":"wallstreetcn_api","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Zhongtong thunder explosion? Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nZhongtong thunder explosion? Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"head\">\n<strong class=\"h-name small\">华尔街见闻</strong><span class=\"h-time small\">2023-03-03 09:29</span>\n</p>\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\n<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency, ZTO Express's profit margin was once comparable to Apple's. The profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than the level reported in the United States. It reported a low number of employees in the United States, lowered labor costs, and falsely reported capital expenditures. The illusion of high profit margins has helped it raise more than US $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insiders' real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese concept stocks continue to rebound, Chinese concept logistics leader<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, an American short-selling agency, released a report, arguing that ZTO Express may have profits that appear to be much higher than those of its peers only because it falsified financial statement data. Considering ZTO's artificially exaggerated profit margin and using multiple valuation adjustment estimates, the report believes that ZTO's current U.S. stock trading price is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>The profit margin is more than twice that of domestic peers, and one degree comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>At the beginning of the above-mentioned Grizzly Research report, ZTO Express is the leader in the highly competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF Express, Yuantong, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once equivalent to that of a blue-chip company with higher profit margins like Apple. For a company to have such outstanding results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's apparently higher profit margins are actually just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications underreported operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Reporting low number of employees lowers labor costs and creates the illusion of super high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said that its report highlighted conclusive evidence that was inconsistent with ultra-high profit margins, including continuous financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>According to the filing documents of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, ZTO's profit margin is actually equivalent to that of its peers in the express delivery industry. From 2019 to 2021, ZTO's net profit margin is 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company is submitting its financial statements to the SEC. According to the report, the net profit margin is 15.5% to 25.7%.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report pointed out that ZTO reported a huge number of employees in China, but it was lower than this level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports a low number of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data and prove that the ultra-high profit margin is reasonable. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true number of employees and related labor expenses may be more than double the figures reported by the division to the SEC.</p><p><b>Misreporting capital expenditures helped raise more than US $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>According to the report, in order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also falsely reported the capital expenditure in the financial report submitted to the SEC. The company tried to prove that it was reasonable that the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeded its income. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its super-high profit margins to raise funds, because false capital expenditure data can explain why the profits are high. So far, ZTO's approach seems to have worked very well. In 2016 in<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenditure has not shown tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisition expansion insider uses undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insider real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or keep the company's accounts balanced. According to company documents, ZTO acquired franchisees it called network partners from related parties, and the purchase price was much higher than the start-up costs of these partners. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the deal. This may be because these entities are already operating as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research doubts whether ZTO has spent shareholders' money in vain and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are individually owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research's field visit found more potential undisclosed related parties. Those allegedly independent entities operate in close proximity to each other and share logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed related party transactions are worrying. According to the report, because ZTO's large loan stems from the company providing funds for insiders' real estate investment, public shareholders unnecessarily bear the risks of China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investors, not the related parties benefiting from the loans.</p><p></body></html></p>\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n<p> source：<a href=\"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191\">华尔街见闻</a></p>\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/659e9f729bba48dc59353a363b665949","relate_stocks":{"ZTO":"中通快递"},"source_url":"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191","is_english":false,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"2316419995","content_text":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来募资超30亿美元；中通还利用未披露关联方转移运营费用，将大笔贷款用于支持内部人房产投资。热门中概股持续反弹之际，中概物流龙头中通快递被曝财务造假。美东时间3月2日周四，美国卖空机构Grizzly Research发布报告，认为中通快递可能只是因为伪造财务报表数据，才有表面看来远高于同行的利润。考虑到中通人为夸大的利润率，并采用倍数估值调整估算，报告认为，中通目前的美股交易价远高于公允价值，至少有50%的下行空间。利润率是国内同行两倍多 一度堪比苹果上述Grizzly Research报告开篇称，在竞争激烈的中国物流市场中，中通快递是领头羊，虽然整个行业都已标准化，但中通的利润率却是国内同行――顺丰、圆通、韵达和申通平均水平的两倍多。报告称，数据显示，中通的盈利能力一度和苹果这种利润率较高的蓝筹公司相当。一家公司能有如此出色的成绩，要么拥有出色的管理团队，要么财务状况好得令人难以置信。而Grizzly Research通过尽职调查发现，中通欺骗了投资者。报告写道：我们认为，中通明显较高的利润率实际上只是可能伪造财务报表的结果。我们相信，为了编造这些出色的成绩，中通通讯低报了营业收入和成本。报低员工人数 压低人力成本 造成利润率超高假象Grizzly称，其报告突出了和超高利润率不符的确凿证据，包括持续的融资、财会数据不一致以及众多利益冲突。其中特别提到，中通在中国国家工商总局的报告数据和该司递交美国证监会（SEC）的数据截然不同。工商总局的备案文件显示，中通的利润率实际上与快递业的同行相当，2019年至2021年间，中通的净利润率在6.3%到10.6%，但该公司在递交SEC的财务报表中报告，净利润率为15.5%到25.7%。报告指出，中通在中国报告的员工人数庞大，在美国却低于这一水平。因为中通故意报低员工人数，就可以支持其报告的劳动力成本数据，证明超高的利润率合理。以保守的薪资估计，中通的真实员工人数和相关人工费用可能比该司向SEC报告的数字高出一倍以上。虚报资本支出 帮助上市以来募资超30亿美元报告认为，为了让财务欺诈看似合理，中通还在递交SEC的财报中虚报了资本支出，该司企图证明，其物业、厂房和设备（PP&E）以及土地使用权的增长速度超过收入是合理的。但从战略上看，中通没有理由囤积土地。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通利用其超高的利润率募集资金，因为虚假的资本支出数据可以解释为何利润高。迄今为止，中通的这种做法似乎很有效。2016年在纽交所上市以来，中通已经募资超过30亿美元，尽管公司支出没有显示有形的股东价值。虚假收购扩充内部人 利用未披露关联方转移运营费用 大笔贷款用于内部人房产投资报告称，中通利用2014年和2015年的一些收购扩大了内部人的数量，并且、或者让公司的账目平衡。公司文件显示，中通从关联方收购了被其称为网络合作伙伴的特许经营商，收购价远高于这些合作伙伴的启动成本。令人担忧的是，在中国的记录显示，交易后，所有权没有发生变化。这可能是因为这些实体已经作为中通子公司运营。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通是否白白花了股东的钱，没有取得任何回报。报告认为，中通已利用未披露的关联方网络将运营费用转出资产负债表。中通的几个交易对手由受雇于中通、或其管理团队的亲友个人所有和控制。报告称，Grizzly Research实地考察发现了更多潜在的未披露关联方，那些据称独立的实体彼此运营距离很近，还共享logo。就连中通已披露的关联交易也令人担忧。报告认为，因为中通的大笔贷款源于公司为内部人士的房产投资提供资金，公众股东不必要地承担了中国房地产行业风险。这些个人项目违约的风险落在了投资者身上，而不是贷款受益的关联方。","news_type":1,"symbols_score_info":{"ZTO":0.9}},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":1718,"authorTweetTopStatus":1,"verified":2,"comments":[],"imageCount":0,"langContent":"EN","totalScore":0}],"hots":[{"id":9940884798,"gmtCreate":1677812711914,"gmtModify":1677813469477,"author":{"id":"4127809978923482","authorId":"4127809978923482","name":"福綠壽星","avatar":"https://community-static.tradeup.com/news/0f1972f9c2d478705726cd03c4863339","crmLevel":2,"crmLevelSwitch":1,"followedFlag":false,"authorIdStr":"4127809978923482","idStr":"4127809978923482"},"themes":[],"htmlText":"[可爱] [可爱] [可爱] ","listText":"[可爱] [可爱] [可爱] ","text":"[可爱] [可爱] [可爱]","images":[],"top":1,"highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9940884798","repostId":"2316419995","repostType":2,"repost":{"id":"2316419995","kind":"news","pubTimestamp":1677806968,"share":"https://ttm.financial/m/news/2316419995?lang=en_US&edition=fundamental","pubTime":"2023-03-03 09:29","market":"hk","language":"zh","title":"Zhongtong thunder explosion? Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential","url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2316419995","media":"华尔街见闻","summary":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来","content":"<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency, ZTO Express's profit margin was once comparable to Apple's. The profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than the level reported in the United States. It reported a low number of employees in the United States, lowered labor costs, and falsely reported capital expenditures. The illusion of high profit margins has helped it raise more than US $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insiders' real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese concept stocks continue to rebound, Chinese concept logistics leader<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, an American short-selling agency, released a report, arguing that ZTO Express may have profits that appear to be much higher than those of its peers only because it falsified financial statement data. Considering ZTO's artificially exaggerated profit margin and using multiple valuation adjustment estimates, the report believes that ZTO's current U.S. stock trading price is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>The profit margin is more than twice that of domestic peers, and one degree comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>At the beginning of the above-mentioned Grizzly Research report, ZTO Express is the leader in the highly competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF Express, Yuantong, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once equivalent to that of a blue-chip company with higher profit margins like Apple. For a company to have such outstanding results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's apparently higher profit margins are actually just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications underreported operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Reporting low number of employees lowers labor costs and creates the illusion of super high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said that its report highlighted conclusive evidence that was inconsistent with ultra-high profit margins, including continuous financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>According to the filing documents of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, ZTO's profit margin is actually equivalent to that of its peers in the express delivery industry. From 2019 to 2021, ZTO's net profit margin is 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company is submitting its financial statements to the SEC. According to the report, the net profit margin is 15.5% to 25.7%.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report pointed out that ZTO reported a huge number of employees in China, but it was lower than this level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports a low number of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data and prove that the ultra-high profit margin is reasonable. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true number of employees and related labor expenses may be more than double the figures reported by the division to the SEC.</p><p><b>Misreporting capital expenditures helped raise more than US $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>According to the report, in order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also falsely reported the capital expenditure in the financial report submitted to the SEC. The company tried to prove that it was reasonable that the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeded its income. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its super-high profit margins to raise funds, because false capital expenditure data can explain why the profits are high. So far, ZTO's approach seems to have worked very well. In 2016 in<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenditure has not shown tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisition expansion insider uses undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insider real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or keep the company's accounts balanced. According to company documents, ZTO acquired franchisees it called network partners from related parties, and the purchase price was much higher than the start-up costs of these partners. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the deal. This may be because these entities are already operating as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research doubts whether ZTO has spent shareholders' money in vain and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are individually owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research's field visit found more potential undisclosed related parties. Those allegedly independent entities operate in close proximity to each other and share logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed related party transactions are worrying. According to the report, because ZTO's large loan stems from the company providing funds for insiders' real estate investment, public shareholders unnecessarily bear the risks of China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investors, not the related parties benefiting from the loans.</p><p></body></html></p>","source":"wallstreetcn_api","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Zhongtong thunder explosion? Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 12.5px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nZhongtong thunder explosion? Short-selling institutions accused of false financial reports in the United States, and the stock price has at least 50% downside potential\n</h2>\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"head\">\n<strong class=\"h-name small\">华尔街见闻</strong><span class=\"h-time small\">2023-03-03 09:29</span>\n</p>\n</h4>\n</header>\n<article>\n<p><html><head></head><body><b>According to Grizzly Research, a short-selling agency, ZTO Express's profit margin was once comparable to Apple's. The profit margin reported by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was far lower than the level reported in the United States. It reported a low number of employees in the United States, lowered labor costs, and falsely reported capital expenditures. The illusion of high profit margins has helped it raise more than US $3 billion since its listing; ZTO also used undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses and used large loans to support insiders' real estate investment.</b>As popular Chinese concept stocks continue to rebound, Chinese concept logistics leader<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/ZTO\">ZTO Express</a>Exposed to financial fraud.</p><p>On Thursday, March 2nd, Eastern Time, Grizzly Research, an American short-selling agency, released a report, arguing that ZTO Express may have profits that appear to be much higher than those of its peers only because it falsified financial statement data. Considering ZTO's artificially exaggerated profit margin and using multiple valuation adjustment estimates, the report believes that ZTO's current U.S. stock trading price is much higher than its fair value, with at least 50% downside.</p><p><b>The profit margin is more than twice that of domestic peers, and one degree comparable<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/AAPL\">Apple</a></b></p><p>At the beginning of the above-mentioned Grizzly Research report, ZTO Express is the leader in the highly competitive Chinese logistics market. Although the whole industry has been standardized, ZTO's profit margin is more than twice the average level of its domestic peers-SF Express, Yuantong, Yunda and Shentong.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/c5011a6a75b71073f0bce12769cd4f12\" tg-width=\"571\" tg-height=\"501\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>According to the report, the data shows that ZTO's profitability was once equivalent to that of a blue-chip company with higher profit margins like Apple. For a company to have such outstanding results, it either has a great management team or is financially too good to be true. Grizzly Research found through due diligence that ZTO deceived investors. The report reads:</p><p>We believe that ZTO's apparently higher profit margins are actually just the result of possible falsification of financial statements. We believe that in order to fabricate these outstanding results, ZTO Communications underreported operating income and costs.</p><p><b>Reporting low number of employees lowers labor costs and creates the illusion of super high profit margins</b></p><p>Grizzly said that its report highlighted conclusive evidence that was inconsistent with ultra-high profit margins, including continuous financing, inconsistent accounting data and numerous conflicts of interest. In particular, it is mentioned that the data reported by ZTO in the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China is completely different from the data submitted by the department to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).</p><p>According to the filing documents of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, ZTO's profit margin is actually equivalent to that of its peers in the express delivery industry. From 2019 to 2021, ZTO's net profit margin is 6.3% to 10.6%, but the company is submitting its financial statements to the SEC. According to the report, the net profit margin is 15.5% to 25.7%.</p><p><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/43965d7078947f4b474d7a72f0928a29\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"419\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer\"/></p><p>The report pointed out that ZTO reported a huge number of employees in China, but it was lower than this level in the United States. Because ZTO deliberately reports a low number of employees, it can support its reported labor cost data and prove that the ultra-high profit margin is reasonable. With conservative salary estimates, ZTO's true number of employees and related labor expenses may be more than double the figures reported by the division to the SEC.</p><p><b>Misreporting capital expenditures helped raise more than US $3 billion since listing</b></p><p>According to the report, in order to make the financial fraud seem reasonable, ZTO also falsely reported the capital expenditure in the financial report submitted to the SEC. The company tried to prove that it was reasonable that the growth rate of its property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and land use rights exceeded its income. But strategically, ZTO has no reason to hoard land.</p><p>Grizzly Research suspects that ZTO used its super-high profit margins to raise funds, because false capital expenditure data can explain why the profits are high. So far, ZTO's approach seems to have worked very well. In 2016 in<a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/NYSE\">NYSE</a>Since its listing, ZTO has raised more than $3 billion, although the company's expenditure has not shown tangible shareholder value.</p><p>False acquisition expansion insider uses undisclosed related parties to transfer operating expenses large loans for insider real estate investment</p><p>According to the report, ZTO used some acquisitions in 2014 and 2015 to expand the number of insiders and, or keep the company's accounts balanced. According to company documents, ZTO acquired franchisees it called network partners from related parties, and the purchase price was much higher than the start-up costs of these partners. Worryingly, records in China show no change in ownership after the deal. This may be because these entities are already operating as ZTO subsidiaries. Grizzly Research doubts whether ZTO has spent shareholders' money in vain and made no return.</p><p>According to the report, ZTO has used an undisclosed network of related parties to transfer operating expenses out of the balance sheet. Several of ZTO's counterparties are individually owned and controlled by relatives and friends employed by ZTO or its management team.</p><p>According to the report, Grizzly Research's field visit found more potential undisclosed related parties. Those allegedly independent entities operate in close proximity to each other and share logos.</p><p>Even ZTO's disclosed related party transactions are worrying. According to the report, because ZTO's large loan stems from the company providing funds for insiders' real estate investment, public shareholders unnecessarily bear the risks of China's real estate industry. The risk of defaulting on these individual projects falls on the investors, not the related parties benefiting from the loans.</p><p></body></html></p>\n<div class=\"bt-text\">\n\n\n<p> source：<a href=\"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191\">华尔街见闻</a></p>\n\n\n</div>\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/659e9f729bba48dc59353a363b665949","relate_stocks":{"ZTO":"中通快递"},"source_url":"https://wallstreetcn.com/articles/3683191","is_english":false,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","article_id":"2316419995","content_text":"做空机构Grizzly Research称，中通快递的利润率一度堪比苹果，在国家工商总局报告的利润率远低于在美报告水平，在美报低员工人数，压低人力成本，虚报资本支出，造成利润率超高假象，帮助其上市以来募资超30亿美元；中通还利用未披露关联方转移运营费用，将大笔贷款用于支持内部人房产投资。热门中概股持续反弹之际，中概物流龙头中通快递被曝财务造假。美东时间3月2日周四，美国卖空机构Grizzly Research发布报告，认为中通快递可能只是因为伪造财务报表数据，才有表面看来远高于同行的利润。考虑到中通人为夸大的利润率，并采用倍数估值调整估算，报告认为，中通目前的美股交易价远高于公允价值，至少有50%的下行空间。利润率是国内同行两倍多 一度堪比苹果上述Grizzly Research报告开篇称，在竞争激烈的中国物流市场中，中通快递是领头羊，虽然整个行业都已标准化，但中通的利润率却是国内同行――顺丰、圆通、韵达和申通平均水平的两倍多。报告称，数据显示，中通的盈利能力一度和苹果这种利润率较高的蓝筹公司相当。一家公司能有如此出色的成绩，要么拥有出色的管理团队，要么财务状况好得令人难以置信。而Grizzly Research通过尽职调查发现，中通欺骗了投资者。报告写道：我们认为，中通明显较高的利润率实际上只是可能伪造财务报表的结果。我们相信，为了编造这些出色的成绩，中通通讯低报了营业收入和成本。报低员工人数 压低人力成本 造成利润率超高假象Grizzly称，其报告突出了和超高利润率不符的确凿证据，包括持续的融资、财会数据不一致以及众多利益冲突。其中特别提到，中通在中国国家工商总局的报告数据和该司递交美国证监会（SEC）的数据截然不同。工商总局的备案文件显示，中通的利润率实际上与快递业的同行相当，2019年至2021年间，中通的净利润率在6.3%到10.6%，但该公司在递交SEC的财务报表中报告，净利润率为15.5%到25.7%。报告指出，中通在中国报告的员工人数庞大，在美国却低于这一水平。因为中通故意报低员工人数，就可以支持其报告的劳动力成本数据，证明超高的利润率合理。以保守的薪资估计，中通的真实员工人数和相关人工费用可能比该司向SEC报告的数字高出一倍以上。虚报资本支出 帮助上市以来募资超30亿美元报告认为，为了让财务欺诈看似合理，中通还在递交SEC的财报中虚报了资本支出，该司企图证明，其物业、厂房和设备（PP&E）以及土地使用权的增长速度超过收入是合理的。但从战略上看，中通没有理由囤积土地。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通利用其超高的利润率募集资金，因为虚假的资本支出数据可以解释为何利润高。迄今为止，中通的这种做法似乎很有效。2016年在纽交所上市以来，中通已经募资超过30亿美元，尽管公司支出没有显示有形的股东价值。虚假收购扩充内部人 利用未披露关联方转移运营费用 大笔贷款用于内部人房产投资报告称，中通利用2014年和2015年的一些收购扩大了内部人的数量，并且、或者让公司的账目平衡。公司文件显示，中通从关联方收购了被其称为网络合作伙伴的特许经营商，收购价远高于这些合作伙伴的启动成本。令人担忧的是，在中国的记录显示，交易后，所有权没有发生变化。这可能是因为这些实体已经作为中通子公司运营。Grizzly Research怀疑，中通是否白白花了股东的钱，没有取得任何回报。报告认为，中通已利用未披露的关联方网络将运营费用转出资产负债表。中通的几个交易对手由受雇于中通、或其管理团队的亲友个人所有和控制。报告称，Grizzly Research实地考察发现了更多潜在的未披露关联方，那些据称独立的实体彼此运营距离很近，还共享logo。就连中通已披露的关联交易也令人担忧。报告认为，因为中通的大笔贷款源于公司为内部人士的房产投资提供资金，公众股东不必要地承担了中国房地产行业风险。这些个人项目违约的风险落在了投资者身上，而不是贷款受益的关联方。","news_type":1,"symbols_score_info":{"ZTO":0.9}},"isVote":1,"tweetType":1,"viewCount":1718,"authorTweetTopStatus":1,"verified":2,"comments":[],"imageCount":0,"langContent":"EN","totalScore":0}],"lives":[]}