In a summer of cool consumer spending, Chinese toy company Pop Mart alerted investors to double-digit growth in the first half of the year: it now expects revenue to rise by at least 55% and profits to grow 90% or more. Morgan Stanley and other investment firms raised their price targets on the Hong Kong-traded stock after Pop Mart gave a profit alert on July 18. Shares initially surged, but have since wavered amid a broad decline in Asian stocks. “We think Pop Mart’s expansion is still in early innings, with Rmb7bn ($970 million) sales from China and Rmb3bn from overseas market,” Morgan Stanley analysts said last month, noting “the runway is long” since Lego’s annual global sales are 70 billion yuan. Beijing-based Pop Mart sells collectible figurines based largely on its own intellectual property (IP), along with sets featuring the Minions, Avengers or Disney characters. Each toy costs about $10, sold in a “blind” box so customers won’t don’t know which character they’ve bought. ‘Underlying demand’ “We believe the emotional value with low price sensitivity offered by Pop Mart IP products provide strong support on underlying demand in the China market,” CLSA analysts wrote in a note last month, rating Pop Mart outperform. “We expect 30 retail store openings this year in China and China market sales to grow 21% YoY in 2024.” The CLSA analysts raised their price target to 45 Hong Kong dollars ($5.76), up from 37 previously. They expect high-single-digit growth in Pop Mart’s mainland China same-store sales this year. China’s retail sales grew by 2% in June from a year ago, and major Western brands such as Apple and Starbucks reported lower second-quarter sales in China. When Pop Mart listed in Hong Kong in December 2020, shares immediately doubled in price and went on to hit an all-time high of HK$105.21 in February 2021. The stock then plunged with the Hong Kong market, before a recovery starting this year. Despite the latest pullback, Pop Mart shares have held gains of more than 90% for the year so far — temporarily crossing the 100% mark with a high of HK$41.75 on Wednesday. But even that remained several Hong Kong dollars below analysts’ newest price targets. Raised target Morgan Stanley raised its price target to HK$52, up from HK$45 previously, after Pop Mart’s profit alert. The Wall Street investment bank has an “overweight” rating on the stock. “By market, we estimate China growth accelerated from 20% in 1Q to 40% in 2Q,” Morgan Stanley said. “Strong pickup in online channels and Pop Land were the key drivers, while offline sales growth also accelerated (driven by teens% [same-store sales growth]).” Pop Land is a theme park that Pop Mart opened near a major city park in Beijing in September 2023. The company, which considers intellectual property its core asset, said in its annual report in April it has also opened an art gallery, with plans for gaming and animation products. “Pop Land being part of the earnings beat is encouraging — another example showing the value of management’s determination in doing new projects when they are considered ‘far-fetched,'” the Morgan Stanley analysts said. “Also, bad weather and consumption slowdown in China didn’t deter Pop Mart’s momentum, an evidence of its market share gain in the rising IP product segment.” Pop Mart has yet to announce when it will release full results for the first-half of the year. In 2023 the company published its interim report in late August. Other investment firms are more cautious on Pop Mart shares. China Renaissance rates the stock a “hold,” with a far lower price target of HK$27.39. “Pop Mart’s June 2024 online sales fell 6% YoY possibly because Pop Mart did not provide many discounts during the 618-shopping festival, in our view,” the China Renaissance analysts said in a report last month, referring to a mid-June promotion. Also in mid-July, Nomura analysts upgraded their view on Pop Mart, but only to “neutral” from “reduce,” albeit with an increased price target to HK$41. “The company is well-prepared to sustain its high sales growth momentum into 2H24F, in our view (we estimate 2H24F total sales growth of 39% y-y),” the Nomura analysts said. Growing international business While most of Pop Mart’s stores are in mainland China, the company has a growing international business with stores in countries ranging from Thailand to the U.S. One day after the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Pop Mart opened a store in the Louvre . “It is very difficult to forecast Pop Mart’s sales momentum from 2025 onward, as its growth driver is not store opening but the pace of IP product launches,” Jefferies analysts said. They rate the stock a buy, with a price target of HK$47.40. “We like management’s strategy of focusing on its core IPs and investing in these IPs through various media,” a Jefferies report said. “Pop Mart’s IPs could be in the form of not just blind boxes but also games, movies and other product categories. It is also looking to expand its retail format using the theme park as the incubator. This could lengthen an IP’s cycle should it be successful.” — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report. Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.
Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped 7% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD’s streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Universal Health Services — The hospital operator fell more than 6% after CFO Steve Filton said at a conference that procedural volumes “have been slower to recover back to historical levels than we might have imagined.” He also raised concerns over how President Donald Trump’s spending bill could evolve as it goes through the Senate, and what that would mean for the hospital industry, according to a FactSet transcript. Topgolf Callaway Brands — The golf equipment stock rallied 8% following director Adebayo Ogunlesi’s disclosure on Friday that he had bought 383,700 shares. Following the transaction, Ogunlesi owns 512,600 shares. Quaker Chemical – The metal processing fluid company, which does business as Quaker Houghton, jumped 10%. On Monday, Jefferies upgraded the stock to buy from hold, seeing more than 33% upside on the back of improving steel demand conditions and increasing infrastructure spending. EchoStar – Shares tumbled 6% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, reported the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Apple — Shares of the iPhone maker are up slightly ahead of the company’s closely watched Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California . Investors are eager to hear more about Apple’s progress on Apple Intelligence, its response to generative AI models, at the meeting, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET. Apple shares have lagged the market, with an 18% decline year to date. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin fell 5% and 4%, respectively, after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday. Both companies were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. Intuitive Surgical — The surgical product maker slid 7% on the heels of Deutsche Bank’s downgrade to sell from hold. Deutsche said the company’s competitive moat is at risk. IonQ – The quantum computing stock climbed 2% after the company announced that it’s agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. Circle — Shares of the stablecoin issuer jumped 10%, continuing its post IPO surge . Circle’s stock is now nearly 300% above its $31 per share IPO price. McDonald’s – The fast-food chain’s stock slipped nearly 2% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn’t been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. — Shares were more than 1% lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he’s expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. Aon — Shares of the professional services company slipped 4% after Aon reaffirmed its full-year guidance during its investor day Monday. — CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Lisa Han, Alex Harring, Michelle Fox, Christina Cheddar Berk and Jesse Pound contributed reporting.
A Capital One Walmart credit card sign is seen at a store in Mountain View, California, United States on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.
Yichuan Cao | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Walmart‘s majority-owned fintech startup OnePay said Monday it was launching a pair of new credit cards for customers of the world’s biggest retailer.
OnePay is partnering with Synchrony, a major behind-the-scenes player in retail cards, which will issue the cards and handle underwriting decisions starting in the fall, the companies said.
OnePay, which was created by Walmart in 2021 with venture firm Ribbit Capital, will handle the customer experience for the card program through its mobile app.
Walmart had leaned on Capital One as the exclusive provider of its credit cards since 2018, but sued the bank in 2023 so that it could exit the relationship years ahead of schedule. At the time, Capital One accused Walmart of seeking to end its partnership so that it could move transactions to OnePay.
The Walmart card program had 10 million customers and roughly $8.5 billion in loans outstanding last year, when the partnership with Capital One ended, according to Fitch Ratings.
For Walmart and its fintech firm, the arrangement shows that, in seeking to quickly scale up in financial services, OnePay is opting to partner with established players rather than going it alone.
In March, OnePay announced that it was tapping Swedish fintech firm Klarna to handle buy now, pay later loans at the retailer, even after testing its own installment loan program.
One-stop shop
In its quest to become a one-stop shop for Americans underserved by traditional banks, OnePay has methodically built out its offerings, which now include debit cards, high-yield savings accounts and a digital wallet with peer-to-peer payments.
OnePay is rolling out two options: a general-purpose credit card that can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted and a store card that will only allow Walmart purchases.
Customers whose credit profiles don’t allow them to qualify for the general-purpose card will be offered the store card, according to a person with knowledge of the program.
OnePay didn’t yet disclose the rewards expected with the cards, though the general-purpose card is expected to provide a stronger value, said this person, who declined to be identified speaking ahead of the product’s release. The Synchrony partnership was reported earlier by Bloomberg.
“Our goal with this credit card program is to deliver an experience for consumers that’s transparent, rewarding, and easy to use,” OnePay CEO Omer Ismail said in the Monday release.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Synchrony to launch a program at Walmart that checks each of those boxes and will help serve millions of people,” Ismail said.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. Warner Bros. Discovery – Shares jumped nearly 9% after Warner said it will split into two publicly traded companies by next year. One company will host WBD’s streaming services and movie properties, while the other will include its cable networks such as CNN and TNT Sports. Tesla – Shares of the electric vehicle maker dropped about 2% after Baird downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. The firm said that CEO Elon Musk’s comments on robotaxi plans are “a bit too optimistic” and that Musk’s relationship to President Donald Trump adds “considerable uncertainty.” EchoStar – Shares tumbled 11% after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, said the telecommunications company is considering filing for bankruptcy under chapter 11 . The company is trying to protect its wireless spectrum licenses that are under review by the Federal Communications Commission, the report said. Robinhood , Applovin – Shares of Robinhood and Applovin each fell about 4% after neither name was added to the S & P 500 on Friday, as both names were considered possible candidates for inclusion in the index . Robinhood soared more than 13% last week leading up to the rebalance announcement, while Applovin advanced more than 6%. IonQ – The quantum computing stock gained more than 7% after the company announced that it’s agreed to acquire Oxford Ionics in a deal valued at $1.075 billion in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in 2025. McDonald’s – The fast-food chain’s stock slipped nearly 1% on the heels of a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight from overweight. Morgan Stanley said the company hasn’t been insulated from pressures on the fast food sector. Moelis & Co. – Shares were marginally lower. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Ken Moelis is planning to step down from the role at the investment bank. He said in an interview that he’s expected to become executive chairman, effective Oct. 1. Co-president Navid Mahmoodzadegan is slated to become CEO, the report said. — CNBC’s Alex Harring, Fred Imbert and Sarah Min contributed reporting.