With a daily profit of 240 million yuan, CATL continues to defend its "Iron Throne".

Whether in the power battery sector or the energy storage sector, CATL has extremely strong industry discourse power.

Over the past year, with the explosion of the overseas energy storage market, the price of lithium carbonate has seen an extreme rebound. Statistics show that from May 2025 to the present, the futures price of lithium carbonate has soared from about 59,000 yuan/ton to a maximum of 209,000 yuan/ton, and the lithium mining industry has also completed a cyclical reversal in this process.

Although the price of lithium carbonate has dropped significantly since May this year, the current price still stays at a high level above 140,000 yuan/ton. The performance of leading lithium mining enterprises and energy storage enterprises will continue to be realized, and leading enterprises such as CATL, Ganfeng Lithium and Tianqi Lithium have benefited particularly significantly.

Recently, CATL released its financial report for the first half of 2026. The financial report shows that the company achieved revenue of 276.917 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 54.80%; net profit reached 43.284 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.98%; non-net profit after deduction reached 39.013 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.44%.

At the same time, CATL simultaneously announced a dividend plan, proposing to distribute a cash dividend of 14.11 yuan (including tax) for every 10 shares, with a total dividend amount of 6.492 billion yuan.

Not only that, CATL also released a landmark share repurchase announcement. The announcement states that based on confidence in the company's future development and recognition of its intrinsic value, in order to boost investor confidence, the company plans to use its own or self-raised funds to repurchase A-shares through centralized bidding, with the total repurchase capital ranging from no less than 200 billion yuan to no more than 400 billion yuan.

It is reported that this is the largest share repurchase plan in the current A-share market. It is worth noting that all the repurchased shares will be used for cancellation to reduce the company's registered capital.

Firmly Seated on the "Iron Throne"

According to the specific financial report data, in the first half of this year, CATL's power battery system revenue was 192.125 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.02%; energy storage battery system revenue was 53.261 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 87.54%, with the revenue scale nearly doubling; battery materials and recycling business revenue was 18.811 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 67.23%. All three core businesses achieved growth without any signs of decline.

Compared with the steady growth of revenue scale, CATL's increasingly solid market share is more noteworthy.

According to statistics from SNE Research, from January to May this year, CATL's global installed market share of power batteries reached 40.2%, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 percentage points. This means that four out of every ten new energy vehicles worldwide are equipped with CATL batteries. Among them, the installed market share of domestic passenger vehicles is 46.7%, a year-on-year increase of 5.6 percentage points; the advantage in the ternary battery segment is more prominent, with a market share as high as 75.2%, which almost monopolizes the segment market; the market share in overseas markets has risen to 33.7%, a year-on-year increase of 3.7 percentage points.

Up to now, CATL has ranked first in global power battery installed capacity for nine consecutive years, and first in global energy storage battery shipments for five consecutive years.

The two global first achievements not only mean that CATL has almost no competitors in the industry, but also represent that the company has built a deep scale barrier.

On the procurement side, CATL's bargaining power over upstream suppliers is unattainable for second-tier battery manufacturers. Its industry discourse power can be intuitively reflected from the financial data: the company's accounts payable are 202.509 billion yuan, and notes payable are 152.978 billion yuan, with the two totaling more than 355 billion yuan. In simple terms, this is equivalent to upstream suppliers advancing funds for CATL. By extending the upstream account period, the company has accumulated a zero-cost working fund with a scale of more than 300 billion yuan.

On the production side, as of the first half of this year, CATL's battery system production capacity reached 525GWh, under-construction production capacity reached 764GWh, the capacity utilization rate was 94.86%, and the total output in the first half of the year was 498GWh. The production lines with ultra-high yield and extreme cost control capabilities have built an unbreakable competitive moat for CATL.

On the client side, CATL's high-quality customer resources are even more of a barrier that second-tier manufacturers cannot reach. Global mainstream automakers such as Volkswagen, Stellantis, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Toyota are all long-term cooperative customers of the company. In the first half of this year, the gross profit margin of CATL's overseas business reached 29.97%, nearly 9 percentage points higher than that of its domestic business; overseas revenue was 87.129 billion yuan, accounting for 31.46% of the total revenue. While most manufacturers in the industry are still competing fiercely in the domestic market, CATL has already completed its global layout.

The superposition of multiple core advantages has created this nearly perfect semi-annual report for CATL.

From the perspective of the core cash reserve indicator, as of the first half of this year, CATL's book monetary funds reached 372.053 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 40 billion yuan compared with the end of 2025. Such a huge cash reserve is at the top level in all industries of the A-share market.

At the same time, CATL continues to maintain the style of giving back to investors at a high proportion. Data shows that in 2025, the company took out half of the annual net profit, totaling 36.1 billion yuan for cash dividends and special dividends; in the middle of this year, it once again launched a dividend plan, paying 14.11 yuan per 10 shares, corresponding to a total dividend amount of about 64.9 billion yuan. In addition, after the dividend is implemented, the company immediately disclosed a new round of large-scale repurchase plan. The previous 4.386 billion yuan share repurchase has just been completed, and a new round of large-scale cancellation repurchase ranging from 200 billion yuan to 400 billion yuan has been implemented again.

Raising funds from the capital market and then giving back to the market in the form of dividends and repurchases, among domestic listed manufacturing companies, CATL's sincerity and intensity have almost no comparable enterprises.

"Hidden Worries" Behind the Highlight

Even if the core data such as revenue, net profit and cash flow are all excellent, this semi-annual report is not without shortcomings, and there are still hidden dangers that cannot be ignored.

According to the sorting of Kanjian Finance, there are many warning signals in the financial report.

The first is the continuously declining gross profit margin. In the first half of this year, CATL's overall gross profit margin dropped across the board. The comprehensive gross profit margin decreased from 25.02% in the same period last year to 23.93%, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1 percentage points. Among the segmented businesses, the gross profit margin of power batteries was 20.63%, a year-on-year decrease of 1.78 percentage points; the gross profit margin of energy storage batteries was 23.96%, a year-on-year decrease of 1.56 percentage points. The cost side increased significantly, with the cost of the power battery business increasing by 49.38% year-on-year, and the cost of the energy storage battery business increasing by 91.46% year-on-year. While the revenue scale continues to expand, the company's overall profit efficiency is continuing to decline.

Looking at the longer time cycle, the downward trend of CATL's gross profit margin has taken shape. In 2020, the company's comprehensive gross profit margin was about 27.8%, it dropped to 26.3% in 2021, fell to 20.2% in 2022 under the impact of rising upstream raw material prices, rebounded to 22.9% in 2023, was 22.6% in 2024, rose back to 24.4% in 2025, and fell again to 23.93% in the first half of 2026. In six years, the company's gross profit margin center has dropped from the 27% range to the 23% range. It is enough to show that even with absolute industry discourse power, CATL's profitability still faces obvious pressure.

The second is the growth rate deviation between net profit and operating cash flow. In the first half of this year, the company's net profit increased by 41.98% year-on-year, with a very impressive growth rate, but the net cash flow from operating activities only increased by 2.61% year-on-year, and there was a serious disconnect between the two core data.

The core reason for this phenomenon is the sharp rise in inventory and accounts receivable. During the reporting period, the company's inventory surged from 94.526 billion yuan to 130.819 billion yuan, an increase of 38.4%; accounts receivable increased from 76.403 billion yuan to 88.418 billion yuan, an increase of 15.7%. This means that the company's book profit has increased significantly, but most of the profit has not been converted into actual cash flow, but has been precipitated into inventory raw materials and corporate accounts receivable.

What is more worthy of vigilance than the financial report data is the de-risking trend of the supply chain of downstream automakers.

In the past few years, high-end new energy vehicles equipped with CATL batteries has been a recognized iron law in the industry. The active "de-CATL" of automakers was previously more of an industry rumor, or a negotiation chip used by automakers to suppress prices. But in 2026, this trend has been fully implemented, and a real order transfer phenomenon has emerged.

The core reason lies in the extreme internal competition in the industry. At present, the price war of new energy vehicles has entered a white-hot stage, the profit margin of vehicle manufacturers has been continuously compressed, and cost reduction and efficiency improvement have become the inevitable choice for all automakers. Second-tier battery manufacturers generally offer lower quotations for battery packs of the same specification, with prominent cost-effective advantages. More and more automakers begin to divert orders and decentralize the supply chain.

CATL has long been aware of this industry change. In the risk warning of the semi-annual report, the company clearly mentioned that domestic and foreign battery enterprises continue to expand production, the market competition in the industry continues to intensify, and there is uncertainty risk in future operations.

Continue to Break Through

Looking back at the development in recent years, CATL has always maintained a rapid growth trend.

In 2025, the company's revenue exceeded 423.7 billion yuan, setting a new historical high, with an annual net profit of 72.2 billion yuan, and a daily profit of nearly 200 million yuan. Combined with the impressive results of 276.917 billion yuan in revenue and 43.284 billion yuan in net profit in the first half of this year, CATL has once again entered a fast track of development, but the company's growth driving logic has quietly changed.

At present, power batteries are still the company's core basic plate, contributing nearly 70% of the revenue in the first half of the year, and the industry growth logic has not ended. The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in Europe has reached 32.5%, and the year-on-year sales growth rate of other emerging overseas markets is as high as 91.2%, and the global electrification increment space is still sufficient.

However, changes in the competitive landscape have emerged. Previously, only second- and third-tier automakers chose second-tier battery suppliers, but now leading new energy vehicle brands' flagship models have also begun to gradually divert battery orders.

Facing the internal competition pressure in the power battery track, CATL is actively cultivating the second growth curve, and the energy storage business has become the core breakthrough point.

Financial report data shows that in the first half of this year, the revenue of the energy storage business was 53.261 billion yuan, a year-on-year surge of 87.54%, which is the sector with the fastest growth rate among the company's three main businesses.

At the industry level, global energy storage cell shipments increased by 93% year-on-year, and AI data centers continue to release rigid demand for power energy storage. At the same time, the company reached a three-year 60GWh sodium-ion energy storage strategic cooperation with Haibosichuang, and the industrialization process of sodium batteries continues to accelerate.

It can be predicted that under the background of intensified competition in the power battery industry, the fast-growing energy storage business will continue to provide new growth momentum for CATL.

On the whole, from a daily profit of 10 million yuan six years ago to a daily profit of 240 million yuan now, CATL has step by step reached the top of the global power battery industry, and steadily maintained its position as the industry leader.

In the short term, the white-hot competition in the new energy vehicle industry does bring certain pressure to the power battery business, but relying on the extreme scale effect and cost advantage, CATL's industry barrier is still solid. In the long run, the company's cash reserve of more than 300 billion yuan and continuously increased R&D investment have laid a solid foundation for subsequent development. Combined with the continuously increased dividend and repurchase measures, CATL's long-term competitiveness in the capital market will also continue to improve.