CATL hat sich überheblich gemacht. Sie verdient 230 Millionen Yuan pro Tag. In Bezug auf BYDs "Schnellladetechnologie" hat sie geantwortet: Sie hat von mir gelernt und stellt keine Herausforderung dar.

Daily, "Ning Wang" achieves a net profit of over 2 billion yuan. The business results are once again top - notch.

After deducting one - time revenues, the profit growth rate of the company's core business has even exceeded the sales growth rate.

One must consider that CATL achieved a total profit of 7.22 billion yuan in 2025, and in just one quarter of 2026, it was nearly 2.07 billion yuan - and this is still against the background of rising raw material prices.

The money - making ability of "Ning Wang" is unique in the entire automotive industry.

After the release of the financial reports, CATL's stock price rose by over 6% today. The market capitalization once reached over 2.09 trillion yuan and ranked among the top 3 in A - share market capitalization.

Strangely enough, although CATL has over 320 billion yuan in cash on its account, it has still decided on a massive capital raising. The cash flow from financing activities has increased by 11 times.

Is the company plotting a major coup?

Daily profit of 230 million yuan: CATL has made huge profits in the first quarter

In the first quarter of this year, CATL's sales revenue was 129.131 billion yuan, representing a year - on - year increase of 52.45%. This is already the third consecutive quarter in which sales revenue has exceeded the 100 - billion - yuan mark.

As shown in the earnings conference call, approximately one - third of this sales revenue comes from overseas.

The profit results are even more impressive. The net profit attributable to the parent company of CATL in the first quarter was 20.738 billion yuan, representing a year - on - year increase of 48.52%. Thus, the profit has increased significantly in sync with the sales revenue.

A rough calculation shows that on average, a daily net profit of 230 million yuan is achieved, which is equivalent to 160,000 yuan per minute.

What level does this represent? If we take BYD, the most profitable automobile manufacturer in China, as a reference, CATL could potentially achieve BYD's entire profit from last year (32.6 billion yuan) in less than 5 months.

In addition, CATL's adjusted net profit in the first quarter was 18.093 billion yuan, representing an increase of 52.95% compared to the previous year.

These data reflect the real profit - earning ability of the company's core business after deducting one - time revenues. The growth rate is even higher than that of the sales revenue.

In terms of costs and expenses, CATL's operating costs in the first quarter were 97.086 billion yuan, representing a year - on - year increase of 51.63%. The growth rate is basically in line with the sales revenue.

Therefore, the company's profit margin level has not changed significantly. The gross profit in this quarter was 32.04 billion yuan, representing an increase of 55% compared to the previous year.

The combined gross margin in the same period was 24.8%, representing an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous year. However, compared to the fourth quarter of last year, it decreased by 3.4 percentage points. The main reasons for this are seasonal factors and the change in the product structure due to the increased proportion of energy storage deliveries.

The continuous price increase of lithium carbonate and other raw materials has put some cost pressure on CATL. However, the impact is not very large at present, as shown by the increase in the gross margin compared to the previous year.

CATL revealed in the earnings conference call that the company wants to optimize the supply - chain strategy and offset the cost impacts through economies of scale and product design. At the same time, the company will introduce a price - linkage system to transfer the material price fluctuations to the final prices.

The company expects that the gross margin level for the whole year will remain stable.

In addition, on the same day as the release of the financial reports, CATL issued an announcement stating the plan to invest 3 billion yuan to establish a wholly - owned subsidiary - Times Resources Group (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. (provisional name).

After the announcement, this subsidiary is supposed to be a professional investment, operation, and management platform in the field of new - energy minerals.

CATL's goal is to further penetrate into the key raw material areas of the value chain, integrate existing mines to ensure the security and stability of the supply chain, and create a competitive advantage through the integration of the entire value chain.

In terms of expenses, CATL's research and development costs in the first quarter were 5.314 billion yuan, representing an increase of 10.38% compared to the previous year. In absolute terms, the investment remains at a high level.

However, due to the economies of scale that reduce the R & D intensity, the growth rate of the research and development costs is still far behind the sales growth.

In addition, the company's financial expenses in this quarter were 623 million yuan, while in the same period of the previous year, it was - 2.288 billion yuan (i.e., income). The expenses have increased by 102.72% compared to the previous year.

As explained in the financial reports, the changes in financial costs mainly come from foreign - exchange items, which have caused foreign - exchange losses due to exchange - rate changes.

There is a challenge behind this: after CATL has expanded its overseas business, it also has to account for certain exchange - rate risks.

However, the company's overall financial situation remains stable.

At the end of the first quarter, CATL's total assets were 1.046329 trillion yuan, exceeding the one - trillion - yuan mark for the first time, representing an increase of 7.33% compared to the end of the previous year.

The balance of cash and cash equivalents was 324.354 billion yuan, indicating a very solid financial position.

The net cash flow from operating activities of the company in this quarter was 33.681 billion yuan, representing an increase of 2.47% compared to the previous year. The net cash flow from financing activities in this quarter was 8.762 billion yuan, representing an increase of 1,149.24% compared to the previous year. The financial reports explain that this is due to the "increase in revenues from bond issuance in the current period".

Given the company's solid financial position, it is surprising that it has still decided on a massive bond issuance for capital raising.

In fact, CATL's strategy can be seen from the company's investment movements. The net cash flow from investing activities of the company in the first quarter was - 14.624 billion yuan, which was mainly used for the acquisition of fixed assets, intangible assets, etc., and for overseas investments.

The acquisition of fixed assets represents the "ammunition" that the company has accumulated in advance for capacity expansion.

This market leader in the new - energy value chain seems to be plotting a major coup.

Where does the money come from? Where does it go?

The comprehensive increase in CATL's business results mainly comes from the growth of the core business.

In the first quarter of this year, the total sales volume of power and energy - storage batteries exceeded 200 GWh, representing a total sales growth of over 60%. Of this, the sales of power batteries accounted for approximately three - quarters, while the proportion of energy - storage batteries has increased to one - quarter.

According to SNE data, CATL's market share in the global consumption of power batteries in January and February of this year was 40.5%, representing an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous year. Thus, its market leadership was further strengthened.

That is, 4 out of 10 power batteries sold worldwide come from CATL.

CATL's market share in the installation of power batteries in China also rose to 47.7%, representing an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared to the previous year.

CATL revealed that due to the strong demand in the domestic and overseas markets in the first quarter, the orders are already saturated. The capacity utilization rate in the first quarter was already between 80% and 90%.

Therefore, the company's capacity expansion is urgently needed.

In fact, CATL has already slowly started capacity expansion since the second half of 2024, and the years from 2025 to 2026 are in the expansion cycle.

This forward - looking strategy is based on CATL's prediction of market trends.

The company believes that the trend of vehicle electrification in the field of power batteries is becoming more and more obvious.

The electrification rate of passenger cars has already exceeded the 50% mark, and the battery capacity per vehicle is also increasing. These two factors have greatly increased the demand for batteries.

The electrification rate of commercial vehicles such as trucks is also rising rapidly. The deliveries of trucks in China doubled in 2025 compared to the previous year.

In the field of energy storage, government support in China has increased. The market positioning and capacity - price mechanism for energy storage have become clearer, and it has become an asset with stable revenues, which has greatly stimulated the demand in China.

In addition, CATL also sees growth potential in overseas markets.

The combination of these factors has led CATL to predict a significant increase in demand, which is why the company is promoting capacity expansion in advance to seize market opportunities:

The company expects that the global market for power and energy - storage batteries could reach over 4 TWh by 2030.

On the new growth path of the overseas market, many automobile manufacturers use CATL batteries in their export models, and CATL itself is also accelerating its expansion.