Shares of Unitree Robotics, China's first listed humanoid-robot maker, closed at 564.90 yuan on Monday, down 3.44% for the day and nearly 50% from their debut price of 1,100 yuan on August 19. This decline, which saw the stock touch an intraday low of 555.80 yuan, resulted in a loss of roughly 216.4 billion yuan (about $30 billion) in market value, bringing its capitalization down to 228.5 billion yuan from an initial 444.9 billion yuan. The rapid fall has prompted concerns about speculative enthusiasm outpacing fundamental business realities.
This sharp correction occurred despite positive underlying business performance, including Unitree reporting its first half-year profit of 274 million yuan in net income for January to June, a significant turnaround from a $32 million loss a year earlier. Revenue also increased by 48.5% to 1.15 billion yuan. However, this growth rate has slowed considerably from over 330% in 2025, and profit before one-off items actually declined by 19.3% in the first half of 2026. Furthermore, Unitree lost its position as the world's largest humanoid-robot maker by shipments, with rival AgiBot delivering 8,400 units (44% global share) compared to Unitree's 5,900 units (31% share).
Even after the substantial price drop, Unitree's stock trades at a static price-to-earnings ratio of about 877 times, which is more than 20 times the 38.56x average for China's general equipment manufacturing sector. Experts like veteran robotics investor Jin Nan suggest that the market is recalibrating due to an excessively high valuation rather than issues with Unitree's underlying quality. The initial surge, which saw the stock rise 460% on its debut, was also amplified by a small free float of only 7.4% of its shares. Analysts from Nomura had set a target price of 370 yuan, implying a valuation significantly lower than its debut peak.
Investor sentiment now hinges on whether the stock can maintain its position above the 550 yuan mark, which represents a complete halving from its initial peak. The volatility and subsequent decline have raised questions about bubble risks and the sustainability of high valuations in the AI and robotics sector, especially given that adjusted net profit in the first three months of 2026 fell 53% to 40 million yuan ($5.95 million).
