HAITONG INT'L gives Zhihu (02390) a "outperform" rating, bullish on its community value and AI application prospects.

On December 2nd, HAITONG INT'L released a research report, covering Zhihu (02390) for the first time, and gave the latter a "outperform the market" rating, optimistic about Zhihu's unique position in the question and answer community and the prospects of AI application. The firm predicts Zhihu's Hong Kong stock target price to be 14.8 Hong Kong dollars by 2025. Zhihu achieved total revenue of approximately 659 million yuan in the third quarter of 2025, with a non-GAAP operating loss narrowing by 16.3% year-on-year. The operating efficiency and quality of Zhihu continue to improve. The slight loss in the third quarter is due to proactive optimization to clear inefficient processes and strengthen long-term sustainable investment. Zhihu has sufficient cash reserves, with a total of 45.8 billion yuan in cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, restricted funds, and short-term investments as of the end of the third quarter. The company has also solidified its capital and profit elasticity through share buybacks and cost reduction measures, and HAITONG INT'L maintains a positive attitude towards the company's profit and margin improvement in 2025-26. In terms of AI, Zhihu's Zhi Da as an important product in the Zhihu AI application layer continues to grow in usage and penetration. By the end of the third quarter, the penetration rate has exceeded 15%, nearly four times the level of the same period last year. Zhi Da will be upgraded in various scenarios such as search, creation, consumption, and circulation, including enhancements in AI capabilities for comprehensive search and stronger AI-assisted tools for professional creators, further increasing AI penetration in the community. Based on this, HAITONG INT'L believes that Zhihu, with its high stickiness and trust in the "professional discussion" field, continues to attract high-value users and brand budgets. They are optimistic about Zhihu's unique position in the question and answer community, combined with the benefits of large models and sufficient cash. "The deep integration of generative AI in question and answer extension, personalized recommendation, and advertising creative generation scenarios has the opportunity to leverage platform content supply and commercial conversion efficiency, bringing new monetization flexibility." HAITONG INT'L forecasts that Zhihu's fourth-quarter revenue in 2025 will be 640 million yuan, with full-year revenue of 2.75 billion yuan. The market-sales ratio for the 2025 fiscal year is estimated at 1.2 times, with a Hong Kong stock target price of 14.8 Hong Kong dollars.