Breaking the new “heat effect” when it gets cold, Sidi Smart Drive (03881) broke on the first day of launch

On December 19, at a time when the smart driving concept sector in the Hong Kong stock market was “in full swing,” a newly listed smart driving concept stock was “treated coldly” by the market.

On the same day, stimulated by news that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially announced the entry permits for China's first batch of L3 class conditional autonomous driving models, the Hong Kong stock intelligent driving concept sector rose strongly. As of press time, the sector had risen by nearly 1%. Youjiao Innovation (02431) and Zhejiang Shibao (01057) all rose by more than 10%, and related concept stocks such as Zhixing Auto, Xiaopeng Auto, and Black Sesame Smart all rose sharply.

However, in contrast to this, Sidi Smart Driving (03881), as a new smart driving stock listed on the same day, had a very different treatment — the company's stock price fell 1% as soon as it opened, and began a diving decline of about 20 minutes later. After that, the stock price fluctuated by -10%. By the morning close, its stock price had a sharp drop of 8.37% to HK$241. The total market value was HK$105.53, with a net capital outflow of HK$309.67 million.

Meanwhile, in Futu's undercover trading on the previous trading day, Sidi Smart Driving also closed down 5.48% to HK$248.60, with a turnover of HK$12.24 million, with a turnover of HK$12.24 million, 10 shares per lot. Excluding handling fees, the first hand lost HK$144.

(Image source: Futu)

Right now, the intelligent driving sector is an excellent “hitting zone” — it is reported that the vehicle licensing policy announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this time is actually implemented following the clear framework of the 2023 pilot notice and the selection of the first batch of 9 consortia in June 2024, marking the domestic L3 transition from “pilot declaration and test evaluation” to “product entry and road access pilot”. Huatai Securities also reported that the implementation of L3 entry will accelerate the value restructuring of the smart driving industry chain, and smart driving is expected to become an important direction for AI applications in 2026.

However, as a new Smart Driving stock, Sidi Smart Driving was treated coldly by the market on the first day of listing. Why is this?

Sidi's smart driving is not popular or has long been a “clue” in the secondary market.

According to the allotment results announced by Sidi Smart Driving, the company sold 5.407.98 million H shares globally, with the Hong Kong public offering accounting for 10% and the international sale accounting for 90%. The final sale price was HK$263 per share, with a net raise of approximately HK$1,309 billion from the global sale. Among them, the Hong Kong public sale received 22.55 times the subscription, and the international sale received 2.1 times the subscription.

Since 2025, the popularity of the Hong Kong stock market has continued to heat up, and is mainly reflected in the following major characteristics:

First, ultra-high subscription multiples are now frequent. According to Wind, as of the first three quarters of 2025, there were a total of 15 new shares with a subscription ratio of more than a thousand times. Among them, Daxin Science and Engineering's subscription ratio was as high as 75558.40 times. Bruco and Yinnuo Pharmaceutical-B also performed well, recording high subscription multiples of 5999.96 times and 5341.66 times respectively. Second, the money-making effect is remarkable. The rise on the first day became a high-probability event, and it is not uncommon for individual stocks to rise surprisingly. If the technology were to close on the first day of its listing, it would be close to 118% higher. Third, the direction in which funds are sought is clear. During the period, capital clearly flocked to a circuit representing industrial upgrading, focusing on the three major tracks representing the direction of industrial upgrading: hard technology, pharmaceutics, and new consumption.

Among these, Sidi Smart Driving, which is on the blue ocean circuit of intelligent commercial vehicle driving, is clearly also on the “popular emerging industry” track, but judging from the subscription ratio, the “thermal effect” of building a new one doesn't seem to be showing up on it.

This may not be unrelated to the “AB side” fundamentals of CDI Smart Driving.

According to Zhitong Finance, Sidi Smart Driving was founded in 2017 and is a supplier of intelligent driving products and solutions for commercial vehicles in China. The company focuses on research and development of closed environment autonomous trucks, V2X (vehicle-road collaboration) technology and intelligent sensing solutions for mining and logistics, and provides products and solutions based on proprietary technology. During the track record period, it mainly focused on intelligent driving in closed environments.

Due to the blue ocean circuit of intelligent commercial vehicle driving in a closed environment, Sidi Smart Driving has shown a certain level of high growth in terms of revenue with certain head effects and technical barriers.

According to data from Insight Consulting, in terms of 2024 product sales revenue, Sidi Smart Driving ranked first in the autonomous driving mining card solution market in China. What is even more remarkable is that the company delivered 56 autonomous mining trucks to a mining area in China, mixed with about 500 manned trucks, forming the world's largest mixed mining fleet.

Under the dual main forces of head effects and technical barriers, and combined with the development potential of the commercial vehicle intelligent driving industry, Sidi Smart Driving has also shown astonishingly high growth potential. According to the prospectus, from 2022 to the first half of 2025, the company's revenue was 31.056 million yuan, 133 million yuan, 410 million yuan and 408 million yuan respectively. Currently, revenue for the first half of 2025 is close to the full year level of 2024.

In just two and a half years, the revenue scale of Sidi Smart Driving has increased more than 13 times. This is undoubtedly the “excellent A side” of fundamentals.

However, in contrast to this, high loss performance and cash flow pressure are the unavoidable “bad B side” of Sidi's smart driving.

From 2022 to the first half of 2025, the company lost $263 million, $255 million, $581 million and $455 million respectively. Losses increased by nearly 128% year over year in 2024. This phenomenon of “no increase in revenue” or even “more profit, more loss” reveals the stage the company is currently in: it is still in an “arms race” period that requires huge investment in exchange for market position and future scale.

At the same time, under long-term losses, the company's operating cash flow also continued to be negative. From 2022 to 2024, the total net cash outflow from operating activities exceeded 500 million yuan. As of the end of June 2025, cash and cash equivalents were $186 million, while current liabilities for the same period reached $2,795 billion, which is under heavy financial pressure.

Judging from the above performance, the “AB side” of Sidi Smart Driving also showed clear “high growth and high risk” investment characteristics. Although Sidi Smart Driving is following a pragmatic and high-potential commercialization path for autonomous driving, and has taken the lead in segmented racing, its investment is more like an expectation of “future fulfillment”. Under high risk, it is difficult for most investors to pay for its “high growth” without worry.