HK Stock Connect Insight | CREALITY (03388.HK) Falls 7.5% Since Stock Connect Inclusion; Cornerstone Investors' 36.64 Million Shares Unlock on November 28

On November 4, 2026, the 3D printing theme traded divergently, and CREALITY (03388.HK) weakened. As of 13:25, the stock was quoted at HKD 23.840, down 0.25%, with a turnover of about HKD 21.598 million and a market capitalisation of about HKD 11.392 billion based on the latest price. It touched a low of HKD 23.560 and a high of HKD 24.780 during the day, with an amplitude of 5.10%.

In terms of recent movements, CREALITY's share price over the past week (October 29 to November 4, including today's intraday price) rose before retreating. The stock opened higher today and then pulled back, touching an intraday low of HKD 23.560.

It is understood that on September 7, the new round of regular adjustments to Stock Connect officially took effect. The number of constituents of the Hang Seng Composite Index increased from 534 to 580, and CREALITY (03388.HK) was included, and was thereby added to Stock Connect.

Public information shows that CREALITY listed on the Main Board of HKEX on May 29, 2026 at an offer price of HKD 18.80, offering 73,427,550 H shares globally, raising gross proceeds of about HKD 1.380 billion and net proceeds of about HKD 1.272 billion. The company is a direct listing on the HKEX Main Board; the Hong Kong public offering was about 3,829.42 times subscribed and the international offering about 26.80 times subscribed; 15 cornerstone investors, including Taikang Life, CITIC Xingye International and CPE Greater China, subscribed for a total of about USD 88 million (about HKD 689 million), representing 49.9% of the offer shares under the global offering.

In terms of its early trading performance, the stock opened at HKD 33.880 on its debut, up 80.21% from the offer price, touched an intraday high of HKD 34.000, and closed at HKD 22.800, up 21.28% from the offer price.

At present, since its listing on May 29, 2026, the share price has risen from the offer price of HKD 18.80 to a peak of HKD 34.000, and is currently 29.9% below its post-listing high. After joining Stock Connect, the share price has fallen 7.5% cumulatively from its September 7 close of HKD 25.780 to date. In terms of market capitalisation, the peak market capitalisation shortly after listing was about HKD 16.2 billion, and had fallen to about HKD 11.392 billion as at the intraday quote on November 4.

It is understood that Hang Seng Indexes Company announced the results of its quarterly review as at June 30, 2026 on August 21, and CREALITY was included in the Hang Seng Composite Index, with the constituent changes taking effect on September 7.

The basis for CREALITY's inclusion lies, first, in its inclusion in the Hang Seng Composite Index, which gave it the "index identity" of a Stock Connect eligible security. Second, the company's market capitalisation remained at a high level around the review period: based on the closing price of HKD 26.080 on June 30, 2026, the total market capitalisation was about HKD 12.462 billion, well above the HKD 4 billion market capitalisation threshold for small-cap Stock Connect eligible securities. In addition, the securities added in this adjustment were concentrated in AI, robotics, innovative drugs and high-end manufacturing, and CREALITY, as a "consumer-grade 3D printing equipment maker", is consistent with this structural direction. (The above is an inference based on public rules and data, not an official determination by the exchange. The specific reason for inclusion is subject to the exchange's announcement.)

Although this Stock Connect inclusion provides CREALITY with institutional conditions to broaden southbound capital participation and improve liquidity, the company's share price has fallen 7.5% since inclusion and dropped 8.43% on a single day on November 3, occurring alongside interim results that showed revenue growth of 12.9% but a swing from profit to loss.

It is worth noting that the lock-up period for the 36,639,000 H shares held by CREALITY's 15 cornerstone investors ended on November 28, 2026, representing about 49.90% of the offer shares under the global offering and about 7.67% of the total issued share capital; the shares become transferable from November 30, the first trading day after the lock-up period ends. The approaching unlock window puts additional pressure on the share price in the near term.

Public information shows that CREALITY is a global provider of consumer-grade 3D printing products and services, with products and services mainly comprising 3D printers, 3D printing consumables, 3D scanners, laser engravers, accessories and others, as well as various services provided through its 3D printing content platform Creality Cloud; in August 2025 the company launched Nexbie, an overseas e-commerce platform focused on 3D creative finished products. Its sales network covers more than 140 countries and regions, with 81 online stores and more than 2,400 distributors. According to China Insights Consultancy data cited in the prospectus, the company's share of the global consumer-grade 3D printing market by GMV was 11.2% in 2025.

On the financial side, the company's revenue has grown rapidly: revenue was RMB 1.883 billion, RMB 2.288 billion and RMB 3.127 billion in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively, with gross margins of 31.8%, 30.9% and 31.2%. In 2025 the company recorded a net loss of RMB 182.4 million, with adjusted net profit of RMB 92.38 million. In the first half of 2026, revenue was RMB 1.626 billion, up 12.9% year on year; gross profit was RMB 500 million, up 0.9%, with a gross margin of 30.8%, down 3.6 percentage points; net loss was RMB 59.10 million, against net profit of RMB 107.5 million a year earlier; adjusted net loss was RMB 15.70 million; basic and diluted loss per share was RMB 0.15, against earnings per share of RMB 0.30 a year earlier; the board did not recommend an interim dividend. By product, 3D printer revenue was RMB 842 million, broadly flat year on year, scanners and laser engravers RMB 326 million, up 16.7%, 3D printing consumables RMB 277 million, up 48.3%, and accessories and others RMB 181 million, up 35.5%. On costs, research and development expenses rose 37.6% year on year and accounted for 8.8% of revenue, while selling and marketing expenses were RMB 304 million, up 29.3%; as the US dollar and the euro weakened against the renminbi, foreign exchange moved from a gain of RMB 13.40 million a year earlier to a loss of RMB 35.40 million.

In terms of products and business developments, CREALITY launched the i7 series, which supports AI photo-based modelling and printing, during the year; in September it unveiled the multi-colour SPARKX i8 printer at IFA 2026 and listed it on the overseas crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, where the campaign had raised more than USD 3.70 million as at October 7; on October 8, its flagship K3 multi-colour 3D printer opened for pre-sale on JD.com at a launch price of RMB 4,599, featuring an independent four-channel, four-nozzle architecture and its self-developed KliTek multi-nozzle exchange technology with CMYK full-colour mixing; on distribution, the company plans to operate more than 2,000 offline display points overseas and about 30 physical stores in China by the end of 2026.

On the industry side, according to data from the General Administration of Customs, China's exports of consumer-grade 3D printers reached USD 1.31 billion in the first half of 2026, up 90.2% year on year; data from market research firm CONTEXT shows that global 3D printing equipment revenue grew 32% year on year in the first quarter of 2026.

HTSC believes that, as consumer-grade 3D printers break through the technology singularity and reach beyond their original user base, the market has entered a rapid development cycle; the company is advancing from a high value-for-money hardware maker to a full-chain personal intelligent manufacturing ecosystem platform, with technology and supply chain as twin drivers strengthening its moat, ecosystem synergies enhancing user stickiness, and hardware, consumables and subscription services jointly driving profit release. On market concerns about external competition, the broker believes that hardware barriers in consumer-grade 3D printing are limited under an open-source ecosystem, that the company's flagship equipment performance has caught up rapidly, and that it is expected to keep gaining share on the back of its first-mover ecosystem and differentiated positioning; over the medium to long term it is positive on value-added businesses such as consumables and subscription services, and expects that, as penetration of official consumables rises, the high-margin consumables and software subscription businesses will become an important driver of profit improvement.