Creality Warns of First-Half Loss After Going Public

Creality expects to report a loss of 53 million yuan to 63 million yuan ($7.4 million to $8.8 million) for the first half of 2026, reversing a profit of 107.5 million yuan from a year earlier. The Shenzhen-based printer maker disclosed the warning last Thursday, citing higher R&D spending, overseas promotions, product upgrades, and inventory clearance.

The loss continues a trend that began in the second half of 2025, when the company swung to a 182 million yuan loss. Creality went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2026, pricing its IPO at HK$18.80 per share. The stock opened its first day at HK$33.88 and closed at HK$22.80, a 21% gain that now looks modest against the initial excitement.

The company's core printer business still generated 1.78 billion yuan in 2025, but revenue growth is increasingly coming from higher-priced models rather than selling more machines. Annual printer shipments fell from roughly 842,000 units in 2022 to about 742,000 in 2025, even as printer revenue nearly tripled over the same period.

Analysts still expect full-year 2026 revenue of roughly 4.34 billion yuan, up about 39% from 2025. The question is whether Creality can capture that growth and return to profitability.