Did Athos Capital’s Big BEKE Bet and Buybacks Just Shift KE Holdings' (BEKE) Investment Narrative?

• In the third quarter of 2025, Hong Kong-based Athos Capital acquired 2.5 million KE Holdings shares, a new US$47.5 million stake that became its largest disclosed holding at 29.8% of reportable assets.
• This sizable commitment by a specialist regional fund highlights investor confidence in KE Holdings’ profitability, expanding rental and existing-home businesses, strong cash position, and more than US$2.30 billion of cumulative share repurchases since 2022 despite a weak housing backdrop.
• We’ll now examine how Athos Capital’s high-conviction position, combined with KE Holdings’ ongoing buybacks, might influence the company’s investment narrative.

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KE Holdings Investment Narrative Recap

To own KE Holdings, I think you need to believe its tech driven housing platform can keep growing profitability despite a weak Chinese property market, helped by rental, renovation and other services. Athos Capital’s new US$47.5 million stake and KE’s heavy buybacks reinforce the existing investment narrative but do not materially change the near term balance between the key catalyst of higher margin services growth and the main risk of prolonged real estate softness.

The most relevant recent announcement here is KE’s third quarter 2025 update, which showed continued profitability and expanding rental services alongside more than US$2.30 billion of cumulative share repurchases since 2022. Taken together with Athos Capital’s high conviction position, this combination of internal and external capital commitment reinforces the importance of KE’s shift toward higher margin, recurring service revenues as a potential offset to housing cycle pressure.

Yet beneath the share buybacks and new institutional interest, investors should be aware that prolonged weakness in China’s real estate market could still...

Read the full narrative on KE Holdings (it's free!)

KE Holdings' narrative projects CN¥136.4 billion revenue and CN¥8.6 billion earnings by 2028.

Uncover how KE Holdings' forecasts yield a $20.37 fair value, a 27% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Four members of the Simply Wall St Community currently see KE Holdings’ fair value between US$18.86 and US$31.74, reflecting a wide spread of expectations. You can set these views against the risk that persistent real estate market weakness may weigh on KE’s transaction volumes and profitability over time.

Explore 4 other fair value estimates on KE Holdings - why the stock might be worth just $18.86!

Build Your Own KE Holdings Narrative

Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your KE Holdings research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free KE Holdings research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate KE Holdings' overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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