The time has come to revalue “Apple” Yuanzheng Technology (02488) in the automotive aftermarket

It is not uncommon for valuations to rise due to changes in business models. Yuanzheng Technology (02488) is at this stage.

The market's impression of it is still limited to “auto repair equipment manufacturers,” but the essence of the company's business has been profoundly transformed, which is clearly reflected in the 2026 interim results.

Zhitong Finance App learned that in the first half of 2026, the company's revenue from software services was 120 million yuan, up 67.9% year on year; revenue from AI and services (including AI agents, remote diagnosis, and car data) was 31.5 million yuan, up 65.77% year on year.

The high increase in data shows that the company has completed the transformation from a hardware manufacturer to an AI service provider in the automotive industry with “equipment as the entry point, software as the foundation, and AI and service as the engine of growth.”

This transformation has structural resonance with Apple's commercial evolution. With iPhone ownership as the cornerstone, Apple monetized through ecological services and transitioned from a hardware manufacturer to a platform-based enterprise; Yuanzheng used diagnostic devices as key hardware carriers and business distribution entrances to derive software business, AI, and services. The two essentially have the same logic: existing terminals are the physical touchpoint for recurring revenue, not the end point.

In the first half of 2026, the company's equipment business revenue was about 900 million yuan, an increase of 3.1% over the previous year. But the real “gold mine” lies in holdings. By the end of June, Yuanzheng equipment had connected more than 420 million vehicles worldwide, and nearly 3.9 million terminals were active, covering 234 countries and regions. Extensive hardware deployment lays the foundation for value-added business.

After the equipment is sold, the customer pays the upgrade fee for adapting the new model agreement, iterative function upgrades, and advanced diagnostic modules. This is the commercial logic of the software business. Relying on existing terminals, software business revenue rapidly increased from more than 20 million yuan in 2019 to 120 million yuan in the first half of 2026, accounting for 11% of total revenue. The business has the characteristics of continuous revenue, stable cash flow, high gross margin, and strong customer stickiness, and is the core support for the company's transformation.

AI and services are the most barrier-free business sector. At the data level, Yuanzheng has accumulated more than 2.3 billion diagnostic reports, adding more than 1.2 million copies per day. Vehicle data runs through the entire automotive aftermarket link scenario, such as fault code analysis, diagnosis and maintenance, and used car residual value valuation. Currently, data services have been monetized to insurance companies and used car dealers, and extended to fields such as auto finance and parts dealers. Revenue nearly doubled in the first half of 2026.

Massive, cross-brand, and cross-regional real data forms the most difficult competitive barrier for AI services, and supports two major implementation scenarios. One is that the “Xiaozheng AI Smart” targets value-added services for customers in the automotive industry, such as repair shops, car owners, parts dealers, OEMs, insurance companies, used car dealers, auto finance institutions, environmental inspection agencies, vehicle management offices, etc., and embeds AI into the entire maintenance process, moving from testing to large-scale commercial use. The second is the remote diagnosis business enabled by AI. Based on the original remote diagnosis business connecting senior technicians across the industry, the company is deeply integrating the AI end-side model. In the first half of 2026, the business issued about 1.166,000 orders, making it one of the leading positions in the industry. With the integration of AI end-side models, remote diagnosis is being upgraded from a tool-based service to an intelligent diagnosis platform, further consolidating Yuanzheng's leading position in the world.

Obviously, Yuanzheng has built a positive growth flywheel of “installed capacity growth → data precipitation → model upgrade → added service → driving more installed capacity”. With the opening of the flywheel, the company will accelerate its advancement to an AI service provider in the automotive industry, and the valuation system will inevitably be reshaped.

Referring to Apple, when viewed as a hardware stock, PE was only 10-15 times higher, and PE was nearly 40 times higher after evolving into a platform enterprise. Currently, Yuanzheng's dynamic valuation is less than 7 times. The value revaluation logic alone is expected to push Yuanzheng's stock price to at least 3 times.