FAST NEWS: Hesai Makes Biggest U.S. IPO by Chinese Firm Since 2021

The latest: Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology maker Hesai Group (HSAI.US) made its IPO trading debut on Thursday, upping Structure Therapeutics Inc. (GPCR.US), which went public on Feb. 3, to become the largest Chinese company to go public in New York since 2021.

Looking up: The company sold 10 million shares for $19, representing the top of its price range. It raised $190 million, 18% more than the $161 million raised by Structure Therapeutics.

Take Note: Due to its high investment in R&D and early stages of the market for its products, Hesai is still losing money, reporting net losses of 245 million yuan ($36 million) in 2021 and 165 million yuan in the first nine months of last year.

Digging Deeper: Based in Shanghai, Hesai calls itself the world’s largest manufacturer of LiDAR, a technology that uses light to determine the location of objects in self-driving cars. The company says it had about 60% of the global market for LiDAR solutions by the end of 2021. But two of its three largest customers are from China, reflecting its continued reliance on the local market. With a market capitalization of about $2.4 billion, the company’s price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is more than 15 times, much higher than the roughly 5 times for international peers Velodyne and Ouster, reflecting the company’s aggressive IPO pricing.

Market Reaction: Hesai’s shares surged 25% when trading began on Thursday. They later gave back some of those gains to close at $21.05, up 10.8% from the IPO price of $19.

Translation by Jony Ho

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