Catl's market value has surpassed that of Kweichow Moutai, making it the third-largest listed company in China!

Shares of CATL hit a record high on Thursday, with a market value reaching 1.83 trillion yuan, surpassing the 1.8 trillion yuan valuation of Kweichow Moutai and becoming the third-largest domestic listed company in China.

Catl's share price rose by as much as 6% at one point and is currently trading at 393.25 yuan. Its cumulative increase this month has reached 30%. Kelvin Lau, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong, said that the outlook for batteries is good, and some investors may be rotating from electric vehicle stocks to battery stocks, benefiting industry leader CATL.

Morgan Stanley's on-site research this week shows that CATL is continuously building competitive barriers by relying on its independently developed high-complexity intelligent manufacturing production lines and advanced materials science and technology. The bank maintains an "overweight" rating with a target price of 425 yuan, representing an 8% upside potential compared to the current level.

As the world's largest battery manufacturer, CATL holds a dominant position in the rapidly expanding field of energy storage battery systems (ESS), and investors expect this advantage to translate into a key driver for future profit growth.

Intelligent manufacturing builds a technological moat

Morgan Stanley's on-site investigation found that CATL's manufacturing capacity has reached the leading level in the industry. The company's factory produces 2.2 million battery cells daily, with over 6,800 real-time quality control points set up. It processes 340,000 data transactions per second, creating a highly intelligent production system.

This highly complex and intelligent manufacturing line, combined with advanced molecular-level materials science and technology, has built an irreplicable technological barrier for the company, forming a quality premium and cost competitive advantage.

Catl currently has a sufficient number of orders and its capacity utilization rate exceeds 90%. The company is building a new production capacity of 250GWh, with the goal of increasing the total capacity to 1TWh by next year to meet the growing market demand.

The energy storage business demonstrates a profit advantage

In the business of energy storage systems, CATL's products have demonstrated significant economic value. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, the company's products can bring customers an internal rate of return (IRR) premium of approximately 14 percentage points in the global market and a premium of 7 to 8 percentage points in the Chinese market.

This profit advantage reflects CATL's leading position in energy storage technology. With the acceleration of the global energy transition, the demand for energy storage is growing rapidly, providing an important support for the company's future performance growth.

Morgan Stanley believes that CATL's energy storage business has huge potential, especially against the backdrop of breakthroughs in the European market, the company is expected to further expand its market share.

The leading position in the industry has been continuously strengthened

Morgan Stanley's report on September 11th pointed out that CATL's industry leadership position has not only not been weakened, but has been further strengthened in the competition. As smaller competitors fall into a profit predicament in the key energy storage sector, CATL's competitive edge becomes even more pronounced.

The investment bank believes that the currently popular solid-state battery technology is regarded as short-term speculation, and CATL's technological leading edge will be sustained. In terms of valuation, the company has become significantly attractive among its peers and has become "the cheapest in the industry".

Morgan Stanley, based on an EV/EBITDA valuation of 15 times the expected EBITDA in 2026, has set a target price of 425 yuan, believing that CATL's moat remains solid and its long-term investment value is outstanding.

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