Autohome Inc. posted adjusted earnings per American Depositary Share (ADS) of $2.46 in the second quarter of 2026, exceeding the $2.04 forecast by 20.6% and down from $4.04 in the same period a year earlier. Total net revenue rose 1.7% to 1.2 billion yuan ($1.2 billion), slightly above the $1.18 billion estimate. The company’s gross margin expanded to 77.1% from 71.4%, driven by a 45.5% decline in cost of revenue to 274 million yuan.
Operating profit fell 56.2% year-over-year to 130 million yuan, while adjusted net income attributable to Autohome dropped 41.8% to 277 million yuan. Cash and short-term investments totaled 19.36 billion yuan as of June 30, with net operating cash flow of 261 million yuan. Operating expenses declined across all categories, including a 12.4% reduction in sales and marketing to 552 million yuan.
Shares of Autohome fell 3.71% to $21.65, extending declines from a premarket high of $23.30. The stock remains 27.6% below its 52-week peak of $29.92 and 39.1% above its low of $15.57. The company maintains a dividend yield of 5.69% and has paid dividends for seven consecutive years. It completed a $200 million buyback program early and launched a new $400 million repurchase plan, alongside declaring a 500 million yuan interim dividend for H1 2026. Management committed to at least 1.5 billion yuan in full-year 2026 cash dividends.
Autohome’s mobile daily active users reached 76.5 million in June, according to QuestMobile. The company expanded its online car purchase pilot from Shenzhen and Xi’an to Suzhou, Jinan, and Shijiazhuang in Q2, involving over 400 dealers and 1,000 models, with transactions exceeding 1,000 within 70 days. Its new offline franchise chain brand, Autohome Good Car, launched at the end of June and has onboarded over 100 stores.
Used-car operations were upgraded with inspection criteria expanded from 128 to 265 items, including 82 new assessments for new energy vehicles. Autohome secured official used-car export qualifications in Q2 and completed its first cross-border transaction in July, supported by a multi-language international station and Rio network covering leads across 100 countries.
Management described the domestic auto market as "cold" in the first half of 2026, contrasting with stronger overseas demand. CFO Craig Zeng emphasized the need to capture consumer needs across the entire lifecycle and provide value-added services to remain competitive amid market transformation. He highlighted the company’s AI agent product, Cheese Car Butler, as a key differentiator in its portfolio.
