Owner Scorecard


← All companies ← ASX Manual ATGL → ← ABNB Hotels & Resorts BKNG →

ATAT, Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited

Hotels & Resorts diversified Cyclical

Revenue is led by Manachised Hotels (54%) and Retail (37%), with 3 more lines behind.

Latest annual: FY2025 20-F · figures as filed, in CNY · 1 ADS = 3 ordinary shares
ATAT · Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited
I

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025
CN¥9.8B
+35.1% YoY · 44% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue CN¥9.8B 5-yr avg CN¥5.2B
Operating margin 23.6% 5-yr avg 16.4%
Owner-earnings margin 20% 5-yr avg 22%
Free cash flow margin 19% 5-yr avg 22%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What it is
A hotel and lodging business, earning on rooms filled and the brand that fills them.
Situation
Cyclical. Margins collapse and recover repeatedly across the record; a single year, good or bad, misstates the through-cycle earning power.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has run about 9.1% through the cycle, a thin margin, where volume, cost discipline and the price it gets all bear on the result. The operating margin has swung widely — from 4.0% to 24% over the years — so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year, and the worst year more than the best. Read this kind of business on occupancy and revenue per available room, and the model. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

Where the money comes from

read the 20-F →

Revenue spreads across 7 lines, the largest Manachised Hotels at 54%.

Revenue by product line, FY2025
  • Manachised Hotels54%CN¥5.3B
  • Retail37%CN¥3.7B
  • Leased Hotels6%CN¥590M
  • Room6%CN¥550M
  • Others2%CN¥220M
  • Food and beverage0%CN¥35M
  • Others0%CN¥5M

From the segment footnote of the company's own 20-F. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2020–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMDec 2025
Income statement
CN¥1.6BCN¥2.1BCN¥2.3BCN¥4.7BCN¥7.2BCN¥9.8BCN¥9.8BRevenueRevenue
CN¥63MCN¥196MCN¥165MCN¥924MCN¥1.6BCN¥2.3BCN¥2.3BOperating incomeOp. inc.
4.0%9.1%7.3%19.8%22.4%23.6%23.6%Operating marginOp. mgn
CN¥38MCN¥140MCN¥96MCN¥739MCN¥1.3BCN¥1.6BCN¥1.6BNet incomeNet inc.
50%31%47%25%26%31%31%Effective tax rateTax rate
Cash flow & returns
CN¥119MCN¥418MCN¥284MCN¥2.0BCN¥1.7BCN¥2.0BCN¥2.0BOperating cash flowOp. cash
CN¥85MCN¥94MCN¥89MCN¥85MCN¥65MCN¥54MCN¥54MDepreciationDeprec.
(CN¥4M)CN¥184MCN¥99MCN¥1.2BCN¥388MCN¥317MCN¥317MWorking capital & otherWC & other
CN¥113MCN¥64MCN¥36MCN¥42MCN¥56MCN¥86MCN¥86MCapexCapex
7.2%3.0%1.6%0.9%0.8%0.9%0.9%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
CN¥34MCN¥354MCN¥247MCN¥1.9BCN¥1.7BCN¥1.9BCN¥1.9BOwner earningsOwner earn.
2.2%16.5%10.9%41.7%23.0%19.8%19.8%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
CN¥6MCN¥354MCN¥247MCN¥1.9BCN¥1.7BCN¥1.9BCN¥1.9BFree cash flowFCF
0.4%16.5%10.9%41.7%23.0%19.5%19.5%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
CN¥21MCN¥151MCN¥436MCN¥772MCN¥772MDividends paidDiv. paid
24%8%36%43%45%45%Return on equityROE
21%28%28%24%24%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
CN¥825MCN¥1.0BCN¥1.7BCN¥3.6BCN¥4.9BCN¥5.9BCN¥5.9BCash & investmentsCash+inv
CN¥100MCN¥133MCN¥162MCN¥186MCN¥341MCN¥341MReceivablesReceiv.
CN¥59MCN¥57MCN¥119MCN¥167MCN¥279MCN¥279MInventoryInvent.
CN¥161MCN¥185MCN¥595MCN¥694MCN¥822MCN¥822MAccounts payablePayables
(CN¥3M)CN¥5M(CN¥313M)(CN¥340M)(CN¥202M)(CN¥202M)Operating working capitalOper. WC
CN¥1.4BCN¥2.1BCN¥4.2BCN¥5.7BCN¥7.4BCN¥7.4BCurrent assetsCur. assets
CN¥1.1BCN¥1.3BCN¥2.4BCN¥2.8BCN¥3.7BCN¥3.7BCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.3×1.6×1.8×2.0×2.0×2.0×Current ratioCurr. ratio
CN¥17MCN¥17MCN¥17MCN¥17MCN¥17MCN¥17MGoodwillGoodwill
CN¥2.2BCN¥4.8BCN¥6.6BCN¥7.9BCN¥9.2BCN¥9.2BTotal assetsAssets
CN¥45MCN¥31MCN¥2MCN¥2MCN¥2MCN¥31MTotal debtDebt
(CN¥994M)(CN¥1.7B)(CN¥3.6B)(CN¥4.9B)(CN¥5.9B)(CN¥5.8B)Net debt / (cash)Net debt
42.7×24.7×25.4×184.6×521.6×542.9×614.9×Interest coverageInt. cov.
CN¥579MCN¥1.2BCN¥2.1BCN¥3.0BCN¥3.6BCN¥3.6BShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
172M323M382M415M417M419M419MShares out (diluted)Shares
CN¥9.13CN¥6.65CN¥5.93CN¥11.25CN¥17.37CN¥23.35CN¥23.35Revenue / shareRev/sh
CN¥0.22CN¥0.43CN¥0.25CN¥1.78CN¥3.05CN¥3.87CN¥3.87EPS (diluted)EPS
CN¥0.20CN¥1.10CN¥0.65CN¥4.69CN¥4.00CN¥4.62CN¥4.62Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
CN¥0.03CN¥1.10CN¥0.65CN¥4.69CN¥4.00CN¥4.55CN¥4.55Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
CN¥0.06CN¥0.36CN¥1.05CN¥1.84CN¥1.84Dividends / shareDiv/sh
CN¥0.66CN¥0.20CN¥0.10CN¥0.10CN¥0.13CN¥0.20CN¥0.20Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
CN¥1.79CN¥3.14CN¥4.99CN¥7.09CN¥8.57CN¥8.57Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×1.88 into 2021 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
5-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+20.7%/yr+20.7%/yr
Owner earnings / share+88.1%/yr+88.1%/yr
EPS+77.3%/yr+77.3%/yr
Dividends / share+131.7%/yr (4-yr)+131.7%/yr (4-yr)
Capital spending / share−20.8%/yr−20.8%/yr
Book value / share+47.9%/yr (4-yr)+47.9%/yr (4-yr)

The record, charted

FY2020–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count
419Mpeak FY2025

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

CN¥1.9Bowner earningsvs.CN¥1.6Bnet incomelow FY2020

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2020FY2025

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business earned CN¥1.9B of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the CN¥54M it takes just to hold its position. It put CN¥32M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was CN¥1.9B.

Reported net incomeCN¥1.6B
Owner earningsCN¥1.9B · 20% of revenue
FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net incomeCN¥1.6BCN¥1.3BCN¥739MCN¥96MCN¥140M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+CN¥54M+CN¥65M+CN¥85M+CN¥89M+CN¥94M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+CN¥317M+CN¥388M+CN¥1.2B+CN¥99M+CN¥184M
Cash from operationsCN¥2.0BCN¥1.7BCN¥2.0BCN¥284MCN¥418M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−CN¥54M−CN¥56M−CN¥42M−CN¥36M−CN¥64M
Owner earningsCN¥1.9BCN¥1.7BCN¥1.9BCN¥247MCN¥354M
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still−CN¥32M
Free cash flowCN¥1.9BCN¥1.7BCN¥1.9BCN¥247MCN¥354M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue20%23%42%11%16%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about CN¥54M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other CN¥32M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

  • Comfortable
    Operating income CN¥2.3B ÷ interest expense CN¥4M
    What this means

    Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.

  • Net cash
    Cash CN¥3.3B + ST investments CN¥2.6B − debt CN¥31M
    What this means

    Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by CN¥5.8B, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

  • Not enough data
    Industry peers: median 12%
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • High through the cycle
    6-yr median margin, range 2%–42%; latest CN¥1.9B = operating cash CN¥2.0B − maintenance capex CN¥54M
    Industry peers: median 10%
    What this means

    What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 20% of revenue this year, a 16% median across 6 years.

  • Cash-backed
    Cash from ops CN¥2.0B ÷ net income CN¥1.6B
    What this means

    How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

  • Returns about half
    Dividends + buybacks CN¥1.1B ÷ Owner Earnings CN¥1.9B
    What this means

    Of CN¥1.9B Owner Earnings, CN¥1.1B (57%) went back to shareholders, CN¥772M dividends, CN¥330M buybacks. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.

  • Investing or harvesting? 1.59×
    Expanding
    Capex CN¥86M ÷ depreciation CN¥54M
    What this means

    Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 3 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

  • Adequate size
    Revenue ≥ $2B (a dollar floor) · CN¥9.8B
    What this means

    Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's floor is a dollar figure — about $2B of revenue as a conservative modern stand-in. This company reports in its home currency and we carry no exchange rate, so we show the figure and leave the size bar for you to apply rather than convert it with a number we don't have.

  • Strong liquidity Near
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 1.97×
    What this means

    Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.

  • Conservative debt Pass
    Debt ≤ working capital · CN¥31M vs CN¥3.6B WC
    What this means

    Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.

  • Earnings stability Pass
    A profit every year (6-yr record) · no losses
    What this means

    Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.

  • Dividend record Miss
    Uninterrupted dividends · 4 of 5 tagged yrs
    What this means

    An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design. One year of this record is untagged in the data, with the dividend paid on both sides; a lone missing tag is treated as unknown, not a suspension, so the streak is judged on the tagged years.

  • Earnings growth Pass
    Earnings +33% over the record · +1228%
    What this means

    At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.

  • Moderate price
    P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
    What this means

    Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are CN¥2.94/share (latest year CN¥3.93), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is CN¥8.71/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2020–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

  • Profitable years 6 of 6
    What this means

    Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.

  • Operating margin 7% → 22% (3-yr avg ends)

    In the filing’s words The filing ties gains to its own pricing, but names price competition too — pricing power that is real yet contested, not unopposed. The margin shows who is winning.

    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 7% early to 22% lately, median 9% — pricing power intact or improving.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital
    What this means

    The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.

  • Owner earnings growth +56%/yr
    What this means

    Owner earnings grew about 56% a year over the record.

  • Worst year 2020 · 4.0% op. margin
    What this means

    Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.

  • Dividend record rising
    What this means

    Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Moderate contestability

AI is likely to reshape costs and some products here without clearly contesting or sparing the core moat; how the company itself frames it is the tell.

In its own filing Framed as a capability

The filing positions AI as something the company uses, not something it fears.

“Department of the Treasury issued a final rule on outbound investment, effective January 2, 2025, which restricts or requires notification of certain investments by U.S. persons in Chinese entities involved in semiconductors, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence.”

The question is whether a moat the record shows as durable outlasts a technology that lowers the cost of part of what the firm sells. The durability is read in the record above, the filing's own framing of AI beside it; the industry label decides nothing on its own.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2025

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assetsCN¥7.4B
  • Cash & short-term investmentsCN¥5.9B
  • ReceivablesCN¥341M
  • InventoryCN¥279M
  • Other current assetsCN¥868M
Current liabilitiesCN¥3.7B
  • Debt due within a yearCN¥29M
  • Accounts payableCN¥822M
  • Other current liabilitiesCN¥2.9B
Current ratio1.97×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.90×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio1.57×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capitalCN¥3.6Bthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cashCN¥29M due · CN¥5.9B cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Dec 31, 2025 balance sheet
Deeper floors
Tangible book valueCN¥3.6Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset valueCN¥1.8BGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leasesCN¥261MCN¥230M of it operating leases
Deferred revenueCN¥701Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2020–2025

Over the record, the business generated CN¥6.5B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash builder, a large share of cash simply built up on the balance sheet.

  • ReinvestedCN¥397M · 6%
  • DividendsCN¥1.4B · 21%
  • BuybacksCN¥441M · 7%
  • Retained (debt / cash)CN¥4.3B · 66%
  • Returned to ownersCN¥1.8B

    29% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, CN¥1.4B as dividends and CN¥441M as buybacks.

  • Source of fundingOperating cash

    Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span cash and short-term investments rose CN¥5.0B.

  • Average price paid for buybacks

    Buybacks ran CN¥441M over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.

  • Net change in share count144.4%

    The diluted count rose from 172M to 419M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.

  • Dividend recordCN¥1.84/sh

    Paid in 4 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 207% a year. It was never cut over the span.

  • Return on what it retained79%

    Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out (CN¥2.1B over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew CN¥1.6B, so each retained CN¥1 added about 0.79 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2020–2025.

1 of the 3 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.

  • Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?144.4%

    Diluted shares grew 144.4% over 2020–2025, even as the company spent CN¥441M on buybacks. The repurchases were outrun by issuance — to staff, in a raise, or in a deal — and the filing says which; owners' slice still shrank. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.

And these came back clean
  • Is it less profitable than it was?
  • Did reported profit become cash?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

Peers, Hotels & Resorts

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

CompanyRevenueGross marginOp. marginROICOwner earn. margin
MARMarriott International$26.2B12.4%17%10%
HLTHilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.$12.0B17.5%20%15%
ATATAtour Lifestyle Holdings LimitedCN¥9.8B14.5%18%
HHyatt Hotels Corporation$7.1B8.6%7%6%
HGVHilton Grand Vacations Inc. Common Stock$4.5B12.8%5%7%
BALYBally's Corporation$2.5B5.7%5%2%
CHHChoice Hotels International$1.6B28.9%30%20%
WHWyndham Hotels & Resorts$1.4B25.7%12%18%
Group median13.6%13%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Enter the US price, in dollars: the NYSE/Nasdaq quote you hold. Per the filing's own cover, “American depositary shares, each ADS represents three Class”; Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited reports in CNY, so every figure in this tool is stated per ADS and translated at CNY 1 = $0.147 (2026-07-17, reference rate) so your dollar quote reconciles exactly. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed, in CNY.

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited has delivered.

$

Through the cycle, Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited earns about $262M on its 18.1% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 19.8% margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base

The assumptions

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price
Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+57%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’20→’25+58%/yr
Owner-earnings yield
P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)
P/B
Graham’s price gate

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Free cash flow $281M on 137M shares outstanding, per the 20-F cover, as of 2025-12-31; net cash $861M. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($13M) runs well above depreciation ($8M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $286M, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited (ATAT), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ATAT, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← ASX its page in the Manual ATGL →

Industry order: ← ABNB the Hotels & Resorts chapter BKNG →