SY, So-Young International Inc.

Will it survive?

• Can it pay its interest? —
  No meaningful interest burden
  Little or no interest expense reported
  What this means

  Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.

• How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +CN¥418M
  Net cash, debt-free
  Cash CN¥418M − debt CN¥0
  What this means

  Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by CN¥418M, 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.

• How long is cash tied up? —
  Not enough data
  What this means

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

Is it a good business?

• Return on invested capital —
  Not enough data
  Industry peers: median 4%
  What this means

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

• Owner-earnings margin 3%
  Thin through the cycle
  9-yr median margin, range -11%–35%; latest (CN¥163M) = operating cash (CN¥105M) − maintenance capex CN¥57M
  Industry peers: median 9%
  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 -11% of revenue this year, a 3% median across 9 years. It chose to put CN¥139M more into growth, so free cash flow this year was (CN¥302M) — the gap is investment, not weakness.

• Are earnings backed by cash? (CN¥105M)
  Loss, and burning cash
  Net income (CN¥247M) · cash from operations (CN¥105M)
  What this means

  The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.

How is the cash used?

• Where do the earnings go? —
  No surplus to allocate
  What this means

  The business didn't generate positive Owner Earnings this year, so any distributions came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not from operations.

• Investing or harvesting? 3.44×
  Expanding
  Capex CN¥197M ÷ depreciation CN¥57M
  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 · 0 of 4 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¥1.5B
  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× · 1.89×
  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.

• Earnings stability Miss
  A profit every year (9-yr record) · 4 loss years
  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 · 2 of 9 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.

• Earnings growth Miss
  Earnings +33% over the record · −425%
  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¥-3.46/share (latest year CN¥-3.17), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is CN¥19.95/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, 2017–2025

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

• Profitable years 5 of 9
  What this means

  Lost money in 4 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

• Operating margin 10% → −22% (3-yr avg ends)
  What this means

  Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 10% early to −22% lately, median −4% — competition or costs are biting in.

• Worst year 2024 · −42.6% op. margin
  What this means

  Operations went underwater in 2024, understand why before trusting the good years.

• Dividend record paid
  What this means

  Paid a dividend in 2 of the years on record.