Share count
47Mpeak FY2025
← All companies ← ZTO Manual ← ZVRA Pharmaceuticals ZYME →
ZYBT, Zhengye Biotechnology Holding Limited
Pharmaceuticals consumer brand
A pharmaceutical business, where patents grant a temporary monopoly the pipeline must keep refilling.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
CN¥116M
−37.6% YoY · −24% 3-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 4-yr average
Revenue CN¥116M 4-yr avg CN¥194M
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What moves the needle
- Gross margin has run about 49% and operating margin about 8.8% through the cycle, a solid spread between what it charges and what the product costs to make. The operating margin has swung widely — from −61% to 25% over the years — so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year, and the worst year more than the best. Inventory runs near 31% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. Read this kind of business on the pipeline against the patent cliff, and pricing. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median 6%, above 15% in 0 of 3 years). By owner earnings: roughly 13% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2022–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMDec 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||
| CN¥260M | CN¥212M | CN¥186M | CN¥116M | CN¥116M | RevenueRevenue |
| 57% | 56% | 49% | 21% | 21% | Gross marginGross mgn |
| CN¥66M | CN¥45M | CN¥16M | (CN¥71M) | (CN¥71M) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 25.3% | 21.3% | 8.8% | −60.6% | −60.6% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| CN¥56M | CN¥38M | CN¥13M | (CN¥83M) | (CN¥83M) | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 13% | 14% | 6% | — | — | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||
| CN¥17M | CN¥48M | CN¥41M | CN¥13M | CN¥13M | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| CN¥19M | CN¥24M | CN¥24M | CN¥26M | CN¥26M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| (CN¥57M) | (CN¥13M) | CN¥3M | CN¥70M | CN¥70M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| CN¥27M | CN¥7M | CN¥14M | CN¥1M | CN¥1M | CapexCapex |
| 10.5% | 3.5% | 7.3% | 0.9% | 0.9% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| (CN¥10M) | CN¥41M | CN¥27M | CN¥12M | CN¥12M | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| −3.8% | 19.3% | 14.7% | 10.6% | 10.6% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| (CN¥10M) | CN¥41M | CN¥27M | CN¥12M | CN¥12M | Free cash flowFCF |
| −3.8% | 19.3% | 14.7% | 10.6% | 10.6% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| CN¥21M | CN¥39M | CN¥16M | — | CN¥16M | Dividends paidDiv. paid |
| — | 14% | 6% | -21% | -24% | ROICROIC |
| — | 14% | 5% | -33% | -33% | Return on equityROE |
| — | −1% | −1% | — | −40% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||
| — | CN¥16M | CN¥20M | CN¥2M | CN¥20M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | CN¥74M | CN¥60M | CN¥18M | CN¥18M | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| — | CN¥58M | CN¥58M | CN¥39M | CN¥39M | InventoryInvent. |
| — | CN¥46M | CN¥43M | CN¥44M | CN¥44M | Accounts payablePayables |
| — | CN¥87M | CN¥75M | CN¥14M | CN¥14M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| — | CN¥189M | CN¥178M | CN¥137M | CN¥137M | Current assetsCur. assets |
| — | CN¥150M | CN¥136M | CN¥120M | CN¥120M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| — | 1.3× | 1.3× | 1.1× | 1.1× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| — | CN¥500M | CN¥493M | CN¥436M | CN¥436M | Total assetsAssets |
| — | CN¥10M | CN¥12M | CN¥10M | CN¥6M | Total debtDebt |
| — | (CN¥6M) | (CN¥8M) | CN¥9M | (CN¥15M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 23.2× | 10.2× | 4.1× | -20.7× | -20.7× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| — | CN¥273M | CN¥284M | CN¥250M | CN¥250M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| Per share | |||||
| 45.7M | 45.7M | 45.7M | 47.3M | 45.7M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| CN¥5.70 | CN¥4.63 | CN¥4.08 | CN¥2.46 | CN¥2.55 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| CN¥1.22 | CN¥0.82 | CN¥0.29 | CN¥-1.75 | CN¥-1.82 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| CN¥-0.22 | CN¥0.89 | CN¥0.60 | CN¥0.26 | CN¥0.27 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| CN¥-0.22 | CN¥0.89 | CN¥0.60 | CN¥0.26 | CN¥0.27 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| CN¥0.47 | CN¥0.86 | CN¥0.35 | — | CN¥0.35 | Dividends / shareDiv/sh |
| CN¥0.60 | CN¥0.16 | CN¥0.30 | CN¥0.02 | CN¥0.02 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| — | CN¥5.97 | CN¥6.22 | CN¥5.28 | CN¥5.47 | Book value / shareBVPS |
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 3-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | −24.5%/yr | −24.5%/yr (3-yr) |
| Dividends / share | −13.5%/yr (2-yr) | −13.5%/yr (2-yr) |
| Capital spending / share | −67.1%/yr | −67.1%/yr (3-yr) |
| Book value / share | −6.0%/yr (2-yr) | −6.0%/yr (2-yr) |
The record, charted
FY2022–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.
ROIC
−21%low FY2025
Gross margin
21%low FY2025
Owner earnings vs. net income
Owner earningsNet incomeThe accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.
CN¥12Mowner earningsvs.(CN¥83M)net incomelow FY2022
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedEach year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.
FY2022FY2025
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 turned a CN¥83M loss into CN¥12M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | (CN¥83M) | CN¥13M | CN¥38M | CN¥56M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +CN¥26M | +CN¥24M | +CN¥24M | +CN¥19M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | +CN¥70M | +CN¥3M | −CN¥13M | −CN¥57M |
| Cash from operations | CN¥13M | CN¥41M | CN¥48M | CN¥17M |
| Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow | −CN¥1M | −CN¥14M | −CN¥7M | −CN¥27M |
| Owner earnings | CN¥12M | CN¥27M | CN¥41M | (CN¥10M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | 11% | 15% | 19% | -4% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .
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.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →
Will it survive?
- Can it pay its interest? -20.7×Does not cover its interestOperating income (CN¥71M) ÷ interest expense CN¥3M
What this means
A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.
- Net cashCash CN¥19M + ST investments CN¥2M − debt CN¥6M
What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by CN¥15M, 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.
- TightDSO 58 + DIO 155 − DPO 174 days
What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.
Is it a good business?
- Below average through the cycle3-yr median, range -21%–14%; -24% latest = NOPAT (CN¥56M) ÷ invested capital CN¥237MIndustry peers: median -38%
What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 3 years (it ran -24% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
- Solid through the cycle4-yr median margin, range -4%–19%; latest CN¥12M = operating cash CN¥13M − maintenance capex CN¥1MIndustry peers: median -142%
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 11% median across 4 years.
- Are earnings backed by cash? CN¥13MLoss, but cash-generativeNet income (CN¥83M) · cash from operations CN¥13M
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.
How is the cash used?
- Returned more than it generatedDividends + buybacks CN¥16M ÷ Owner Earnings CN¥12M
What this means
The company returned more than it generated: against CN¥12M of Owner Earnings, CN¥16M (130%) went back to shareholders, CN¥16M dividends, CN¥0 buybacks — the excess came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not the year's operations. Sustained, that pattern draws down cash or adds debt; the net-debt line above shows where it stands.
- Investing or harvesting? 0.04×HarvestingCapex CN¥1M ÷ depreciation CN¥26M
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 · 1 of 2 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¥116M
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 MissCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 1.14×
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 PassDebt ≤ working capital · CN¥6M vs CN¥17M 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.
- 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¥-0.22/share (latest year CN¥-1.75), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is CN¥5.27/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, 2022–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 3 of 4
What this means
Lost money in 1 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 3 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin 23% → −26% (2-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 23% early to −26% lately, median 9% — competition or costs are biting in.
- 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 +9%/yr
What this means
Owner earnings grew about 9% a year over the record.
- Worst year 2025 · −60.6% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2025, understand why before trusting the good years.
- Share count +1.2%/yr
What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.
- Dividend record paid
What this means
Paid a dividend in 3 of the years on record.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Low contestabilityThe moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.
AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat.
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, 2025Can 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¥137M
- Cash & short-term investmentsCN¥20M
- ReceivablesCN¥18M
- InventoryCN¥39M
- Other current assetsCN¥60M
Current liabilitiesCN¥120M
- Debt due within a yearCN¥700K
- Accounts payableCN¥44M
- Other current liabilitiesCN¥76M
Current ratio1.14×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio0.82×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.17×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capitalCN¥17Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cashCN¥700K due · CN¥20M cash
covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Dec 31, 2025 balance sheet
Deeper floors
Tangible book valueCN¥250Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset valueCN¥8MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leasesCN¥6MCN¥106K of it operating leases
Deferred revenueCN¥5Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float
From the company's latest filing.
How the cash was used, 2022–2025
Over the record, the business generated CN¥120M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash returner, paying most of what it earns straight back to owners.
- ReinvestedCN¥49M · 41%
- DividendsCN¥77M · 64%
- Returned to ownersCN¥77M
109% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, CN¥77M as dividends and CN¥0 as buybacks.
- Source of funding−CN¥6M
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran CN¥6M beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet.
- Net change in share count0.0%
The diluted count barely moved (46M to 46M): buybacks roughly offset the stock issued to staff.
- Dividend recordCN¥0.35/sh
Paid in 3 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 14% a year. It was cut at least once along the way.
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 Zhengye Biotechnology Holding 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 2022–2025.
None of the 3 tests turned up a mark; each came back clean. A clean panel says only that these particular ways of being wrong are not written into the record.
Each test came back clean
- Is it less profitable than it was?
- Did the share count rise anyway?
- 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, Pharmaceuticals
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.
| Company | Revenue | Gross margin | Op. margin | ROIC | Owner earn. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XNCRXencor Inc. | $126M | — | -69.2% | -12% | -30% |
| GYREGyre Therapeutics Inc. | $117M | 96% | -276.4% | -9% | -1120% |
| ZYBTZhengye Biotechnology Holding Limited | CN¥116M | 52% | 15.0% | 6% | 13% |
| URGNUroGen Pharma Ltd. | $110M | — | -157.5% | -58% | -142% |
| TBPHTheravance Biopharma Inc. | $107M | 94% | -357.1% | -73% | -268% |
| ZVRAZevra Therapeutics Inc. | $106M | — | -158.4% | -127% | -123% |
| ZYMEZymeworks Inc. | $106M | — | -180.7% | -38% | -153% |
| GRCEGrace Therapeutics Inc. | $100M | 100% | -11.1% | -19% | -9% |
| Group median | — | 95% | -157.9% | -28% | -133% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFEnter the home-market price, not the US ADR quote. Zhengye Biotechnology Holding Limited reports in CNY, and every figure here (owner earnings, book value, the share count) is on that CNY, ordinary-share basis. Enter the price on the same basis: the local-exchange quote per ordinary share in CNY. A US ADR price in dollars bundles the ADR-to-ordinary ratio and the exchange rate, so it will not reconcile with these figures and would throw the multiple off.
Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Zhengye Biotechnology Holding Limited has delivered.
CN¥
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.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Implied by the price—
Owner-earnings growth · ’22→’25+9%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’22→’25+9%/yr
Owner-earnings yield—
What a growth belief costs, in multiples
The growth each return requires, at your price
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.
Owner-earnings yield—
High-grade bond yield—
Margin over the bond—
Owner earnings CN¥12M on 47M shares outstanding, per the 20-F cover, as of 2025-12-31; net cash CN¥15M. 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. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Zhengye Biotechnology Holding Limited (ZYBT), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ZYBT, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← ZTO its page in the Manual
Industry order: ← ZVRA the Pharmaceuticals chapter ZYME →