# Spring Airlines (601021.SHG)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/601021.SHG

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z. Financial observations: FY2011–FY2025.

Listing currency: CNY. Reporting currency: CNY.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: CNY 39.01 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low CNY 27.49 per share, central CNY 35.25 per share, high CNY 39.81 per share. Buy at or below the central value CNY 35.25 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 9.2% at the stated quote. About 9.2% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; CN 10-year bond 1.7% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 2

- Operating margin variation: 3.74×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.04×

- FY2017: 0.15×

- FY2018: 0.15×

- FY2019: 0.16×

- FY2020: -0.07×

- FY2021: 0.00×

- FY2022: -0.41×

- FY2023: 0.15×

- FY2024: 0.13×

- FY2025: 0.16×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 8.7%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -2.6%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -1.7 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 11.8%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 13.5%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 36.1%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 0.8%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 2.2%

- FY2017: 9.3%

- FY2018: 8.1%

- FY2019: 10.3%

- FY2020: -2.6%

- FY2021: 0.0%

- FY2022: -9.5%

- FY2023: 10.5%

- FY2024: 9.9%

- FY2025: 10.2%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: -1.49×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: CNY -5.7B

- Net income, five-year total: CNY 3.9B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 5.8%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -3.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -24.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: -4.5%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: -86.18×

- FY2022: 2.30×

- FY2023: 0.81×

- FY2024: 0.50×

- FY2025: 0.71×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 8.1% vs 10.2%

- Per-share earnings: 1.57 to 2.33 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 2.1%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.7%

- Market cap gain: CNY 28B

- Cumulative retained earnings: CNY 4.7B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 2.1%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.7%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 5.0%

- Per-share value change: CNY 0.76

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: CNY 1.57

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: CNY 2.33

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.20

- Average buyback yield: 0.1%

- Buyback history: 5 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: CNY 720M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: CNY 8.8B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 8.1%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 10.2%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: CNY 1.17

- FY2017: CNY 1.57

- FY2018: CNY 1.64

- FY2019: CNY 2.00

- FY2020: CNY -0.66

- FY2021: CNY 0.04

- FY2022: CNY -3.30

- FY2023: CNY 2.31

- FY2024: CNY 2.33

- FY2025: CNY 2.38

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -9.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.22×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 2.86×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.04×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -5.5%

- FY2017: -5.0%

- FY2018: -5.2%

- FY2019: -5.4%

- FY2020: -4.4%

- FY2021: -4.3%

- FY2022: -8.0%

- FY2023: -10.0%

- FY2024: -8.3%

- FY2025: -9.2%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 39% since Dec 2022 · sales +7.3%

Story as of 2026-10-16T10:00:08.773Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 8.1% a year for ten years

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +7.3%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2016: CNY 8.4B 

- FY2017: CNY 11B 

- FY2018: CNY 13B 

- FY2019: CNY 15B 

- FY2020: CNY 9.4B 

- FY2021: CNY 11B 

- FY2022: CNY 8.4B 

- FY2023: CNY 18B 

- FY2024: CNY 20B 

- FY2025: CNY 21B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 13.6%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2016: 12.8% 

- FY2017: 12.1% 

- FY2018: 9.7% 

- FY2019: 11.4% 

- FY2023: 13.5% 

- FY2024: 12.9% 

- FY2025: 13.6% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in airlines; annual sales are CNY 21.5 billion.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2025: revenue 21459531429; grossProfit 2915366611; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); 601021.SHG: Spring Airlines Co., Ltd. engages in the air passenger and cargo transportation business in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and internationally. The company provides air mail and baggage transportation, and related services; general aviation; intercity charter passenger transportation; inter-city and county fixed-route tourist passenger transportation; and accident, travel, and flight delay and cancellation insurance products. It also engages in the import and export business of goods and technologies; advertising; e-commerce; training; business; financial leasing; and rental activities. As of December 31, 2025, the company owned and operated a fleet of 134 aircraft. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China. Spring Airlines Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Shanghai Spring International Travel Service Ltd.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 12.9% to 13.6% during 2023–25; it earns 8.7% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 13.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 12.9%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 13.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.02209121011872337],[2017,0.09294851496512113],[2018,0.08129205373943453],[2019,0.10279987884972047],[2020,-0.025945432015037757],[2021,0.0002238548357659362],[2022,-0.0950991246532985],[2023,0.10527768076276843],[2024,0.09942994217341601],[2025,0.10218528896452167]]; median 0.08712028435227784. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Earns 5.8% on new investment; paid dividends in 10 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2017: growth capex 1811411099; upkeep 742091965; owner earnings 1261581542. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.4358256194271428.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2018: growth capex 2353682914; upkeep 817544183; owner earnings 1502840034. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.56615665057536.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2023: growth capex 1796078602; upkeep 1409171477; owner earnings 1821081918.8. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.9862700757489944.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2024: growth capex 4464682418.326123; upkeep 2749020091.673877; owner earnings 1132936048.5261233. Growth capex / owner earnings = 3.94080709509984.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2025: growth capex 3014987663.845439; upkeep 3316755836.154561; owner earnings 1643005187.845439. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.8350445185137574.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); Incremental return on capital 0.0579106875392406, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); Dividend observations: [[2016,519431302],[2017,429454508],[2018,450903022],[2019,573121684],[2020,632442884],[2021,478459312],[2022,570902465],[2023,553104806],[2024,1166386664],[2025,1646435036]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); FY2025: cash repurchases 99033996.75750001 CNY.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 56.6% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); 601021.SHG SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 56.63 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 8.1% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:37:09.802Z); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.10273002935665432. Price 39.01; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -2.679347473090154 → FY2025 1.6873865210168781. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (CNY per share)

- 2016-10: CNY 43.21 per share

- 2016-11: CNY 42.09 per share

- 2016-12: CNY 36.74 per share

- 2017-01: CNY 37.11 per share

- 2017-02: CNY 37.82 per share

- 2017-03: CNY 34.74 per share

- 2017-04: CNY 32.86 per share

- 2017-05: CNY 33.66 per share

- 2017-06: CNY 33.63 per share

- 2017-07: CNY 31.33 per share

- 2017-08: CNY 34.52 per share

- 2017-09: CNY 33.41 per share

- 2017-10: CNY 36.45 per share

- 2017-11: CNY 38.42 per share

- 2017-12: CNY 37.27 per share

- 2018-01: CNY 34.94 per share

- 2018-02: CNY 33.31 per share

- 2018-03: CNY 30.51 per share

- 2018-04: CNY 33.19 per share

- 2018-05: CNY 37.99 per share

- 2018-06: CNY 35.03 per share

- 2018-07: CNY 33.81 per share

- 2018-08: CNY 33.31 per share

- 2018-09: CNY 35.92 per share

- 2018-10: CNY 34.00 per share

- 2018-11: CNY 34.54 per share

- 2018-12: CNY 31.81 per share

- 2019-01: CNY 32.12 per share

- 2019-02: CNY 35.30 per share

- 2019-03: CNY 40.60 per share

- 2019-04: CNY 39.58 per share

- 2019-05: CNY 43.70 per share

- 2019-06: CNY 45.00 per share

- 2019-07: CNY 43.14 per share

- 2019-08: CNY 44.78 per share

- 2019-09: CNY 42.55 per share

- 2019-10: CNY 43.19 per share

- 2019-11: CNY 40.29 per share

- 2019-12: CNY 43.89 per share

- 2020-01: CNY 39.17 per share

- 2020-02: CNY 35.60 per share

- 2020-03: CNY 32.28 per share

- 2020-04: CNY 37.15 per share

- 2020-05: CNY 35.85 per share

- 2020-06: CNY 35.24 per share

- 2020-07: CNY 39.63 per share

- 2020-08: CNY 44.12 per share

- 2020-09: CNY 45.00 per share

- 2020-10: CNY 42.62 per share

- 2020-11: CNY 50.80 per share

- 2020-12: CNY 55.43 per share

- 2021-01: CNY 58.99 per share

- 2021-02: CNY 61.60 per share

- 2021-03: CNY 59.56 per share

- 2021-04: CNY 64.30 per share

- 2021-05: CNY 65.24 per share

- 2021-06: CNY 56.90 per share

- 2021-07: CNY 47.47 per share

- 2021-08: CNY 53.18 per share

- 2021-09: CNY 54.58 per share

- 2021-10: CNY 58.50 per share

- 2021-11: CNY 55.00 per share

- 2021-12: CNY 56.80 per share

- 2022-01: CNY 56.85 per share

- 2022-02: CNY 53.00 per share

- 2022-03: CNY 44.00 per share

- 2022-04: CNY 45.98 per share

- 2022-05: CNY 48.51 per share

- 2022-06: CNY 58.35 per share

- 2022-07: CNY 51.97 per share

- 2022-08: CNY 49.18 per share

- 2022-09: CNY 51.80 per share

- 2022-10: CNY 48.55 per share

- 2022-11: CNY 56.66 per share

- 2022-12: CNY 64.25 per share

- 2023-01: CNY 60.21 per share

- 2023-02: CNY 61.69 per share

- 2023-03: CNY 62.56 per share

- 2023-04: CNY 62.39 per share

- 2023-05: CNY 57.80 per share

- 2023-06: CNY 57.47 per share

- 2023-07: CNY 61.15 per share

- 2023-08: CNY 58.59 per share

- 2023-09: CNY 54.71 per share

- 2023-10: CNY 54.75 per share

- 2023-11: CNY 53.07 per share

- 2023-12: CNY 50.20 per share

- 2024-01: CNY 52.35 per share

- 2024-02: CNY 57.37 per share

- 2024-03: CNY 55.34 per share

- 2024-04: CNY 56.79 per share

- 2024-05: CNY 56.15 per share

- 2024-06: CNY 56.33 per share

- 2024-07: CNY 54.15 per share

- 2024-08: CNY 50.48 per share

- 2024-09: CNY 61.81 per share

- 2024-10: CNY 54.93 per share

- 2024-11: CNY 57.02 per share

- 2024-12: CNY 57.67 per share

- 2025-01: CNY 53.98 per share

- 2025-02: CNY 53.77 per share

- 2025-03: CNY 51.97 per share

- 2025-04: CNY 53.68 per share

- 2025-05: CNY 58.80 per share

- 2025-06: CNY 55.65 per share

- 2025-07: CNY 52.27 per share

- 2025-08: CNY 53.35 per share

- 2025-09: CNY 53.48 per share

- 2025-10: CNY 53.58 per share

- 2025-11: CNY 54.96 per share

- 2025-12: CNY 59.50 per share

- 2026-01: CNY 56.23 per share

- 2026-02: CNY 55.00 per share

- 2026-03: CNY 46.20 per share

- 2026-04: CNY 47.18 per share

- 2026-05: CNY 49.00 per share

- 2026-06: CNY 45.58 per share

- 2026-07: CNY 47.00 per share

- 2026-08: CNY 43.58 per share

- 2026-09: CNY 40.76 per share

- 2026-10: CNY 38.50 per share

## Annual estimated value (CNY per share)

- FY2025: low CNY 25.52 per share, central CNY 32.64 per share, high CNY 36.83 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:42:55.258Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.