Changes in US stocks | Benefiting from instalments, Lexin (LX.US) surged 9.07% due to strong consumption momentum during May 1st Golden Week

The Zhitong Finance App learned that US stocks closed on Friday (May 2) EST. Affected by driving factors such as the sharp rise in Chinese securities, May 1st consumption, and strong consumption momentum during the May 1st Golden Week in Instalment Mall, China's leading new consumer digital technology service provider Lexin (LX.US) rose 9.07% to close at 8.42 US dollars, with a daily turnover of US$200.05 million.

At the market level, due to the better-than-expected non-farm payrolls report for April, the three major US stock indexes closed higher across the board. By the close, the Dow was up 1.39%, the S&P 500 was up 1.47%, and the NASDAQ was up 1.51%. Among them, the Dow and S&P 500 both recorded nine consecutive gains, and the S&P 500 index recorded the longest continuous rise since 2004.

China Securities generally surged, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 3.51%. In terms of popular individual stocks, My Little Pony Zhixing rose more than 21%, Century Internet rose nearly 13%, Ehang Smart rose more than 9%, World Data rose more than 9%, Tencent Music rose more than 7%, and Xiaopeng Motor rose more than 5%.

The rise in Lexin's stock price is mainly due to factors such as May Day consumption exceeding expectations and companies with strong consumption momentum during the May 1st Golden Week in installments.

The popularity of travel continues to rise during the “May 1st” holiday this year. China Railway Group estimates that from April 29 to May 6, during the 8-day “May 1st” holiday, railways across the country will send 144 million passengers, an increase of 4.9% over the previous year.

The data shows that on the first day of the “May 1st” holiday, travel spending in many places surged. For example, 5A tourist attractions in Anhui Province received 363,000 visitors, with ticket revenue of 19.219 million yuan, up 18.5% and 15.2%, respectively, from 2024; Hunan Province had 9.662,400 visitors on the same day, an increase of 31.40% over the previous year.

Lexin's installment shopping mall released a pre-holiday consumption report card: From April 21 to April 26, the number of transactions increased by more than 20% month-on-month, and cumulative turnover increased by more than 30% month-on-month.

As consumption scenarios become more and more abundant and the government's series of consumer promotion policies, demand for online consumption continues to increase. Instalment Le Mall predicts that this year's “May 1st” holiday consumption will show the three major characteristics of “the outbreak of outdoor travel, the heating up of third- and fourth-tier cities, and the differentiation of consumption structures”. This is closely related to consumer policy drivers, changes in consumption attitudes among young people, and major platform promotion activities.

In the last two months, many well-known brokerage firms, including UBS (UBS), CCB, Citibank, CITIC Lyon, and Huatai, have published research reports covering Lexin, and many have raised their target prices. For example, in UBS's recent research report, in addition to maintaining Lexin's “buy” rating, UBS raised Lexin's target price to $13.6, which is 41.7% higher than the $9.6 in the previous research report.

According to reports, Lexin was founded in August 2013 and is based in Shenzhen, China. It has been actively opening up a broad range of online and offline consumption scenarios through its platforms, connecting hundreds of millions of young Chinese consumers with new consumer brands with the brand concept of “easy consumption and flexible turnover”. In December 2017, Lexin officially listed on the US NASDAQ.