With the conclusion of the interim reporting season, the first-half performance landscape for A-share listed companies has become clear. Data from Hithink Flush iFinD shows that, as of September 3rd, more than 30 brokerages had disclosed their September top stock picks, covering over 200 A-share targets. Looking at the sector distribution, the electronics industry was highly favored by brokerages in September; on an individual stock basis, seven stocks including Zhongji Innolight, CATL, and WuXi AppTec drew notable interest.

Lin Zhi, a senior investment advisor at Cinda Securities, noted to reporters that with all interim reports now published, institutions have adjusted their investment approach: shifting away from relying purely on themes and narratives to speculate on forward expectations, instead anchoring onto the real profitability of listed companies while evaluating whether current valuations are reasonable.

Electronics Sector Tops the List

By sector distribution, September's brokerage picks spanned 29 Shenwan first-level industries, with technology and manufacturing tracks remaining the core focus for institutional allocation. The electronics sector led all industries with 35 recommended stocks, accounting for 6.76% of the sector's constituents. Within sub-sectors, AI computing power chips and the semiconductor supply chain were the focal points, with segment leaders such as AMEC, NAURA Technology, Cambricon, and GigaDevice included in multiple brokerages' selections.

Zhang Dongdong, an analyst at Pacific Securities, mentioned in the September picks report that benefiting from the continued development of AI, computing-related ICs, server power ICs, and storage ICs remain in a high boom cycle, driving significant capacity expansion among packaging and testing firms. Domestic analog IC design companies, based on rapid iteration needs, are building their own testing capacity, bringing incremental demand to the industry.

The machinery and equipment sector ranked second with 23 recommended stocks, a substantial 35.29% month-over-month increase in recommendations. Companies such as Kerui Petroleum, Huarui Precision, Han's Laser, and Lianxun Instruments were notably favored by institutions. Basic chemicals and biopharmaceuticals tied for third place, with 16 stocks each selected for September. With innovative drug overseas pipeline progress advancing smoothly and order momentum in the CXO industry marginally recovering, the trend of a sector bottom reversal is becoming increasingly clear. Combined with interim report validation, the sector's allocation value continues to stand out. Among them, leaders in the innovative drug supply chain and medical devices, including WuXi AppTec, Hengrui Medicine, Asymchem Laboratories, Mindray Medical, and RemeGen, received concentrated recommendations.

Additionally, although power equipment and non-ferrous metals ranked among the top sectors with 12 and 9 recommended stocks respectively, overall allocation intensity eased compared to August. In Lin Zhi's view, the interim results of many companies in the electronics sector have indeed shown a rebound, coupled with earlier sector pullbacks and the strengthening of domestic substitution, making institutions naturally willing to increase allocation. The machinery and equipment sector is mainly driven by demand growth for robotics and high-end manufacturing, where performance is visible. In innovative drugs, some pharmaceutical companies' revenues are also slowly recovering, representing a low-position rebound trading opportunity. The cooling in recommendations for power equipment and non-ferrous metals is fundamentally not a reversal of industry prosperity, but rather that most of the positives had already been priced in during earlier market moves. Institutions are shifting from broad sector allocation to selective stock picking, resulting in lower overall recommendation counts.

"Deliverable earnings, reasonable valuations" has become the core logic for current institutional stock selection. Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangoal Institution, said in an interview that the adjustment in institutional allocation strategy is essentially a phase-based re-matching of industry prosperity. In electronics and machinery equipment, AI order fulfillment and accelerated domestic substitution have led to high interim report delivery rates, so capital naturally moves toward certainties. Secondly, the power equipment sector was previously overcrowded, and non-ferrous metals were affected by short-term gold price fluctuations and commodity pricing mismatches, prompting institutions to actively reduce recommendation intensity to avoid trading-level pullback risks.

Leading Stocks Garner Concentrated Recommendations

Looking at individual stock recommendation frequency, seven stocks—Zhongji Innolight, CATL, WuXi AppTec, China Jushi, Zijin Mining, Tianfu Communication, and Roborock—each received joint recommendations from five brokerages, tying as the most watched picks across the market. Among them, Zhongji Innolight, CATL, and WuXi AppTec have each accumulated recommendation frequencies exceeding 20 times over the past three months, gaining long-term institutional recognition.

Everbright Securities, Kaiyuan Securities, and Ping An Securities simultaneously recommended both CATL and WuXi AppTec. In terms of interim performance, CATL achieved operating revenue of RMB 276.917 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 43.284 billion in the first half, up 54.8% and 41.98% year-on-year respectively. As of the close on September 3rd, CATL was trading at RMB 349.5, with a market value of RMB 1.62 trillion, down approximately 19% over the past three months.

WuXi AppTec recorded first-half revenue of RMB 28.897 billion, up 38.93% year-on-year, and attributable net profit of RMB 11.080 billion, up 29.43%. At the close on September 3rd, WuXi AppTec was priced at RMB 156.63 per share, with a market value of RMB 469.48 billion, having surged over 50% in the past three months.

Jiang Han noted that for core assets like CATL and WuXi AppTec, the cost-performance ratio for current allocation has returned to a reasonable range, with valuation bubbles largely digested after sufficient earlier adjustments. Secondly, subsequent stock price catalysts come partly from marginal improvements in Q3 earnings and partly from foreign capital and long-term funds flowing back into core assets. Thirdly, one cannot simply equate "consecutive appearances" with guaranteed gainers; excess returns from core assets come more from industry cycle inflection points than from mere institutional recommendation endorsements.

Market May Continue with Oscillating Recovery

With interim results officially released, what kind of operational pattern might the A-share market present overall in September? Lin Zhi believes a one-way surge or crash is unlikely in September; the market will probably maintain a range-bound pattern, with opportunities mainly structural in nature and pronounced sector divergence. In terms of market drivers, core support comes from earnings improvements delivered in interim reports—real corporate profits underpin market confidence. If subsequent steady-growth policies release positive signals, they will boost market risk appetite. Additionally, changes in industry prosperity, such as in AI hardware and high-end manufacturing, will also drive sector rotation.

On the risk front, volatile overseas expectations regarding Fed interest rate hikes and rising Treasury yields are disturbing northbound capital flows, while geopolitical conflicts amplify external fluctuations. Domestically, weaker-than-expected economic recovery momentum could suppress bullish sentiment. Sectors with large prior gains also carry accumulated profit-taking pressure, presenting pullback risks. In Jiang Han's view, September's A-share market will continue the structural recovery pattern of rising with volatility, unlikely to trend extremely in one direction. The main theme should continue through mid-month, with capital shifting modestly toward low-valuation defensive positions around the National Day holiday.

Reviewing August's brokerage picks, Kaiyuan Securities, AVIC Securities, and Huayuan Securities led the returns rankings, with monthly gains of 17.08%, 15.54%, and 13.91% respectively. Regarding the reference value of brokerage top picks, Lin Zhi believes they are not a direct buy list; their core function is helping ordinary investors grasp institutional research direction and understand mainstream stock selection logic. He cautioned investors against directly buying upon seeing the list—some targets had already accumulated gains before being recommended, posing higher chase-risk. He suggests prioritizing reference to the sector direction, validating the recommendation logic against financial reports, paying attention to targets jointly recommended by multiple brokerages, while also controlling position sizes according to individual risk tolerance.

Jiang Han also stated that brokerage picks can help investors quickly identify high-prosperity directions and reduce stock selection costs. However, blindly following them is inadvisable; one must first filter out targets with short-term speculation or overdrawn expectations. They are better suited as a sector observation pool, with entry points during sector pullbacks based on one's own risk preference.