HONG KONG – In a groundbreaking shift for financial markets, leading investment bank CITIC Securities has reportedly begun assigning target prices to companies based on their 'AI aura' rather than traditional metrics. The firm's recent coverage of Xunce Technology (03317), setting an ambitious target price of HKD 160, is said to be a direct result of the company's 'beneficial proximity' to the current wave of AI implementation.

“We’ve moved beyond P/E ratios and EBITDA,” explained Dr. Evelyn Chen, Head of Speculative Futures at CITIC Securities. “Now, it’s all about the AI-ness. Does the company have a chatbot on its website? Is its CEO’s LinkedIn profile picture generated by Midjourney? Are their servers in the same zip code as an NVIDIA data center? These are the real indicators of future growth.”

Sources close to the firm indicate that analysts are now equipped with 'AI-sniffing algorithms' designed to detect even the faintest whiff of artificial intelligence within a company’s operations or, failing that, its marketing materials. “Xunce Technology, while primarily known for its advanced abacus manufacturing, has recently been observed purchasing several high-end graphics cards,” a leaked internal memo stated. “This, combined with their new slogan, 'Counting Smarter, Not Harder,' suggests an undeniable, if currently unquantifiable, AI synergy.”

Industry observers note that this new valuation methodology has already led to several surprising market surges, including a small-town bakery whose automated bread slicer was mistakenly identified as a 'neural network for dough optimization.'

Experts predict the next phase will involve companies being valued based on how many times they can fit 'synergy' and 'disruptive' into a single press release.