According to a research report, the securities industry is projected to achieve record-high profits in 2025, yet stock price performance has lagged significantly behind previous bull market cycles. A historical review reveals the industry's evolution through three distinct phases: from being driven by "single brokerage business" to "innovative businesses opening incremental space," and then to "policy cycles driving business cycles." From an ROE perspective, both domestic and international operations contribute to leverage growth, while deepening existing services steadily improves ROA. Mergers and acquisitions enhance capital operation efficiency, and stable policies and operations reduce performance volatility, suggesting the sector's investment value may be reshaped during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Two primary investment themes are recommended: 1) "Aircraft carrier-level" brokerages with the ability to increase market share, net interest margin, and leverage, aligned with the development of first-class investment banks; 2) Medium-sized securities firms poised to join the top tier through M&A and refined operations. Key historical insights include three phases of investment logic evolution from 2003 to 2025. The first phase (2003-2011) was brokerage-driven, characterized by light assets and high ROE, with strong fundamentals fueled by trading volume and high commission rates. The second phase (2012-2017) saw innovation and expansion, as regulatory changes opened capital-intensive business cycles and internet operations broke geographical limits, driving stock prices through both fundamental elasticity and policy easing expectations. The third phase (2018-2025) has been policy-driven, with established heavy-asset features leading to reduced ROE elasticity, making regulatory cycles the core factor determining alpha. Key factors pressuring valuations include declining ROE elasticity, fluctuating policy expectations, and a surge in listed entities. Heavy assetization and fee pressure on light capital businesses have diminished ROE outperformance during bull markets. Policy impacts have become more significant and cyclical, hindering stable growth expectations. A rapid increase in listed companies has reduced scarcity and capital utilization efficiency, further lowering average industry returns. Looking ahead, the "15th Five-Year Plan" period may bring four transformative changes to reshape investment value. ROE is expected to shift from "continuous decline" to "gradual improvement," primarily through leverage increases. Optimized risk control indicators and macro-prudential guidance are likely to facilitate higher leverage, with ROE improvements driven by equity multipliers from client-demand businesses like derivatives. Internationally, leading brokerages are experiencing rapid growth with significantly higher operational leverage, some achieving over 20% annualized ROE in subsidiaries. Industry ROE is projected to rise from 7%-8% to over 10%, with top brokerages potentially jumping from 8% to over 12%. Development focus will shift from "expansion and innovation" to "unlocking existing potential," deepening services to enhance per-client value. While investor coverage in China's capital markets nears U.S. levels, household allocation to stocks and funds still has more than double the growth potential, creating opportunities in areas like investment advisory. This could help domestic securities firms accelerate their catch-up to global peers, increasing per-client profits from around 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan, mitigating fee declines in light-asset businesses and improving ROA. Industry structure will move from "diverse competition" to "supporting the strong and limiting the weak," with M&A optimizing capital efficiency. Since 2018, excessive IPOs and refinancing by low-ROE firms have hampered capital utilization, with 44% of refinancing projects in the past five years failing to exceed pre-funding ROE levels within three years. With targets to build 10 comprehensive leading institutions in five years and 2-3 world-class investment banks by 2035, M&A is seen as a key path to consolidate capital toward top players and enhance efficiency. Operations will transition from "high volatility" to "steady development," with client-demand services reducing profit fluctuations. The "15th Five-Year Plan" emphasizes developing equity, bond, and other direct financing, alongside steady growth in futures, derivatives, and asset securitization. Regulators are expected to implement refined, inclusive counter-cyclical adjustments for balanced investment and financing, stabilizing policy expectations. Based on 2024 annual reports and 2025 interim reports, top brokerages are progressing in de-risking investment trading, with reduced return volatility and heavy-asset business yields stabilizing around 2%, gradually mitigating market impact on performance and building long-term investment value. Risks include slower-than-expected capital market reforms, equity market volatility hurting investment returns, ineffective M&A integration, obstacles to internationalization, fee declines from competition, and excessive refinancing.