Event: On August 31, the company released the 2023 mid-year report results. In the first half of 2023, the company achieved operating income of 2,241 million yuan, an increase of 35.38% over the previous year, and achieved net profit of 97 million yuan, an increase of 27.66% over the previous year. In the second quarter of 2023, the company achieved operating income of 1,225 million yuan, an increase of 47.55% over the previous year, and achieved net profit of 54 million yuan, an increase of 234.92% over the previous year.
Sales revenue of industrial robots has increased by more than 80%, and downstream new energy sources are expected to drive continued growth.
In the first half of 2023, the company achieved sales revenue of 2,241 billion yuan (+35.38%); of these, the industrial robot and intelligent manufacturing business achieved revenue of 1,732 billion yuan (+46.84%), industrial robot sales revenue increased by more than 80%, and the automation core components business achieved revenue of 509 million yuan (+7%). Judging from the production and sales situation, the cumulative sales volume of industrial robots in the first half of the year was 222,000 units, a cumulative year-on-year increase of 5.4%. The company's industrial robot sales growth rate far exceeded the industry level, mainly because it benefited from development opportunities in the new energy industry such as photovoltaics, energy storage, and new energy vehicles, driving the rapid growth of this business. We believe that with the support of the country's macroeconomic policies for robot development, the replacement process for domestic robots will continue to accelerate, the penetration rate of the company's smart devices in the new energy industry will increase, and the new energy industry may help the industrial robot business grow rapidly in the future.
There is still room for further improvement in profitability, and R&D investment continues to be increased to enhance competitiveness. During the reporting period, the company maintained good profitability, with an overall gross margin of 33.09%, which is basically the same as the same period last year. By business, the gross margin of the industrial robot and intelligent manufacturing business was 33.44%, down 0.61 percentage points from the previous year; helping to continuously improve the core competitiveness of the company's intelligent manufacturing equipment and maintain high profitability. The company's R&D expenses remained high. In the first half of the year, the company's total R&D investment was 254 million yuan per month, an increase of 38.35% over the previous year, accounting for 11.35% of sales revenue. After introducing outstanding enterprises in global segments such as TRIO, Cloos, and M.A.i., the global R&D team provided a guarantee for the company's long-term development and continuous improvement of core competitiveness, further established the company's leading capabilities in the field of core components of intelligent equipment, motion control systems, robots and intelligent manufacturing systems, enhanced production, technology and R&D capabilities, and laid a good foundation for the company's sustainable development.
Promote the integration of digital industrial robots and promote long-term business development through good collaboration. During the reporting period, the company vigorously promoted the deep integration of digital industrial robots and rapidly promoted the application of robots, especially in segmented industries such as welding and new energy. The E-Noesis next-generation industrial Internet platform launched by the company can present equipment and production line production data in real time and in all aspects, so that customers can quickly build their own lightweight lean management platform. Currently, the platform has been used by customers of new energy, heavy industry, electric vehicles, and construction vehicles. We believe that on the basis of digesting the early strategic mergers and acquisitions layout, the company is further developing towards the idea of “national R & D+localized high-quality manufacturing+global marketing”. We believe that the company has good synergies, continues to increase its brand power and product strength, and still has broad room for development over the long term.
Investment suggestions: We believe that the company's products have core competitiveness, focus on R&D, build a whole robot industry chain, and continue to expand its brand influence. We expect to achieve net profit of 26/3.70/520 million yuan respectively in 2023-2025, corresponding EPS of 0.30/0.43/0.60 yuan/share, and corresponding PE of 78/55/39 times, maintaining the “recommended” rating.
Risk warning: The risk that the automation market falls short of expectations, the risk that the synergy effect falls short of expectations, and the risk of increased market competition.