This week, QFIN.US (QFIN.US) released financial data for the fourth quarter of 2023. CITIC Construction Investment then released a research report based on this, emphasizing optimism about the company and setting its six-month target price at $24.72 while maintaining the purchase rating.

The report points out that although Qifu Technology adopted a prudent loan strategy in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company still focused on improving efficiency and optimizing quality. In the past year, Qifu Technology achieved operating revenue of 16.290 billion yuan and non-GAAP net profit of 4.454 billion yuan, an increase of 5.92% over the previous year, and a non-GAAP net profit margin of 27.3%.

Despite the slowdown in macroeconomic recovery and the overall consumer credit market falling into a slump, CITIC Construction Investment believes that Qifu Technology has made high-quality growth and improved profitability its primary goals this year, and it is expected that credit investment will gradually recover throughout the year. It is particularly noteworthy that in the fourth quarter, the company achieved operating income of 4.496 billion yuan, an increase of 15.08% over the previous year, and achieved non-GAAP net profit of 1.154 billion yuan, an increase of 25.01% over the previous year. This data once again confirms the company's growth momentum.

The company continues to optimize its business model. On the customer acquisition side, the cooperation mechanism and asset allocation efficiency between the company and the short video platform have been strengthened, increasing the proportion of new users receiving credit lines to 31%, and loan facilitation and issuance volume increased by 82%. On the risk control side, despite a slight increase in the initial overdue rate and overdue rate, the company maintained a high provision coverage rate, which strongly relieved the pressure on credit quality. At the same time, the capital side has also maintained steady growth. The number of financial institutions cooperating with the company has increased, the scale of ABS issuance has increased, and issuance costs have also decreased.

The company has also stepped up share repurchases and dividends to continue to repay shareholders. CITIC Construction Investment pointed out that on June 20, 2023, the company announced a repurchase of 150 million US dollars of shares over the next 12 months, and has completed most of the repurchase plans so far. On March 13, 2024, the company also announced a new round of repurchase plans of up to 350 million US dollars. Furthermore, the company's dividend payout ratio reached 29% in 2023 and will maintain a dividend payout ratio of 20-30% in 2024.

In summary, CITIC Construction Investment believes that Qifu Technology has performed well in continuously optimizing its business model, strengthening risk control measures, and increasing shareholder returns, and is expected to achieve more growth in the future.