Incidents:
The company released its 2023 annual report. In 2023, the company achieved revenue of 1,226 billion yuan, an increase of 4.46% over the previous year, and achieved net profit of 107 million yuan, an increase of 39.87% over the previous year. Comments on this are as follows:
Gross margin has improved significantly, and cost control is good. The company's gross margin reached 41.11% in 2023, a sharp increase of 5.48pct over the previous year. Mainly, the gross margin of the laser business, which is one of the company's main businesses, has clearly recovered. In 2022, the company began to gradually shrink its less profitable cutting continuous light laser business, and the gross margin of the company's laser business increased sharply to 39.16% in 2023 from 29.53% in 2022. The company's expenses were well controlled during the period. The company's sales/management/R&D expenses rate in 2023 was 7.86%/8.49%/12.72%, respectively, -0.27pct/+1.20pct/-1.43pct. In 2023, the company calculated impairment of various assets of about 171 million yuan, which had a significant adverse impact on profits. This time, the company made sufficient impairment calculations based on the principle of prudence, and the impact of future impairment on the company's profits is expected to weaken.
The optical inspection business is booming, and the company's strength is outstanding. In 2022, the company exclusively supplied XR imaging distortion detection equipment to leading customers in the XR industry. In 2023, the company successively obtained XR equipment for lens coating defects and laser marking equipment related to the customer's XR products. At the same time, the company also continues to cooperate with customers to develop testing and processing equipment related to their future XR products. Currently, many projects are exclusively supplied. At the same time, the company also began receiving orders for inspection equipment related to mobile phone cameras from customers. This equipment is used for camera module optical image stabilization detection, sensor displacement optical detection, etc. With the subsequent launch of new products from leading customers and the continuous release of inspection needs, the optical inspection business is expected to contribute a considerable increase in the company's performance.
Diversified layout, rich product line. The company has a strong position in the MOPA laser product market and is making efforts in many fields. In the field of new energy, the company continues to promote domestic replacement of lithium battery lasers, developing pulsed lasers and continuous laser lasers suitable for power battery cell manufacturing; in the photovoltaic field, it has developed TopCon doped lasers for customers in the photovoltaic field, and second-generation perovskite laser die-cutting equipment has received orders from leading customers in the industry to be used in the perovskite 100 megawatt mass production line; in the field of passive components, laser resistance regulators have a high global market share. At the same time, it is actively developing new products such as paint stripping equipment, inductive wire winding equipment, packaging machines, and capacitor testing and sorting machines.
Profit forecast: The company's net profit for 2024-2026 is expected to be 1.95, 2.94 million yuan, and 371 million yuan, respectively. The corresponding PE values are 20, 14, and 11 times, respectively, maintaining the “increase in holdings” rating.
Risk warning: demand for optical inspection equipment falls short of expectations; profit forecasting and valuation models fail