Event: On April 20, the company released its 2023 report. In 2023, the company achieved operating income of 1,648 million yuan, +3.70% year on year; realized net profit of 215 million yuan, +41.46% year over year; realized net profit without return to mother of 157 million yuan, +29.14% year on year. Equity payment expenses during the reporting period were 31 million yuan, and net profit after exclusion was 247 million yuan.
Good cost control and efficiency improvements led to performance growth: the company achieved revenue of 769 million yuan, -2.17% year over year; realized net profit of 174 million yuan, +42.25% year over year; realized net profit of 141 million yuan after deduction, +57.39% year over year. The company's active cost reduction and efficiency increased the company's profitability. The gross margin increased from 40.55% to 41.66% in 2023, and the strategic product matrix was basically formed. Amortization of equity expenses will drop sharply year by year from 2023. The overall cost ratio is well controlled, and the total cost ratio is only +0.43pct compared to the previous year.
The platformization of the product matrix is expected to reap benefits: in the medium to long term, 1) the PCB sector has formed 4 product series layouts, all of which have achieved significant business progress, and have been recognized by customers such as Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd., Dongshan Precision, and Jingwang Electronics; 2) Intelligent driving sector: The company will release a new generation of domain control products on April 25, and once again reached in-depth cooperation with Horizon for Journey 6 to develop a variety of TADCJ6E/M products, completed prototype construction, and plans to reach mass production within this year; 3) Semiconductor sector The company continues to deepen Germany The product upgrade of the MueTec subsidiary will launch overlay products for 40 to 65nm nodes in 2024Q2, while steadily advancing the development of semiconductor products at the participating subsidiary Suzhou Sixing. The TB1000, the first brightfield inspection device for microdefect detection in the front of semiconductors, was delivered to customers for trial in August 2023, and verification is currently progressing well.
Investment advice: We expect the company to achieve operating income of 20.54/25.24/3.10 billion yuan and net profit to mother of 2.74/3.45/ 407 million yuan in 2024-2026. The corresponding PE was 25.75/20.45/17.32 times, respectively, maintaining the “gain” rating.
Risk warning: risk that downstream prosperity falls short of expectations, risk of new product development falling short of expectations, risk of deteriorating competitive landscape, risk of exchange rate fluctuations