In 2023, the company's revenue increased 45.43% year on year to 8.733 billion yuan, net profit to mother increased 56.04% year on year to 1,634 billion yuan, and net profit without return to mother increased 57.03% year on year to 1,525 billion yuan. In the first quarter of 2024, the company's revenue was 2,579 million yuan, up 33.53% year on year and 10.76% month on month; net profit to mother was 578 million yuan, up 71.93% year on year and 40.74% month on month. The company has benefited from the expansion of TopCon battery production capacity, a solid balance sheet, and subsequent growth is likely to be relatively steady.
Summary analysis of annual reports and quarterly reports. In 2023, the company's revenue increased 45.43% year on year to 8.733 billion yuan, net profit to mother increased 56.04% year on year to 1,634 billion yuan, and net profit without return to mother increased 57.03% year on year to 1,525 billion yuan. In the first quarter of 2024, the company's revenue was 2,579 million yuan, up 33.53% year on year and 10.76% month on month; net profit to mother was 578 million yuan, up 71.93% year on year and 40.74% month on month.
Q1 Gross profit margin and net profit margin continued to increase month-on-month. In 2023, the company's gross margin was 28.95%, up 3.51 percentage points year on year. Among them, Q4's gross margin for the single quarter was 31.85%, up 6.46 percentage points year on year and 1.42 percentage points month on month. The company's gross margin for the first quarter of 2024 was 32.94%, which continued to increase year on month, with a year-on-year increase of 10.16 percentage points and a month-on-month increase of 1.09 percentage points. In 2023, the company's sales, management, and financial expense ratios were 2.63%, 2.07%, and -2.14%, respectively. The company's sales, management, and finance expense ratios for the Q1 quarter were 2.61%, 1.80%, and -1.68%, respectively, up 1.27, 0.58, and 1.05 percentage points, respectively, down 2.14, down 1.43, and 0.36 percentage points from month to month.
Inventories and contract liabilities further solidify the foundation for growth. Benefiting from the expansion of TopCon battery production capacity, the company's inventory and contract liabilities have increased. In terms of inventory: The company's inventory in 2019-2021 was about 3-4 billion yuan; in 2022 and 2023, it increased to 7.1 billion yuan and 21.3 billion yuan (including 18.6 billion yuan in goods issued), and the 2024Q1 company's inventory further increased to 22 billion yuan; in terms of contract liabilities, the company's contract liabilities in 2023 were 18.11 billion yuan, an increase of 12.3 billion yuan over 2022, and the size of the company's contract liabilities increased to 18.2 billion yuan as of 2024Q1. As a leading company in solar cell equipment, the company is committed to becoming a technology platform enterprise, with a comprehensive layout of efficient and ultra-efficient photovoltaic cell technology routes such as TopCon, HJT, XBC, perovskite and perovskite lamination, and has now become the main equipment supplier with TopCon as the mainstream technology route.
As TopCon's penetration rate increases further, the company's orders are expected to maintain a good level.
Profit forecast and investment advice: The company's net profit for 2024-2025 is estimated to be 2,778 billion yuan and 38.12 billion yuan, respectively, corresponding to 9 times and 6 times the valuation, maintaining a “highly recommended” rating.
Risk warning: Global PV installations fall short of expectations, and downstream customer production expansion falls short of expectations.