EDA 软件订单放量，设计类软件实现高增。2023 年分主要业务来看，1）EDA工具授权实现收入2.03 亿元，同比增长10.93%，其中,制造类 EDA 软件授权收入下降 4.11%，设计类 EDA 软件授权收入增长 31.16%；2）半导体器件特性测试系统，实现收入0.82 亿元，同比增长33.78%，981X 系列产品及半导体参数测试仪收入均实现较快增长，由于原材料价格上涨及运费增加影响，使得硬件成本同比增长 46.81%；3）技术开发解决方案实现收入0.43 亿元，同比增长30.15%，公司在测试芯片设计、晶圆测试、SPICE 建模、PDK 开发及 IP开发各项开发领域均取得明显的收入增长，为客户验证和导入应用驱动的EDA 流程和工具奠定了基础。受订单增长，工艺难度提高、人工成本增加等因素影响，技术开发解决方案成本同比增长57.94%。Matters:
The company released its 2023 annual report and 2024 quarterly report. In 2023, it achieved operating income of 329 million yuan, an increase of 18.07% year on year; net profit to mother - 56 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 225.46%. The first quarter of 2024 achieved operating income of 82 million yuan, an increase of 27.97% over the previous year; net profit to mother - 36 million yuan (-493,800 yuan in the same period last year).
Commentary:
The number of EDA software orders has increased, and design software has achieved high growth. Looking at major businesses in 2023, 1) EDA tool licensing revenue decreased by 4.11% and design EDA software licensing revenue increased by 31.16%; 2) Semiconductor device characteristic testing systems achieved revenue of 82 million yuan, an increase of 33.78% year over year. 981X series products and semiconductor parameter tester revenue both achieved rapid growth. Due to rising raw material prices and increased freight costs, hardware costs increased year on year 46.81%; 3) The technology development solution achieved revenue of 43 million yuan, an increase of 30.15% over the previous year. The company achieved significant revenue growth in various development fields of test chip design, wafer testing, SPICE modeling, PDK development, and IP development, laying the foundation for customers to verify and implement application-driven EDA processes and tools. The cost of technology development solutions increased by 57.94% year-on-year due to factors such as increased orders, increased process difficulty, and increased labor costs.
R&D investment has increased dramatically, and share payments have affected profits. The gross margin in 2023 was 82.51%, down 3.86pct from the previous year; in terms of cost ratios, sales, management and R&D expenses were 25.86%, 18.72%, and 71.08%, respectively, +3.50, +0.20, and +20.87pct, respectively. The significant increase on the cost side was mainly due to the company continuing to upgrade and improve strategic products and develop new products, continuously increasing investment in R&D, and in order to stabilize the existing R&D team and attract high-end talents to enhance the company's long-term competitiveness, the company implemented restrictions in 2023 Stock incentive plans, resulting in the amortization of large shares to pay fees.
The industrial layout was expanded horizontally and vertically, and the EDA ecosystem was built smoothly. The company is committed to becoming an industry-leading application-driven EDA full-process solution provider, and the demand for EDA tools continues to rise, mainly benefiting from the rapid development of the integrated circuit industry and the evolution of new technologies. In terms of horizontal development, the company gradually establishes manufacturing EDA full-process solutions for process development and manufacturing, and forms software and hardware collaboration with EDA software through existing leading test instrument products to provide customers with differentiated and higher value data-driven EDA full-process solutions. In terms of vertical development, the company grasps the first-mover advantage of EDA full-process innovation in the memory chip field and explores terminal applications with the same high strategic position and broad market size.
Investment advice: Lower the profit forecast, considering that downstream demand for design EDA and device tester products falls short of expectations. We expect revenue for 2024-2026 to be RMB 4.15/521/652 million, with corresponding growth rates of 26.1%/25.6%/25.2% (original 2024-25 forecast value of RMB 5.51/813 million yuan); net profit to mother of -0.49/ -0.05/0.27 billion yuan, corresponding growth rates of 13.3%, 89.2%, and 610.6%, respectively (original 2024-25 forecast value of RMB 0.76/95 million yuan). Maintain a “Recommended” rating.
Risk warning: There is uncertainty about the release of domestic demand, increased industry competition, and uncertainty about the technology research and development process.
