Key points of investment:
We have been deeply involved in automotive cables for more than 30 years and continue to enrich our business layout. The company is the first listed company in the same industry in China. It is committed to the R&D, production and sales of automobile cables. It has the ability to develop and produce professional automotive cable standards that meet international standards, German standards, Japanese standards, American standards, Chinese standards, etc. It is a professional automobile cable manufacturer integrating R&D, production, testing and testing.
With the popularization of electrification and intelligence of automobiles, the share of new energy lines and data cable businesses is increasing.
When domestic substitution is underway, intelligent electrification of automobiles will empower the incremental market. China's automobile industry has been transformed and upgraded, and product competitiveness continues to improve. The market share of own-brand passenger cars rose to 56.5% in the first half of 2024. The growth of China's automobile industry has promoted the localized development of automobile parts and components, and the import substitution process of domestic cables has been accelerated. At the same time, high-voltage cables and data cables are growing rapidly with the development of smart electric vehicles, with high added value and creating an incremental market. In 2023, the domestic and global automotive cable industry markets were 21.8 billion yuan and 57.2 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 53% and 31% of the NEV cable market, respectively. In the future, as the market size of the automobile industry grows steadily and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles continues to rise, the market size of the automotive cable industry will continue to expand.
The company is a leading domestic automobile cable company. In recent years, the company has seized the opportunity of continuous growth in the automotive cable market, continuously expanding customers and increasing sales. The domestic and global market share is increasing year by year. In the field of new energy vehicles, the company has entered the supply chain of automakers such as BYD, Tesla, Geely, Mercedes-Benz, GM, Honda, Nissan, SAIC, Chase, NIO, Ideal, and Xiaomi, as well as the NEV supply chain cooperated by Huawei. It has six major production bases, including Ninghai in Zhejiang, Shanghai, Benxi in Liaoning, Chengdu in Sichuan, Huizhou in Guangdong, and Macheng in Hubei, which basically cover the domestic automobile industry cluster. It also plans to invest in the construction of a new production base in Mexico to further expand the North American market.
The company's performance continues to grow steadily. Revenue in 2023 was 3.452 billion yuan, up 17.08% year on year; net profit to mother was 0.166 billion yuan, up 18.49% year on year; 2024Q1 revenue was 0.778 billion yuan, up 5.27% year on year, and net profit to mother was 0.044 billion yuan, up 21.01% year on year. Gross profit margin has been rising year by year since 2021. R&D investment has increased 43% year over year in the past five years. Operational efficiency has improved, strong solvency has been maintained, and net cash flow from operating activities has improved markedly.
Investment advice: The rapid development of smart electric vehicles has brought an incremental market with higher added value to the automotive cable industry. The company closely follows the downstream development trend and actively lays out the field of special cables. The business structure is expected to be gradually optimized, and the performance is expected to maintain steady growth. EPS is expected to be 1.76 yuan, 2.17 yuan, and 2.67 yuan respectively in 2024-2026, and the corresponding PE will be 21 times, 17 times, and 14 times, respectively, giving a “gain” rating.
Risk warning: Risk of downstream demand falling short of expectations; risk of loss of major customers; risk of product technology innovation; risk of fluctuating raw material prices; increased risk of market competition.