Incident: The company released its 2023 annual report. In 2023, it achieved revenue of 1,232 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.24%, and realized net profit of 142 million yuan, an increase of 78.11% over the previous year.
Key points of investment
New market development increased business performance, and 3D printing self-developed products grew steadily: in 2023, the company achieved revenue of 1,232 billion yuan, +34.24% year over year, operating cost 629 million yuan, +50.71% year over year, and net profit of 142 million yuan, +78.11% year over year. This is mainly due to the company's deep involvement in the aerospace field and the expansion of new business segments. In terms of period expenses, the company's 23 years of management expenses were 151 million yuan, -31.7% year-on-year, due to a reduction in share payment expenses; R&D expenses of 202 million yuan, +24.51% over the same period last year, further strengthening the driving force for innovation. By product, the company's self-developed 3D printing equipment revenue grew steadily, achieving revenue of 529 million yuan in 23 years, +26.46% year-on-year, and gross margin as high as 50%, reflecting the company's ability to transform scientific research results and product competitiveness.
Funding for large-scale projects under construction is in place, and large-scale production enhances competitiveness: In December 2023, the company issued a plan announcement to implement targeted increases at an issuance price of 94.50 yuan, with an actual capital raised of 3.07 billion yuan. Of this, 2,499 million yuan will be used for large-scale intelligent production base projects for metal additive manufacturing, and 558 million yuan will be used to supplement working capital. The new project began construction in May 2023. The construction period is 3 years. The purpose of construction is to expand the R&D capacity and production scale of products such as large-scale laser selective melting equipment, process technology, and powder materials, which will help the company reduce costs and increase efficiency, maintain technological advancement, and accelerate the development of specialized market segments.
The key technology of 3D printing ranks first in the world, and is one of the preferred enterprises for domestic commercial aerospace iteration: additive manufacturing is an important part of the country's “14th Five-Year Plan” intelligent manufacturing. According to the “Development Status and Trend Outlook of China's Additive Manufacturing Industry”, China's 3D printing market is expected to grow from 40 billion to 100 billion in 2023-2027. The company is the largest provider of metal additive manufacturing solutions in China, with a perfect industrial ecology and a wide range of downstream applications. The company internally serves many subsidiaries of central state-owned enterprise groups and research institutes, and connects with well-known major customers such as “Airbus”. In particular, it has a high market share in the aerospace sector. Commercial space is a necessary prerequisite for satellite networking, and the company is expected to benefit rapidly in the era of accelerated iteration of domestic commercial space in the future.
Profit forecast and investment rating: The company's performance is in line with expectations. Considering the rapid expansion of 3D printing technology application scenarios and the company's core position in the industry, we lowered the company's net profit forecast for 2024-2025 to 3.32 billion yuan (previous value: 503/655 million yuan), and added a net profit forecast value of 686 million yuan for 2026 million yuan, corresponding PE 48/32/23 times, respectively, to maintain the “buy” rating
Risk warning: 1) the risk that key core components of additive manufacturing equipment are dependent on imports; 2) the risk of loss of core competitiveness; 3) the risk of concentration of downstream customer fields.