"Ningwang" performance exploded, and Moody's upgraded its rating

Securities Times E Company

2024-04-15 21:19Published on the official account of "E Company" under Guangdong Securities Times

On the evening of April 15, CATL (300750) disclosed the first quarter report of 2024, which showed that the company achieved a total operating income of 79.77 billion yuan in the first quarter, a net profit of 10.510 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.00%, a non-net profit of 9.247 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.56%, a continuous strong operating cash flow of 28.36 billion yuan, and a monetary fund of 288.6 billion yuan at the end of the period.

According to SNE Research data, CATL's global power battery usage market share was 38.4% from January to February 2024, continuing to increase steadily. According to the data of the Power Battery Alliance, from January to March 2024, CATL accounted for 48.9% of the domestic power battery market share, an increase of 4 percentage points year-on-year.

In terms of technological innovation, CATL recently released a Tianheng energy storage system integrating "5 years of zero attenuation, 6.25 MWh, and multi-dimensional true safety".

On April 15, Moody's upgraded CATL's entity rating from Baa1 to A3 based on its recognition of CATL's industry position, leading technology, good demand prospects, diversified customer base, high barriers to entry, and prudent financial policies, with a stable outlook. At the same time, the rating of the secured senior unsecured bonds issued by CATL's wholly-owned subsidiary, Contemporary Ruiding Development Limited, was upgraded to A3.

According to industry analysts, CATL has been able to maintain stable profit margins, low leverage and increasing net cash positions despite increasing pricing pressures, reflecting CATL's prudent financial policy. These are the reasons why Moody's is taking into account this upgrade.

It is reported that Moody's is the second international rating agency after Fitch to assign CATL an A-interval rating level.

In June last year, Fitch, one of the three major international rating agencies, upgraded CATL's long-term foreign currency IDR and its senior unsecured rating to 'A-' from 'BBB+', with a stable outlook for IDRs. This is the first time CATL has received an A-band credit rating from Fitch.

Prior to this, only a handful of Chinese companies had received an A-range rating from the international "Big Three". The rating upgrade from Moody's reveals to a certain extent the attitude of international rating agencies towards CATL's credit qualifications.

According to industry analysts, this will further enhance CATL's stable image in the international capital market, and boost the confidence of domestic and foreign bond and equity investors in high-quality Chinese-funded private enterprises represented by CATL. It is understood that as of now, CATL also holds a BBB+ credit rating assigned by Standard & Poor's, with a positive outlook.

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