Editor's note: The financial report is the "report card" of the production and operation activities of listed companies, and it is also an important basis for investors' decision-making.
As the fixing star and ballast stone of China's economy, what is the operating condition of listed companies, what is the gold content of their performance, and what will be the layout in the future? has always attracted the attention of the market.
There's value in the data, and there's even more in the report.
To this end, China Fund News has launched a special plan of "Financial Reports" to interpret financial report data, focus on popular industries, prompt potential risks, gain insight into core values, provide reference for investors to understand the real situation of the company, and better help listed companies improve the quality of information disclosure.
China Fund News reporter Zhao Xinyi Milo
In the past year, AI has been like a tide, leading the direction of technological waves.
What kind of report card will the AI concept stocks that shine in the market in 2023? Who occupies the leading position at this stage in the "100 model war"? Is the fanfare investment "in vain" or worthy of the name?
As of the evening of April 24, the 2023 report cards of most AI companies have been "released". Judging from the performance, some downstream companies are still not profitable and are in the stage of "burning money", but some companies have shown positive signals.
The main financial indicators of some large-scale leading companies in 2023
At the other end of the industrial chain, downstream companies have invested heavily in infrastructure, bringing opportunities to upstream companies. Some companies focusing on the upstream of the AI industry value chain have "taken advantage of the east wind" and performed well.
The tide is surging, and the mud and sand are tumbling as well.
Some AI concept stocks that will become popular in 2023 are difficult to satisfy the market, and even expose problems in operation.
"Burn money" R&D
The "100-model war" is a true portrayal of the domestic AI industry in 2023. In the competition, listed companies are undoubtedly an important force.
The reporter combed the performance of Yuncong Technology, 360 and other companies and found that the large model is still in the stage of "burning money".
For example, in 2023, Cloudwalk Technology will achieve revenue of 628 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.33%, and a net profit attributable to the parent company of -643 million yuan.
Compared with 2022, Cloudwalk Technology's loss in 2023 has narrowed. Cloudwalk explained that the demand of B-end customers for digital and intelligent upgrading has increased significantly, and the amount of newly signed contracts has achieved strong growth. At the same time, the company's overall gross profit margin has achieved a steady improvement compared to the previous fiscal year, thanks to the significant jump in sales performance of software related to the human-machine collaborative operating system (CWOS).
In their annual reports, many companies mentioned the pressure caused by high R&D investment.
iFLYTEK's R&D investment in 2023 will be 3.837 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.36%, accounting for 19.53% of revenue.
Cloudwalk's R&D expenses in 2023 will be 490 million yuan, with a R&D expense ratio of 78.1%. It means that the company invests more than half of its revenue in research and development, and the profit pressure is self-evident.
Kunlun's R&D investment in 2023 will be 1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36%. In this regard, the company explained that it was due to the increase in labor costs, technical service fees and server discount fees corresponding to the AIGC business.
360's net profit attributable to the parent company in 2023 will be -492 million yuan, and in the same period, the company's R&D expenses will be 3.104 billion yuan, accounting for 34.28% of operating income.
Hope is emerging
How to better commercialize large models is an urgent problem for global technology giants to solve. Judging from the annual reports disclosed by many AI companies, some companies have touched the threshold.
For example, SenseTime disclosed that the generative AI business will achieve revenue of 1.184 billion yuan in 2023, a significant increase of 200% year-on-year, and the proportion of total revenue has also jumped from 10.4% to 34.8%. SenseTime expects generative AI business to account for about 50% of the company's revenue in 2024.
Li Xu, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SenseTime, said, "The growth of SenseTime's generative AI business is driven by the widespread demand for large model training and inference across industries, which heralds the beginning of a new cycle of hard technology investment in China. ”
Kunlun Wanwei disclosed in the annual report that the company's AGI and AIGC businesses are booming, and various vertical applications such as AI search, AI music, AI video, AI social networking, and AI games have been implemented in an orderly manner, opening the second growth curve for the company.
360 revealed that in 2023, the company will connect the "360 Intelligent Brain 4.0" large model capability to all 360 Internet products, and successively launch value-added AI services, transferring the original revenue model based on advertisers to value-added service income and optimizing the revenue structure.
Upstream "Full"
While the downstream is exploring business models, upstream companies in the AI industry chain have begun to reap the fruits. For example, the performance of companies such as Fortune Industrial Union and Zhongji InnoLight has clearly benefited from the AI wave.
In 2023, FII will achieve revenue of 476.34 billion yuan, net profit attributable to the parent company of 21.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, and net profit deducted from non-attributable to the parent company of 20.21 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.8%, all of which will hit a record high.
Among them, the revenue of the cloud computing sector of the Industrial Fortune Union in 2023 will be 194.31 billion yuan, accounting for more than 40% of the total revenue. Among them, the business of cloud service providers continued to increase, accounting for nearly half of cloud computing revenue. The proportion of AI server business, which has attracted much attention in the industry, has also increased to 30% of cloud computing revenue.
FII said that the company will continue to adhere to AI technology as the core of development, realize intelligent manufacturing with AI, drive AI products with technology, maintain its leading position in technology, and achieve sustainable and high-quality development.
In 2023, the operating income of Zhongji InnoLight will be 10.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 2.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 77.6%.
"During the reporting period, thanks to the gradual increase in the proportion of high-end products such as 800G/400G, the continuous optimization of product structure and continuous cost reduction and efficiency increase, the company's product gross profit margin and net profit margin have been further improved. Zhongji Innolight said.
Huatai Securities believes that AI is expected to open a new round of growth cycle of the optical module industry and bring positive changes to the industry in the long run. Huaxin Securities also said that in the context of the AI wave accelerating the iteration of technology products, the demand for computing power has surged, and higher requirements for bandwidth have been put forward, bringing more market opportunities.
Who's "swimming naked"
Some companies have seized the opportunity, while others have not performed as well.
Riding on NVIDIA's "fast train", Hongbo shares, which are mainly engaged in the material printing industry, quickly became the "dark horse of computing power" in the market, with a share price rise of about 600% in 8 months, and a market value of more than 17 billion yuan.
But big bull stocks have not brought good results to investors. Approaching the release of the annual report, the company suddenly announced that its performance had "changed face".
In January this year, Hongbo Co., Ltd. issued a performance forecast, and it is expected that the net profit in 2023 will be 37.4 million yuan to 56.1 million yuan, a year-on-year turnaround, an increase of 149.82% to 174.73%.
In April, Hongbo issued a revised announcement on the performance forecast, and the revised net profit was -50 million yuan to -58 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.74% to 33.4%.
Subsequently, Hongbo shares received a warning letter from the Fujian Securities Regulatory Bureau, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange also issued a letter of concern. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange believes that the announcement of the revision of the performance forecast is significantly different from the original performance forecast and the nature of profit and loss has changed, which violates the relevant regulations of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against the company and relevant parties in the future.
Unlike Hongbo, Cambrian's decrease in loss is due to the reduction in R&D investment, which also makes the market worry about its growth potential.
Cambrian's net profit attributable to the parent company in 2023 will be about -836 million yuan, a decrease from the loss amount in the same period last year.
As for the reasons behind it, the company explained that management expenses, R&D expenses, and asset impairment losses decreased compared with the same period last year.
Among them, according to the business plan, the company further improved R&D efficiency and optimized resource allocation, and in 2023, employee compensation and other expenses decreased compared with the same period last year, and R&D expenses in the reporting period decreased compared with the same period last year.
At a time when everyone is increasing their R&D, Cambrian has reduced R&D investment, which makes the market puzzled.
Editor: Huang Mei
Review: Xu Wen