As of April 30, 29 laser listed companies have completed the first "answer sheet" in 2024, what kind of move does the relevant industrial chain show at the beginning of 2024? How can the 23-year achievers go further, and how will the sluggish ones break the game?
To this end, Veken Laser integrated the performance of 29 listed laser companies in mainland China in the first quarter of 2024, and analyzed the underlying logic behind this series of digital changes (this performance inventory is all laser listed companies, and unlisted companies are not included in the scope of this inventory for the time being).
Business analysis for the first quarter of 2024
From the perspective of operating income ranking, Han's Laser (2.656 billion yuan) and Huagong Technology (2.170 billion yuan) still topped the first and second places in the first quarter with a revenue of more than 2 billion yuan.
Han's Laser's revenue in the quarter increased by 9.507% year-on-year, and after two consecutive years of market volatility, its performance in the first quarter of 2024 ushered in the dawn of recovery. As the traditional consumer electronics industry gradually shows signs of recovery, Han's Laser has also chosen to continue to consolidate its leading position in this field. Secondly, it is to actively promote the new energy equipment business line and seek diversified development. In the field of key core devices, Han's Laser has always adhered to the concept of "leading basic device technology" and continues to improve.
It is worth mentioning that on April 11 this year, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policy Heng Swee Keat and a high-level delegation from the Singapore government visited Han's Laser to learn about its development, and the two sides exchanged views on further cooperation, while emphasizing the key to the development of new quality productivity through scientific and technological innovation.
Since 2023, its revenue in the first quarter has begun to decline year by year, and it has decreased by 18.56% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. Despite facing multiple difficulties, Huagong Technology still has a unique way to break the situation. In recent years, it has actively integrated into the national strategy, anchored the two major tracks of new energy vehicles and digital empowerment, and made breakthroughs and innovations in new energy, automobiles, heavy industry, bridges and other industries.
Returning to the revenue ranking, after the two 2 billion revenue giants, Hymson ranked third with a revenue of 1.048 billion yuan, previously, the author summarized in the 2023 annual financial report inventory that the new energy equipment industry has been affected by the slowdown in downstream growth and industry reshuffle, and related listed companies have been dumbfounded.
However, Hymson is in such a situation but in the first quarter of this year to hand over a satisfactory "answer sheet" (a year-on-year increase of 17.04%), its strong R&D strength and ability to go through the industry cycle under the forward-looking layout is undoubtedly demonstrated. It is worth noting that
Ruike Laser ranked fourth on the list with a revenue of 801 million yuan, and as a leader in the domestic fiber laser industry, its revenue in the first quarter increased slightly by 1.95% year-on-year.
Subsequently, Li Yuanheng (760 million yuan), Han's CNC (751 million yuan), United Win Laser (728 million yuan), Yawei (558 million yuan), Dier Laser (450 million yuan), and Guangfeng Technology (445 million yuan) occupied the remaining "top ten" seats.
In terms of revenue growth, Han's CNC and Changyingtong doubled their revenue in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 149.08% and 147.82% respectively.
Compared with the previous trend of ups and downs after listing, Han's CNC turned the tide this time and achieved substantial growth in the first quarter of this year. The reason for the doubling of performance is mainly due to
Changyingtong is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of products in five major fields, including special optical fiber and cable, special optical devices, new materials, high-end equipment and optoelectronic systems, and is committed to developing the high-tech industrial application of optical fiber rings and their main materials, special optical fibers, mainly in the field of military inertial navigation. Optical fiber rings, and special optical fibers, are the two "moats" of Changyingtong's most strategic advantages.
The year-on-year doubling of revenue in this quarter was mainly due to the significant increase in customer orders, and Changyingtong, as an enterprise whose orders mainly came from military scientific research units, is actively developing civilian business in order to reduce the risk of "dependence on large customers". As the core sensing component of fiber optic gyroscope, fiber optic ring is widely used in the field of inertial navigation. With the further increase in the demand for civil navigation and positioning of the Beidou system in the mainland, the civil business will usher in a new growth point.
In addition to the doubling of the revenue of two companies in the first quarter, the revenue of two companies in the first quarter fell sharply. Li Yuanheng and Changguang Huaxin followed the trend of decline in 2023, and their first-quarter revenue decreased by 39.94% and 41.91% year-on-year respectively.
The main reason for the decline in Li Yuanheng's revenue in the first quarter was that due to the comprehensive impact of factors such as the difference between the lithium battery process standards and product requirements of overseas customers and domestic customers, and the delay in the production of overseas customers, the implementation of some of the company's important overseas projects still did not meet expectations, and the acceptance could not be achieved during the reporting period, resulting in a large decline in revenue during the reporting period; The orders for consumer lithium battery customers obtained by the company since November 2023 have been delivered one after another, and it is expected that most of the projects will be completed in the subsequent period of 2024 according to the progress of the project.
The main reason for the decline in Changguang Huaxin's revenue in the first quarter is that Changguang Huaxin has made targeted adjustments, the current bottleneck has been overcome, and the future performance may pick up.
Li Yuanheng's predicament reflects that the lithium battery industry is speeding up the process of going to sea at this stage, which has had an impact on lithium battery laser equipment enterprises to a certain extent. The sharp decline in Changguang Huaxin's revenue in the first quarter also reflects the fierce competition in the market, but as a leader in the field of domestic laser chips, it still has an incomparable heritage, and I believe that after gradual adjustment, Changguang Huaxin will be able to get back on track.
Analysis of net profit in the first quarter of 2024
Although some laser companies occupy a large market share on the revenue side, profit is the key indicator to consider whether an enterprise can be healthy and sustainable in the long term.
Judging from the net profit ranking in the first quarter, Han's Laser has changed its declining trend and stood out with a net profit of up to 989 million yuan, forming a significant fault gap with subsequent competitors, but behind this high profit, there are hidden "alternative" reasons.
The main reason for the sharp increase in Han's Laser's net profit was the sale of assets.
The asset that was sold was naturally its subsidiary, Han's Smart. Previously, Han's Laser signed the "Equity Transfer Agreement" and the "Equity Transfer and Capital Increase Agreement" with 16 investment entities, agreeing to transfer 65.37500% of the equity of Han's Smart to 16 investors at a price of 1.046 billion yuan at a price of 1.046 billion yuan at the valuation of 100% equity of Han's Laser, and complete the industrial and commercial change registration procedures on February 8, 2024. After the completion of this transaction, Han's Laser's shareholding in Han's Laser will be reduced from 70.06383% to 4.54676%, and Han's Smart will no longer be included in the company's consolidated financial statements.
The data in the figure shows that among the 29 listed laser companies in the statistics, 22 companies are profitable. Another 7 companies are in deficit to varying degrees, namely Xinguang Optoelectronics, Delong Laser, Innova Laser, Focuslight Technology, Changguang Huaxin, Guangzhi Technology, and Li Yuanheng.
Among them, Changguang Huaxin's net profit loss was 19 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1420.50%, leading the list of net profit declines. The main reason for such a large fluctuation is that due to the decline in revenue and insufficient output in the first quarter, the amortization cost per unit increased, which affected the profit level, and the corresponding net profit, earnings per share and weighted average return on equity all declined.
In terms of net profit growth in the first quarter, there were 5 companies that fell by more than 100%, namely Li Yuanheng (down 180.95%), Innova Laser (down 189.78%), Focuslight Technology (down 206.61%), Delong Laser (down 251.57%), and Changguang Huaxin (down 1420.50%).
In 2022, Li Yuanheng fully enjoyed the rich returns brought by the prosperity of the power battery market, but in 2023, due to the multiple challenges faced by lithium battery projects, the company fell into a loss-making situation, and this situation has also continued to this year. Its loss in the first quarter was 188 million, which was the largest loss among the 29 laser listed companies.
The main reason is that in the lithium battery equipment project, due to the acceptance of some of its overseas projects did not meet expectations, the revenue decreased more during the reporting period, and the gross profit decreased. At the same time, due to the high competition in the field of power lithium battery equipment, the company's technical process is still in the run-in period, and the scale effect has not yet appeared, the gross profit margin of the company's power lithium battery equipment is low.
Delong Laser has long focused on the three downstream application directions of semiconductor, display and electronics, and since 2022, it has adjusted on the basis of this strategy, focusing on developing new laser applications in the field of new energy. In the past two years, De'Longhi Laser has continued to increase R&D investment, and has successfully developed a number of new products and technologies in the direction of semiconductors and new energy.
Entering 2024, Delong Laser has a small loss in the first quarter, as the company continues to increase business development efforts, actively participate in market competition, in order to support the expansion of new products and new business, the number of employees of the company has increased, and the related expenses have increased significantly, which has affected the profit level of the current period. It is understood that at present, Delong Laser has sufficient orders in hand, and it is expected that the future performance will gradually pick up.
Focuslight is mainly engaged in the R&D, production and sales of high-power semiconductor laser components and raw materials ("generating photons") and laser optical components ("controlled photons") in the upstream of the photonics industry chain. During the reporting period, it completed the acquisition of SUSS MicroOptics SA (renamed as "Focuslight Switzerland SA" (hereinafter referred to as "Focuslight").
However, due to the slight decline in revenue and relatively high costs caused by the concerns of Focuslight's original customers about the uncertainty of the acquirer in the early stage, Focuslight was still in a loss-making state during the reporting period, which affected the company's overall net profit.
In addition, due to the intensification of competition in the fiber laser market, the sales unit price of prefabricated gold-tin thin film aluminum nitride substrate materials in Focuslight's original business has decreased, and the sales volume has decreased significantly compared with the same period last year. At the same time, with the continuous improvement of the power of the fiber laser pump source chip, a new generation of prefabricated gold-tin thin film aluminum nitride substrate materials is still being introduced, and the new generation of products has not yet formed a sales contribution.
From: ofweek
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