Yangtze River Business Daily News ● Yangtze River Business Daily reporter Xu Yang
The market demand continues to increase, and the operation of Haiguang Information (688041.SH), the head enterprise of A-share domestic processors, continues to improve.
Recently, the performance forecast of Haiguang Information Disclosure shows that in the first three quarters of 2024, the company expects to maintain double-digit growth in operating income and net profit, of which the net profit is expected to be 1.408 billion to 1.586 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.16% to 75.90%.
It is worth mentioning that if you take the lowest value, Haiguang Information's net profit in the first three quarters has exceeded 1.263 billion yuan for the whole year of 2023, a record high.
The Yangtze River Business Daily reporter noted that Haiguang Information continues to drive high-quality development with innovation. More than ninety percent of the company's employees are engaged in research and development. From 2022 to the first half of 2024, in two and a half years, the company's R&D investment will reach 6.25 billion yuan.
The performance is high, and the stock price has risen by more than 70% during the year
Since 2024, Haiguang Information's operating performance has maintained rapid growth.
In the first and second quarters, Haiguang Information's operating income was 1.592 billion yuan and 2.171 billion yuan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 37.09% and 49.67%; net profit was 289 million yuan and 565 million yuan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 20.53% and 28.95%; The net profit after deduction was 272 million yuan and 546 million yuan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 42.71% and 27.37%.
According to the preliminary calculation of the financial department, Haiguang Information expects to achieve operating income of 5.836 billion to 6.358 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2024, an increase of 1.893 billion to 2.415 billion yuan compared with the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 48.02% to 61.26%; net profit of 1.408 billion to 1.586 billion yuan, an increase of 506 million to 684 million yuan compared with the same period of the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 56.16% to 75.90%; The non-net profit after deduction was 1.386 billion yuan to 1.528 billion yuan, an increase of 552 million yuan to 694 million yuan compared with the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 66.21% to 83.24%.
Based on this calculation, in the third quarter of 2024, Haiguang Information will achieve operating income of 2.073 billion to 2.595 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.75% to 94.96%; net profit of 555 million to 733 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 147.39% to 226.79%; The non-net profit was 568 million to 710 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 164.49% to 230.56%.
Regarding the outstanding performance, Haiguang Information said that during the reporting period, the company has always focused on the general computing market, continued to increase investment in technology research and development, and maintained a leading position in the market for product competitiveness. With the increasing market demand, it has further driven the rapid growth of the company's operating income.
Looking back on previous years, Haiguang Information has shown high growth as a whole.
From 2021 to 2023, Haiguang Information's performance will continue to grow at a high rate. During the reporting period, the company achieved operating income of 2.310 billion yuan, 5.125 billion yuan and 6.012 billion yuan respectively, with a year-on-year growth rate of 126.07%, 121.83% and 17.30% respectively; net profit was 327 million yuan, 804 million yuan and 1.263 billion yuan, with growth rates of 935.65%, 145.65% and 57.17% respectively; The non-net profit was 266 million yuan, 749 million yuan and 1.136 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 378.9%, 181.92% and 51.83% respectively.
To sum up, Haiguang Information's net profit and non-net profit in the first three quarters of 2024 will exceed that of the whole year of 2023. If nothing else, the company's fourth-quarter performance may continue to maintain a rapid growth trend, and the full-year performance in 2024 is expected.
In order to meet the strong market demand, Haiguang Information has also increased its stocking efforts. As of the end of the second quarter of 2024, the company's inventory balance reached 2.455 billion yuan, an increase of 746 million yuan from the end of the first quarter and an increase of several times from 884 million yuan in the same period last year. At the same time, the company's advance payment at the end of the second quarter was 3.09 billion yuan, which was also the highest value in the past year.
In the secondary market, since the beginning of this year, Haiguang Information's intraday share price has risen as a whole, hitting 148.7 yuan per share on October 9, hitting a new record high in stock price. As of the close of trading on October 11, the company's share price was 123.7 yuan per share, with a cumulative increase of more than 70% during the year, with a total market value of about 287.5 billion yuan.
Half-year gross profit margin of 63.43%
According to the data, Haiguang Information's main business is R&D, design and sales of high-end processors used in computing and storage devices such as servers and workstations. The company's products include Haiguang general-purpose processors (CPUs) and Haiguang coprocessors (DCUs).
The Yangtze River Business Daily reporter noted that technological innovation is the core driving force of Haiguang Information, and Haiguang Information continues to invest in the field of CPU and DCU chip technology. As of the end of June 2024, Haiguang Information has applied for a total of 1,717 invention patents and obtained a total of 774 invention patents.
According to the financial report, from 2022 to the first half of 2024, Haiguang Information's R&D investment amounted to 2.067 billion yuan, 2.810 billion yuan, and 1.372 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 30.42%, 35.93%, and 11.54% year-on-year respectively, with a total investment of about 6.25 billion yuan in only two and a half years, and the corresponding R&D investment accounted for 40.33%, 46.74%, and 36.46% of operating income respectively.
At the same time, Haiguang Information's R&D personnel maintain a continuous growth trend. As of the end of June 2024, the company has 1,855 R&D technicians, accounting for 91.07% of the total number of employees, and more than 78.76% of R&D technicians have master's degree or above, which can strongly support the company's technological innovation, product R&D and operation management.
With high-intensity R&D investment, the overall profitability of Haiguang Information continues to improve. Since 2020, the company's gross profit margin has remained above 50% for four consecutive years, reaching 63.43% in the first half of 2024. During the same period, the company's net profit margin continued to rise, achieving net profit margins of 18.94%, 21.95% and 28.30% from 2021 to 2023, respectively, and 32.58% in the first half of 2024.
A good financial position is a solid backing for Haiguang Information to achieve high-quality development. From 2022 to the first half of 2024, the company's asset-liability ratios will be 16.89%, 11.28%, and 12.87% respectively, and it will always maintain low debt operations; As of the end of June 2024, the company's book currency funds were 7.442 billion yuan, which is enough to cover long-term and short-term debts.