深南电路(002916)3Q results review: Solid revenue growth with lower margin
深南电路(002916)
PCB GPM erosion on higher material costs and greater auto PCBsales. By end market, telecom remained the largest market with c.40% ofsegment sales in 3Q24. Aside from telecom, datacom/auto/industrial &medical/energy markets contributed ~20%/13%/10%/5% of PCB revenue.GPM declined QoQ due to 1) increasing material costs (i.e., FR4) and 2)auto PCB growth, which has a relatively lower margin than other products.Mgmt. highlighted relatively high utilization rate (~90%) from AI-related PCBproduction, while that of non-AI production remained at between 85-90%.Looking forward, we expect PCB revenue to grow at 11% in 2025E.
Strong growth in PCBA sales offset substrate weakness. We think thebeat in 3Q revenue is mainly due to higher-than-expected PCBA sales,which weighed on margin (down 1.7% sequentially). Substrate businesscontinued to be weak in 3Q due to challenging demand, especially in theconsumer electronics market. Substrate (excl. Guangzhou factory)utilization rate maintained at level of c.70%. For Guangzhou factory, mgmt.mentioned mass production capability for sub-16 layered PCB products thathave been shipped to a few domestic clients. Looking forward, we expectsubstrate revenue to grow at 7% in 2025E.
Maintain HOLD, with TP adjusted to RMB115, based on 27.0x rollover2025E P/E, closed to 3-yr avg. historical forward P/E. We revise up our2024/25E revenue forecasts by 9%/3%, reflecting higher-than-expectedPCBA sales. EPS was up by 7% for 2024E but remained unchanged for2025E, considering ongoing margin pressure. Potential risks include: 1)weaker-than-expected demand recovery, 2) slower product certification atclients, and 3) slower capacity ramp-up.