Tianfeng Securities released a research report saying that maintaining the “buy” rating of chalk (02469), the annual revenue for 23 was not less than 3 billion yuan, and adjusted net profit of 420 million yuan, an increase of 119 percent over the previous year. Chalk's competitiveness lies in its strong online traffic entry card and outstanding reputation for running schools. The offline layout in the past two years has fully enhanced its performance; profitability has shown a trend of further release, and various business segments have been growing steadily. In the future, we will continue to improve the teaching staff, improve the curriculum content and teaching system, and actively seize structural opportunities by increasing investment in R&D, expand our technological leadership, and continuously enhance our ability to grow.
The bank believes that, on the one hand, with competition on the public employment recruitment and training circuit returning to rationality and the orderly release of supply, the industry's profit flexibility and potential are expected to gradually be reflected; the growth rate of chalk performance in this period is significantly greater than revenue confirmation; once competition stabilizes, net interest rates are expected to improve significantly. On the other hand, the education industry is booming; a total of about 240,000 people were recruited for the 2024 public examination, an increase of 5.4% over the previous year. The bank expects the number of references to grow faster than recruitment, which is expected to positively stimulate training demand; along with upgrades such as base classes, training duration/customer coverage/training effects/valid customer lists have all increased, which is beneficial to the healthy development of the industry.
According to the report, various data indicators for the chalk app maintained strong growth in 2023. The peak number of new users, daily activity, and monthly activity reached new highs throughout the year, and the number of question bank and live streaming users set a new record. Against the backdrop of steady growth in market demand, with the competitive advantages of chalk products, brands and word-of-mouth, the company's revenue still has a basis for further volume, and there is room for continuous optimization in terms of operational efficiency and profit margins. In the future, Chalk will continue to improve the teaching staff, improve curriculum content and teaching systems, and at the same time actively seize structural opportunities, expand technological leadership, and continuously enhance the company's ability to grow by increasing investment in R&D.