Haier Smart Home management reiterated the mid-term target of 7% for the overall operating margin in overseas markets.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that Yamato released a research report saying that considering the macro challenges in China and overseas markets, it has decided to reduce Haier Smart Home's (06690) earnings per share estimate from 2024 to 2025 by 3% to 4%. Considering the expansion of gross margin, the bank raised the target price of Haier Smart Home H shares from HK$30 to HK$33, maintaining a “buy” rating.
The bank pointed out that Haier Smart Home is still the bank's first choice in the field of home appliances in the mainland. The company's management said earlier that the operating profit margin of the mainland market is expected to improve in the first quarter of this year, with a target of 0.5 to 1 percentage point year-on-year increase this year. It mainly benefits from product structure upgrades, particularly factors such as increased revenue growth for high-end brand Casarte (Casarte); efficiency improvements brought about by digitalization; economies of scale achieved through market share expansion to non-core product categories; and cost efficiency of raw materials.
As for overseas markets, the company's management also reiterated the mid-term target of an overall operating profit margin of 7% to match industry leaders in all operating markets. Among them, the European market will achieve balance of payments, and there is an opportunity to reach an operating profit margin of 0.5% to 1%; the high-end trend in the US market continues, and the strong revenue growth of high-end brands may offset the weak performance of the mass market; as for the Australian market in 2023, the product allocation imbalance will be corrected this year and performance recovery will be promoted.