ADAS sales surged 5 times, profitability significantly improved, Suteng Juchuang pressed the accelerator button

The global leader in LiDAR and perception solutions, Innovusion (02498), has become one of the hottest investment targets in the Hong Kong stock market.

On May 17th, the Hang Seng Index Company announced the latest quarterly review results, with Innovusion being included in the Hang Seng Composite Index, with the change taking effect from June 11th. Being selected as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Composite Index signifies that Innovusion has met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the Hong Kong Stock Connect, which is expected to have a positive impact on the company's stock liquidity in the future and attract more funds inflow.

Shortly after, on May 20th, Innovusion's stock price surged on heavy volume, reaching as high as HKD 79 at one point, with a maximum increase of 89.7%; on May 21st, the company's stock price opened high and continued to rise, with an intraday increase of over 20%. The Zhitong Finance app noted that investors who bought Innovusion's stock on the 21st were not just chasing "liquidity," but were more confident in the company's long-term development prospects. This is because on the evening of May 20th Beijing time, Innovusion released a highlight-filled Q1 2024 financial report.

Revenue Doubled, Explosive Growth in ADAS LiDAR

The financial report shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Innovusion achieved total revenue of approximately RMB 360 million, a year-on-year increase of 149.1%. Among them, ADAS product revenue was approximately RMB 310 million, a year-on-year increase of 327%; the total sales volume of LiDAR products was approximately 120,000 units, with ADAS LiDAR product sales volume of approximately 116,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 542%.

With the scale effect of LiDAR products becoming apparent, in the first quarter of 2024, Innovusion's overall gross profit margin reached 12.3%, with the gross profit margin for products used in ADAS significantly increasing to 10.6%, an improvement of 69.1 percentage points year-on-year, leading to a narrowed adjusted net loss by 11.5% to RMB 84.1 million.

According to observations by the Zhitong Finance app, Innovusion's core product sales have seen explosive growth, and profitability has significantly improved, with external factors being the noticeable improvement in the LiDAR market outlook. Data from Autohome shows that in April 2024, the penetration rate of LiDAR in new energy passenger vehicles reached 8.87%, an increase of 7.3 percentage points year-on-year, with the penetration rate of LiDAR in new forces brands reaching 37.93%.

This "warm breeze" in the LiDAR market is being transmitted in the supply chain. Hesai, which released its Q1 2024 report on the same day as Innovusion, sold 59,100 LiDAR units in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 69.7%, with ADAS LiDAR product sales reaching 52,500 units, a year-on-year increase of 86.1% In this "race" of LiDAR, the growth rates of the first-tier members have shown differentiation. In the first quarter, Velodyne LiDAR's revenue reached 361 million yuan with a year-on-year growth rate of 149.1%, showing a clear advantage. In terms of profitability, Hesai achieved a gross profit margin of 38.77% with its RoboTaxi business, while Velodyne LiDAR's gross profit margin continued to improve as ADAS volume increased. The company's overall gross profit margin improved from -7.4% in 2022 to 8.4% in 2023, and further increased to 12.3% in the first quarter of 2024, achieving a "triple jump".

At the same time, Velodyne LiDAR has shown explosive shipment volume in the ADAS LiDAR market, benefiting from the company's stronger customer acquisition capabilities.

At this stage, Velodyne LiDAR announced a strategic partnership with IM Motors and has successively obtained designated models from IM Motors and XPeng. As of May 17, 2024, Velodyne LiDAR has successfully secured production orders for 71 models from 22 automobile OEMs and Tier1 suppliers, an increase of 9 models compared to the 62 designated models by the end of December 2023. By the end of the first quarter, it has helped 12 customers achieve mass production and delivery of 25 models.

In terms of ADAS installation volume, Velodyne LiDAR is demonstrating a strong "Matthew effect". According to the GAC Research Institute's Intelligent Driving Configuration Database, in the first quarter of 2024, the LiDAR market grew strongly, with Velodyne LiDAR holding a 51.6% market share with 116,000 units installed, ranking third with 34,300 units installed and a market share of 15.2%. According to Pacific Auto Statistics, there were 72 vehicles equipped with LiDAR at the 2024 Beijing International Auto Show, of which Velodyne LiDAR had 37 models equipped, accounting for over 51% and ranking first.

The reason why a large number of models "want to be equipped with" Velodyne LiDAR products is due to the company's focus on LiDAR patents, algorithms, and chip technology, accumulating a wealth of R&D and technical experience. Unlike most LiDAR hardware manufacturers in the market, Velodyne LiDAR insists on simultaneous progress in software and hardware. Currently, the company's products include LiDAR hardware, Hyper Vision fusion perception software, and integrated solutions Speed ​​Teng Juchuang insists on focusing on customer needs, deeply researching and innovating around the hardware and chip technology of lidar, continuously launching powerful and technologically advanced products, and promoting the industry's "upward technology" development. In January 2024, the group officially released the first long-range lidar M3 based on the 940nm laser first-launch solution, with a ranging capability of 300m@10%, the best angular resolution of 0.05°×0.05°, and performance equivalent to 500 lines. Combined with leading solution maturity, it will provide solid support for customers to implement L3 to L4 level advanced intelligent assisted driving vehicle OEM production applications.

The emergence of the "thousand yuan machine", the next breakthrough is just around the corner

Looking ahead, Speed ​​Teng Juchuang will still deepen its business map based on lidar and open up broader growth space.

According to the Intelligent Finance and Economics APP, in the passenger car field, lidar is currently mainly installed in mid-to-high-end models priced above 200,000 yuan. However, models in the 150,000-200,000 yuan range are still the mainstream in the passenger car market. Taking new energy vehicles as an example, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that from January to April this year, the sales of new energy passenger cars were mainly concentrated in the 150,000-200,000 yuan price range, with a cumulative sales of 762,000 units, an 18.6% year-on-year increase. During the same period, the domestic sales of new energy vehicles were 2.52 million units.

This means that if lidar can break through the price barrier and be more widely installed in models below 200,000 yuan, its penetration rate is expected to grow exponentially. Speed ​​Teng Juchuang, with customer needs at its core, is taking action.

Speed ​​Teng Juchuang CEO Qiu Chunchao introduced that the company's goal is to equip 150,000 yuan cars with lidar, allowing more consumers to enjoy the safer and more convenient intelligent travel experience brought by advanced intelligent driving.

Speed ​​Teng Juchuang is committed to promoting "technological equality" of lidar in the field of intelligent vehicles, driving safe and intelligent driving with technological innovation. In April 2024, Speed ​​Teng Juchuang released the new generation of vehicle-grade medium and long-range lidar MX, integrating outstanding cost-effectiveness, leading performance, and compactness, achieving a full-stack system chipization of scanning, processing, and transceiving modules, leading the industry into the era of the "thousand yuan machine".

With innovative technology, MX is affordable yet extraordinary. It is reported that MX not only uses Speed ​​Teng Juchuang's self-developed SoC chip M-Core, but also employs a proprietary 2D MEMS scanning chip. At the same time, its transceiving system achieves chip iteration and upgrade, making it a masterpiece of lidar chipization. The milestone technology architecture enables MX to achieve a slim and light appearance of 25mm, super quiet operation sound, and ultra-low power consumption of less than 10W, as well as powerful performance such as a maximum range of 200 meters, a field of view of 120º×25º, 126 lines (ROI area equivalent to 251 lines), and adjustable ROI globally. With its leading product advantages, MX has already secured three new mass production projects, with the first project expected to achieve large-scale production in the first half of 2025 With the emergence of MX, it is not only a matter of "wanting to install" lidar products for car manufacturers, but also a matter of being able to afford it. The significance and value of MX are self-evident. MX is expected to become a new "catalyst" for Speed ​​Teng Juchuang's lidar business, translating into impressive sales growth data in the company's future financial reports.

As the saying goes, "Numbers are the best touchstone." As a leading company in the lidar market, Speed ​​Teng Juchuang's continuous growth in core financial indicators clearly demonstrates stability and growth to the outside world. From the company's clear and effective strategic layout, it can also be seen that Speed ​​Teng Juchuang's certainty in maintaining business growth in the future will become stronger and stronger, worthy of long-term attention from investors