Hong Kong Stocks Movement | ZTE (00763) Falls Over 7% as Interim Gross Margin Declines Significantly; Jefferies Says Q2 Performance Below Expectations Indicates Market Over-Optimism

Stock News
Sep 02

ZTE (00763) fell over 7%, and as of press time, dropped 6.96% to HK$33.7, with turnover of HK$989 million. On the news front, ZTE's first-half revenue reached 71.553 billion yuan, up 14.51% year-on-year; net profit was 5.058 billion yuan, down 11.77% year-on-year. Gross margin stood at 32.45%, declining 7.99% year-on-year. Jefferies issued a research report stating that ZTE's stock price has accumulated approximately 52% gains over the past three months, driven by expectations of artificial intelligence and ASIC chip growth, but second-quarter results falling short of expectations indicate market over-optimism. Currently, their net profit forecasts for ZTE for this year and next are 26% and 31% lower than market consensus respectively. The 22x P/E valuation is not attractive considering negative net profit growth over the next three years. The investment rating has been downgraded from "Hold" to "Underperform," with the target price raised to HK$27.27. Nomura published a research report indicating that the group maintains effective expense management, particularly in R&D, which partially offset the impact of declining gross margins. The firm believes the group will continue to face margin pressure in the second half, gradually recovering from next year onwards, benefiting from better cost optimization. The firm raised its revenue forecasts for ZTE from 2025 to 2027 by 8.5% to 10%, reflecting strengthened AI server demand, but lowered earnings forecasts for the same period by 4% to 21% to reflect margin dilution.

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