东方电缆：北方产业布局加码，海外市场拓展顺利

Investment Rating - The report maintains a "Buy - B" rating for Dongfang Cable (603606.SH) with a target price of 48.48 yuan [1]. Core Views - Dongfang Cable's revenue for the first half of 2024 reached 4.068 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.31%, while net profit attributable to shareholders was 644 million yuan, up 4.47% year-on-year [1]. - The company has shown strong performance in land cable business, with significant growth in Q2 2024, where revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders were 2.758 billion yuan and 381 million yuan, respectively, marking year-on-year increases of 22.55% and 5.54% [1]. - The company is actively expanding its northern industrial layout and has successfully secured contracts worth approximately 2.6 billion yuan for land cable systems and 2.3 billion yuan for submarine cable systems and marine engineering [1]. - As of August 12, 2024, the company had a stable order backlog of 8.905 billion yuan, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 24.77% [1]. - The company is also making strides in overseas markets, having secured approximately 2 billion yuan in overseas submarine cable orders [1]. Financial Performance - For the first half of 2024, the company reported a gross margin of 22.43%, a decrease of 6.19 percentage points year-on-year [1]. - The revenue breakdown for H1 2024 shows land cable systems generating 2.294 billion yuan (up 25.91% year-on-year), submarine cable systems at 1.485 billion yuan (down 10.34%), and marine engineering at 284 million yuan (up 37.83%) [1]. - The company expects net profits for 2024, 2025, and 2026 to be 1.309 billion yuan, 1.907 billion yuan, and 2.443 billion yuan, respectively, with corresponding EPS of 1.90, 2.77, and 3.55 yuan per share [3][4]. Market Outlook - The report highlights a strong demand for offshore wind power development globally, positioning Dongfang Cable favorably in the submarine cable sector [1]. - The company is expected to benefit from ongoing domestic offshore wind projects and favorable policies, with over 30 GW of grid-connected capacity demand yet to be released [1]. - The anticipated recovery in the submarine cable business is supported by recent progress in domestic offshore wind projects [1].