CHINA TELECOM(601728) 国联证券·2024-08-22 04:03Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is upgraded to "Buy" [5][7] Core Insights - The company reported a revenue of 265.973 billion yuan for the first half of 2024, representing a year-on-year growth of 2.82%. The net profit attributable to shareholders was 21.812 billion yuan, up 8.23% year-on-year, while the net profit excluding non-recurring items was 21.681 billion yuan, reflecting a growth of 6.00% [2][7] - The company's profitability has improved, with a net profit margin increasing by 0.46 percentage points year-on-year. The capital expenditure structure has been optimized, and the computing power scale continues to enhance. Tianyi Cloud has maintained rapid growth, with revenue increasing by 20.4% year-on-year [2][7] - The interim dividend per share is 0.1671 yuan, an increase of 16.7% year-on-year, with a payout ratio exceeding 70%. The company plans to gradually increase the cash distribution to over 75% of the annual profit attributable to shareholders within three years, creating greater value for shareholders [2][7] Financial Performance - For the first half of 2024, the company's operating cash flow was 58.341 billion yuan, a decrease of 11.15% year-on-year. The gross profit margin was 30.84%, up 0.08 percentage points year-on-year. The selling, administrative, and financial expense ratios decreased by 0.43, 0.24, and 0.1 percentage points, respectively [7][8] - The capital expenditure for the first half of 2024 was 47.2 billion yuan, with 34% allocated to industrial digitalization, an increase of 5.6 percentage points year-on-year. The company added 10 EFLOPS of intelligent computing power, a year-on-year growth of 90.9% [7][8] - Tianyi Cloud's revenue reached 55.2 billion yuan in the first half of 2024, accounting for 22.4% of service revenue, with significant growth in both domestic and overseas markets [7][8] Future Projections - The company expects revenues for 2024, 2025, and 2026 to be 524.144 billion yuan, 545.670 billion yuan, and 568.800 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 3.21%, 4.11%, and 4.24% [8][10] - The net profit attributable to shareholders is projected to be 32.847 billion yuan, 35.244 billion yuan, and 38.116 billion yuan for the same years, with growth rates of 7.89%, 7.30%, and 8.15% respectively [8][10]