药明康德：核心业务稳步回升，在手订单增长趋势良好

Investment Rating - The investment rating for WuXi AppTec (603259.SH) is "Outperform the Market" [5][14]. Core Views - The core business is steadily recovering, with a positive trend in backlog orders. The company reported a total revenue of 17.24 billion yuan in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 8.6%, but excluding COVID-19 commercialization projects, the decline is only 0.7%. The net profit attributable to shareholders was 4.24 billion yuan, down 20.2% year-on-year, while the adjusted Non-IFRS net profit was 4.37 billion yuan, down 14.2% year-on-year. The second quarter showed improvement with a revenue of 9.26 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5% but a quarter-on-quarter increase of 16.0% [1][6][8]. Summary by Sections Financial Performance - In the first half of 2024, the chemical business generated revenue of 12.21 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.3%, but excluding COVID-19 projects, it increased by 2.1%. Other segments such as testing, biology, and ATU reported revenues of 3.02 billion yuan (down 2.4%), 1.17 billion yuan (down 5.2%), and 570 million yuan (down 19.4%) respectively [9][10]. Business Model and Growth Drivers - The integrated CRDMO model continues to drive development. The small molecule CDMO pipeline expanded with 644 new molecules added in the first half of 2024, including 632 in clinical and preclinical stages, 9 in clinical phase II, 1 in clinical phase III, and 2 commercial projects. The ATU business faced a decline in revenue and gross margin due to proposed legislation in the U.S., but several commercialization projects are actively progressing [10][11]. Order Backlog and TIDES Business - The backlog of orders reached 43.1 billion yuan, showing a year-on-year increase of 33.2% when excluding COVID-19 projects. The TIDES business reported revenue of 2.08 billion yuan in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 57.2%, with backlog orders growing by 147% [13][14]. Profitability and Financial Metrics - The gross margin for the first half of 2024 was 39.4%, down 1.2 percentage points, while the net margin was 24.8%, down 3.6 percentage points. The company maintained good cost control with a sales expense ratio of 2.1% and a management expense ratio of 10.7% [8][9]. Future Earnings Forecast - The earnings forecast for 2024-2026 remains unchanged, with projected revenues of 39.27 billion yuan, 43.96 billion yuan, and 49.30 billion yuan for 2024, 2025, and 2026 respectively, reflecting year-on-year growth rates of -2.7%, 11.9%, and 12.1%. The net profit attributable to shareholders is expected to be 9.443 billion yuan, 10.767 billion yuan, and 12.283 billion yuan for the same years, with growth rates of -1.71%, 14.03%, and 14.08% respectively [2][14].