北方华创：Robust earnings with margin expansion;Maintain BUY

Investment Rating - The report maintains a BUY rating for Naura Technology with a target price of RMB405, implying a potential upside of 34.7% from the current price of RMB300.64 [2][3]. Core Insights - Naura Technology reported robust earnings for 1H24, with revenue growing 46.4% YoY to RMB12.3 billion and net profit increasing 54.5% YoY to RMB2.8 billion, aligning with the company's earnings pre-announcement [2]. - The company's gross profit margin (GPM) improved to 45.5% in 1H24, up from 41% in FY23, while net profit margin (NPM) expanded to 22.5% from 17.7% in FY23, indicating strong operational efficiency [2]. - Future growth is expected to be driven by the semiconductor localization trend, product coverage expansion, market share gains, and economies of scale [2]. Financial Performance Summary - 1H24 revenue accounted for 40% of the FY24E forecast, consistent with historical seasonality [2]. - The semiconductor equipment revenue increased by 55.1% YoY, constituting 92% of total revenue in 1H24 [2]. - The report projects total revenue of RMB30.9 billion for FY24E, reflecting a 39.7% YoY growth, and RMB39.0 billion for FY25E, indicating a 26.5% growth [2][3]. Earnings Revision - The report revises up the FY24E net profit forecast by 9% to RMB6.01 billion and maintains revenue projections at RMB30.86 billion for FY24E [6]. - Gross margin estimates for FY24E have been increased by 5.2 percentage points to 45.0% [6]. - The net profit margin is expected to reach 19.5% in FY24E, up from 17.9% in the previous estimates [6]. Valuation Metrics - The target price of RMB405 implies a valuation of 35.77x FY24E P/E, which is justified given Naura's leading position in the domestic semiconductor equipment market [2]. - The report highlights a significant improvement in return on equity (ROE), projected to reach 22.0% in FY24E, up from 17.7% in FY23 [3][9].