EBSCN·2024-10-30 08:44Investment Rating - The report maintains a "Buy" rating for the company [1]. Core Views - The company's asset quality remains robust, and its fundamentals show strong resilience despite a slight decline in revenue and profit year-on-year [4][5]. - The report highlights a narrowing decline in revenue and profit compared to the first half of 2024, indicating a recovery trend [5]. - The bank's retail business continues to grow, with a significant increase in retail customer numbers and assets under management (AUM) [13]. Financial Performance Summary - For the first three quarters of 2024, the company achieved operating revenue of 252.7 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2.9%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 113.2 billion, down 0.6% year-on-year [4]. - The weighted average return on equity (ROE) stands at 15.38%, reflecting a decrease of 2 percentage points year-on-year [4]. - The net interest margin for the first three quarters decreased by 1 basis point to 1.99%, with a quarterly net interest margin of 1.97% [8]. Asset Quality and Risk Management - The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio remains stable at 0.94%, with a non-performing loan balance of 63.6 billion, an increase of nearly 2 billion since the beginning of the year [11]. - The bank's provision coverage ratio slightly decreased to 432.2%, indicating strong risk mitigation capabilities [12][11]. Capital Adequacy - The bank's capital adequacy ratios have improved, with the core tier 1 capital ratio at 14.73%, tier 1 capital ratio at 16.99%, and total capital ratio at 18.67% as of the end of Q3 2024 [12]. Earnings Forecast and Valuation - The earnings per share (EPS) forecast for 2024-2026 has been adjusted to 5.82, 6.05, and 6.33 yuan, respectively, reflecting a downward revision of 3.8%, 5.2%, and 6.7% from previous estimates [13]. - The current stock price corresponds to a price-to-book (PB) ratio of 0.95 for 2024, 0.86 for 2025, and 0.79 for 2026 [13].