数字信息服务国家队，云业务打造第二增长曲线

Investment Rating - The report assigns a "Buy" rating to China Unicom (0762.HK) [4] Core Viewpoints - China Unicom is positioned as a leading integrated information service operator, with a focus on digital information services and cloud business as a second growth curve [1][3] - The company achieved revenue of CNY 389.6 billion in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, and a net profit of CNY 20.6 billion, up 10.1% year-on-year [1][4] - The company has a strong dividend yield, averaging over 6% from 2020 to 2024, providing a defensive attribute [1][4] Summary by Sections Company Overview - China Unicom was established in 1994 and operates in 31 provinces in China and several countries abroad, ranking 279th in the 2024 Fortune Global 500 [1][13] - The company aims to build a comprehensive digital information infrastructure to support economic and social development [13] Business Focus - The company focuses on two core businesses: "Connected Communication" and "Intelligent Network Computing" [2][3] - The Connected Communication business generated revenue of CNY 261.3 billion in 2024, a 1.5% increase year-on-year, with mobile and broadband user growth [2][45] - The Intelligent Network Computing business, which includes cloud services, generated revenue of CNY 82.5 billion, up 9.6% year-on-year, with the cloud segment alone reaching CNY 68.6 billion, a 17.1% increase [2][19] Financial Analysis - The company forecasts net profits of CNY 21.7 billion, CNY 23.2 billion, and CNY 25.1 billion for 2025, 2026, and 2027 respectively [4][5] - The average P/E ratios for 2025 and 2026 are projected at 12x and 11x, respectively, indicating a valuation below comparable companies [4] Industry Environment - The telecommunications industry in China is experiencing a slowdown, with overall revenue growth of 3.2% in 2024, while emerging businesses like cloud computing and big data are growing steadily [26][29] - New business segments accounted for 25% of total telecommunications revenue in 2024, with significant growth in cloud computing and big data [29][40] Strategic Initiatives - China Unicom is enhancing its cloud capabilities and has established over 300 integrated computing resource pools, with a computing power scale exceeding 17 EFLOPS [3][47] - The company is leveraging AI and cloud technologies to drive digital transformation across various sectors, including government, healthcare, and industrial applications [3][40]