Lexin(US:LX) HTSC·2025-05-23 02:35Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is maintained as "Buy" with a target price of $12.00 [5][6]. Core Insights - The company's Q1 2025 performance shows a significant increase in net profit, with a year-on-year growth of 113% and a quarter-on-quarter growth of 19%, reaching 430 million RMB [1]. - The improvement in net profit take rate to 1.59% is primarily driven by a reduction in credit costs, which decreased by 219 basis points to 3.4% [1][2]. - The company is focusing on enhancing shareholder returns, increasing the dividend payout ratio from 25% to 30% in the second half of 2025 [1]. Summary by Sections Financial Performance - In Q1 2025, the company reported a new loan issuance of 51.6 billion RMB, which is a slight decrease of 0.8% quarter-on-quarter [3]. - The first-day overdue rate for existing loans improved with an 11% reduction, indicating better loan quality [2][3]. - The annualized net profit take rate is expected to improve to 2% in 2025, supported by ongoing enhancements in loan quality and a higher proportion of light capital business [2]. Profit Forecast and Valuation - The net profit forecasts for 2025, 2026, and 2027 have been adjusted to 2.18 billion RMB, 3.21 billion RMB, and 3.59 billion RMB respectively, reflecting increases of 0.5%, 1.5%, and 1.7% [4]. - The estimated price-to-book (PB) ratio for 2025 is maintained at 1.15x, with a target price of $12 based on a projected book value of 75.07 RMB per ADS [4][10].