Novogene(SH:688315) Haitong Securities·2024-04-24 00:32Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is "Outperform the Market" and is maintained [1]. Core Views - The company reported a revenue of 636 million yuan in the life sciences basic research service segment for 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 0.94%. The medical research and technology service segment saw revenue of 269 million yuan, an increase of 6.60% year-on-year. The sequencing platform service segment generated revenue of 953 million yuan, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 14.05%. However, sales of 6 gene kits dropped to 178 sets, a decrease of 53.52% [3][25]. - The company's gross margin for 2023 was 42.73%, down by 1.15 percentage points year-on-year, while the net profit margin was 9.15%, a decline of 0.28 percentage points [4][25]. - The company’s total revenue for 2023 was 2.002 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 3.97%, with a net profit of 178 million yuan, which is a slight increase of 0.47% year-on-year. The forecast for EPS for 2024-2026 is 0.52, 0.59, and 0.70 yuan respectively, with net profit growth rates projected at 20.6%, 14.2%, and 19.0% [10][25]. Financial Summary - The company’s revenue forecast for 2024 is 2.333 billion yuan, with expected growth rates of 16.5% in 2025 and 18.3% in 2026. The net profit is projected to reach 215 million yuan in 2024, with a growth rate of 20.6% [10][26]. - The gross margin is expected to be 43.0% in 2024, slightly improving from 42.7% in 2023, while the net asset return is projected to increase from 7.2% in 2023 to 9.4% in 2026 [10][26]. - The company is positioned in the leading segment of the gene sequencing industry, with a reasonable valuation range of 12.90 to 15.48 yuan based on a PE ratio of 25-30 times for 2024 [25].