Summary of Empyrean's Earnings Call Company Overview - **Company**: Empyrean (301269.SZ) - **Industry**: Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools Key Financial Highlights - **3Q25 Revenues**: Rmb303 million, representing a **13% QoQ increase** and **1% YoY increase** but **24% below estimates** due to slower revenue recognition and order ramp-up [1][3] - **Gross Margin**: Improved to **92.8%** from **87.1%** in 2Q25 [3] - **Net Income**: Reported at Rmb6 million, significantly below estimates due to lower revenues and higher operating expenses [3][4] - **Operating Income**: Loss of Rmb6 million, attributed to continuous R&D spending [3][4] Product Development and Strategy - **New Product Launches**: - **Empyrean Liberal Mem**: A feature extraction tool for memory clients aimed at improving efficiency in large-scale memory design [2] - **Empyrean Aether**: A new generation one-stop platform supporting various design types, offering over **12,000 Python API interfaces** for data processing [2] - **Focus on Full-Flow EDA Tools**: The company is expanding its product pipeline to cover full-flow digital design EDA tools and foundry EDA, responding to rising localization demand [1][2] Earnings Revisions - **Earnings Downgrade**: - Revised down earnings by **48%** for 2025, **10%** for 2026, and **11%** for 2027 mainly due to lower revenues from analog design and panel EDA tools [7] - Gross margin revisions range from **0.3 to 1.2 percentage points** lower for 2025-2027 [7] Valuation and Price Target - **Target Price**: Rmb155, based on a **47x multiple** applied to 2029E EPS, discounted back to 2026E at a cost of equity of **11.5%** [12][15] - **Market Cap**: Rmb52.7 billion (approximately $7.4 billion) [15] Risks and Challenges - **Key Risks**: - Slower customer acquisition and spending - Increased competition in the EDA market - Labor cost increases and talent shortages - Escalation of US-China tech tensions [13] Conclusion - Despite the recent earnings miss and challenges, Empyrean is positioned as a local EDA leader with a strong product pipeline and a positive outlook on localization demand. The company maintains a **Buy** rating with a revised target price of Rmb155, reflecting confidence in its long-term growth potential [1][12].