Earnings Rebounded On Dipping Costs & Efficiency Gains
发布时间:2026-04-16 来源:华泰证券
According to its 2025 annual results,Xinxing Pipes(Xinxing)achieved revenue of RMB37.02bn(+2.29%YoY)and an attributable net profit of RMB947mn(+465.67%YoY),exceeding our expectation of RMB730mn,mainly due to alarger-than-we-expected decline in raw material costs.We believe the company's earnings growth was primarily driven by significant cost reductions and effective expense control.Looking ahead,the company is well positioned to benefit from arecovery in the steel industry's business environment.This,coupled with ongoing optimization of its product mix,makes us believe it should further enhance profitability.We maintain OVERWEIGHT.
Optimized product mix coupled with stringent cost control
In 2025,Xinxing continued to optimize its revenue structure,shifting its production and sales focus to ductile iron pipes and special steel.Specifically,ductile iron pipe&casting product sales/production reached 3.27/3.20mn tonnes(+5.45/+4.50%YoY),while special steel sales/production reached 3.09/2.86mn tonnes(+24.86/+20.25%YoY).On the cost side,according to Xinxing’s annual report,the average Platts iron ore index for 2025 fell by USD6.7/tonne YoY,the average coking coal price declined by over 25%YoY,and the China steel price index dropped 9.1%YoY.The cost reductions led to asignificant improvement in profitability,with the company’s gross margin for 2025 rising 2.29pp YoY to 7.69%.The full-year overall expense ratio was 4.38%,down 0.25pp YoY,reflecting effective cost control.Additionally,the company prioritized shareholder returns,proposing acash dividend of RMB0.75 per 10 shares(tax inclusive)for 2025.
Steel:industry earnings upside to rise amid rising constraints
According to Huatai Metals team’s report Carbon Reduction Bodes Well for Steel Sector Earnings Upside(dated 9March 2026),some steel companies received voluntary emission reduction notices during the Two Sessions,which in our view indicates the dual-carbon policy has entered the implementation phase,with supply discipline potentially becoming acore driver of industry profit recovery.This suggests upside potential for the steel sector's earnings in 2026.Current industry sentiment remains at historically low levels.Coupled with long-term declines in crude steel output and continued optimization of downstream demand structure,China’s steel industry is entering arecovery cycle characterized by supply contraction,policy-driven reforms,and expanding profit margins.Hence,we expect Xinxing to demonstrate superior profit resilience than industry average,underpinned by higher proportion of premium products and effective cost control.
Maintain OVERWEIGHT
Considering the relatively loose S/D dynamics of iron ore and other raw materials,coupled with the company's ongoing optimization of its product mix to enhance profitability,we lower our iron ore cost and product price assumptions while raising ductile pipe and special steel production forecasts.We estimate 2026/2027/2028 EPS of RMB0.28/0.32/0.40,representing upward revisions of 16.67/23.08%for 2026/2027,with BVPS at RMB6.86/7.11/7.43.Given the rapid growth in the company's special steel sales volume and its leading position in the ductile pipe segment,we replace Xinyu Iron&Steel(which has ahigher proportion of plate products)with Baoshan Iron&Steel as acomparable company.The average 2026E PB for comparable companies on iFind consensus is 0.66x.Factoring in the strong momentum in water conservancy investment benefiting ductile pipe demand,we assign Xinxing a2026E PB of 0.76x,for atarget price of RMB5.21(previous:RMB4.66,based on 0.69x 2026E PB).Maintain OVERWEIGHT.
Risks:disappointing downstream demand;significant volatility in raw-material prices;commissioning of new capacities missing our estimates.