Rating Quick Look | Target prices for BABA-SWR, TENCENT, Tesla, JD, Meituan, and KUAISHOU-W have all been lowered!

Bernstein: Lowers Alibaba's target price from $93 to $85

Bernstein: Lowers JD's target price from $31 to $28

Bank of America: Reaffirms "Neutral" rating on Tesla, lowers target price from $290 to $280

The bank released a report stating that Tesla's non-GAAP earnings per share at the end of last year were $0.71, slightly lower than the bank's and market expectations of $0.73. The report believes that this is due to lower automotive revenue and gross margin, as well as slight fluctuations in service gross margin. The performance of the energy business exceeded expectations, with operating expenses decreasing.

Overall, the fourth-quarter operating profit margin was 8.2%, slightly lower than the bank's expectation of 8.3%. The bank reaffirms its "Neutral" rating and lowers the target price from $290 to $280, citing short-term risks from macroeconomic factors, intensified competition, and a slowdown in electric vehicle demand, offset by cost-saving efforts and the company's ability to remain agile.

The report quotes Tesla as saying that unit growth this year is expected to slow significantly by 38% compared to last year, as the development of the next generation of vehicles is still ongoing, which the bank believes is within expectations. The production of electric trucks will accelerate this year, and the report suggests that Tesla seems to be developing the next-generation low-cost platform, tentatively called Model Te, which is expected to go into production in the second half of next year.

Bank of America Securities: Lowers KUAISHOU-W's target price from HKD 86 to HKD 75, maintains "Buy" rating

The bank expects KUAISHOU-W's total revenue in the last quarter to increase by 15% YoY to RMB 32.6 billion, in line with expectations. Online advertising revenue increased by 21% YoY to RMB 18.2 billion, benefiting from strong performance in e-commerce-related internal advertising and advertising recovery.

The bank expects other service revenue to increase by 36% YoY to RMB 4.4 billion, while e-commerce growth remains robust, with a 30% YoY increase in total merchandise trading volume and a 42% YoY increase in revenue. The bank expects the gross margin to improve to 51.3% in the last quarter, with an adjusted net profit forecast of RMB 3.4 billion and an adjusted profit margin of 10%.

BOC International: Maintains "Buy" rating on Tencent, lowers target price from HKD 418 to HKD 407

The report states that Tencent is expected to disclose its fourth-quarter performance for last year at the end of March. The bank estimates that the company's revenue will increase by 8% YoY to RMB 155.8 billion, which is 1% lower than market expectations. The gross margin and profitability remain stable. Value-added services (VAS), online advertising, and fintech and enterprise services revenue are expected to increase by 1%, 16%, and 14% YoY, respectively. Among them, VAS game revenue growth slowed to 2% YoY, despite strong contributions from mini-games and music, the performance of social networks continues to be dragged down by adjustments in streaming media.

The bank expects Tencent's gross margin in the last quarter to reach 48.5% and adjusted net profit margin to be 26.4%, both in line with market expectations. It is also estimated that under the macro, competition, and the company's high-quality growth priority strategy, the gross margin of Tencent's three segmented markets will continue to expand consistently. Deepening cooperation with ByteDance, monetization of video accounts (especially e-commerce integration), overseas expansion of games, and the application of artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC) are the company's main positive catalysts. 华泰证券: Lower Meituan's target price by 24.35% to HKD 125.2

The bank expects that Meituan's local life segment will be under pressure in 4Q23 due to the external consumption environment, but the base effect of the epidemic in the same period of 2022 is low. The bank predicts that Meituan's revenue in 4Q23 will reach CNY 74.9 billion, a YoY increase of 24.6%; non-IFRS net profit will be CNY 3 billion, a YoY increase of 259.4%.

Considering the low base in 4Q22 and the company's active expansion of low average order value user groups through businesses such as "Pinghao Fan", the bank predicts that the YoY growth of food delivery orders in 4Q23 will be 24%, and the average order value will slightly decline YoY due to weak consumption recovery. Based on the above, the bank predicts that the YoY growth of food delivery revenue in 4Q23 will be 18.2%.

In terms of dine-in business, the bank predicts a YoY growth of 59% in segment revenue in 4Q23, mainly due to the low base effect brought by the epidemic in the same period of 2022. In terms of new businesses, the bank predicts a steady growth of 9.5% in segment revenue in 4Q23, mainly considering the high base in 4Q22 for grocery shopping and selection businesses.

CICC: Initiate coverage on BYD, giving it an "outperform" rating with a target price of HKD 266

Considering the company's three major transformation opportunities involving product upgrades, smart cars, and overseas expansion, the bank is optimistic about the company's growth potential. CICC points out that BYD is a leading new energy vehicle company in mainland China, with rapid sales growth and strong profit growth.

Bank of America Securities: Reiterate a "neutral" rating on Sunny Optical, lower the target price from HKD 74 to HKD 61

The bank points out that there is recent uncertainty due to inventory adjustments and the market's downward adjustment of Huawei's smartphone delivery forecast. However, benefiting from the normalization of average selling prices, gaining market share in Huawei's smartphone lens modules, and overall optical specification upgrades, the bank expects the mobile phone business to gradually improve in 2024, with a focus on the later part of this year.

The bank also believes that the soft demand in the European and American markets and potential pricing pressure in the local market may put pressure on recent sales. However, the increasing penetration rate of electric vehicles may offset the headwinds and help maintain relatively stable profit margins or average selling prices.