JCY is showing signs of a recovery following the strong earnings recorded in 1QFY14 on the back of higher sales and better operational efficiencies. We expect stronger HDD demand growth from the enterprise segment, a weaker competitive environment and a potential entry into the tablet market to drive JCY’s earnings recovery.
We expect its valuation to remain attractive due to a strong earnings recovery over the next two years. In our estimation, JCY currently trades at 8.7x CY15 P/E, which is a 30% discount to its peers and a 23% discount to HDD manufacturers and OEMs. Applying a blended multiple method, we get a valuation range of RM0.99 to RM1.07 which indicates a decent 31-42% upside. Our stance on the stock is mainly trading-oriented. A proxy to big data and cloud computing growth Most industry research groups expect HDD demand to grow by a modest 2.9-5.6% CAGR over 2013-18, driven by strong growth from the enterprise segment with an emphasis on big data and cloud storage. We see strong growth from the enterprise segment providing an attractive opportunity for JCY to grow its exposure in cloud storage and move away from the declining PC market. We also think that JCY may finally have exposure in the tablet market given the development -------continue
of ultrathin drives in the storage industry. Consolidation to aid margin expansion We expect that there could be a round of consolidation among the HDD component manufacturers to grow the industry‟s profitability given that some of its peers are still struggling to recover from the devastating floods in Thailand. Considering its strong balance sheet, prudent cash management and years of experience, we expect it to take advantage of potential M&A activity to increase its allocation from WD and Seagate and grow its margin from better economies of scale. Time to take another look We think that JCY is already showing signs of a recovery given the strong earnings performance in 1QFY14. Moreover, we do not see SSD as a structural threat to HDD given the shift in consumer demand towards mobile and cloud computing. Hence, we think that JCY‟s prospects of a recovery could not be better.
JCY suffered a slump in earnings between Sep 12 to Sep 13 due to the weakness in HDD demand following the shift in consumer preference towards mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, which led to a decline in PC shipment volumes. According to the industry research group, Trendfocus, global HDD shipments in 2013 fell by about 4.4% yoy from 577m units in 2012 to 552m units in 2013. Meanwhile, Gartner reported that global PC (desktop and notebook) shipments fell by 12.3% yoy from 341m units in 2012 to 299m units in 2013. However, it is interesting to highlight that the overall decline in the HDD market was relatively smaller compared to the decline in PC shipments. We believe that this was due to the increasing demand from the enterprise and mobile HDD segments which helped to cushion the softness in PC demand. We expect the trend to persist as the demand from the enterprise segment will drive HDD shipments as PC remains a drag. Furthermore, we expect the weakness in HDD shipments to bottom out given the improving demand in 2H13. Global HDD shipments in 4Q13 actually grew by 4.7% yoy and 1.4% qoq. The better-than-expected growth was due to higher shipment volumes from the mobile segment which grew from 67m to 72m (+7.5% yoy) and the enterprise segment which grew from 14m to 17m (+21% yoy). Moreover, the preliminary data from Trendfocus also showed that HDD shipments in 1Q14 were hovering around 136m units, which was relatively flat yoy.
1.2 Earnings are improving Following the improvement in industry demand, we saw JCY‟s earnings gradually improved in the last quarter. 1QFY14 sales grew by 27% yoy to RM477m from RM377m in 1QFY13, driven by a combination of higher shipment volumes, higher ASP and favourable exchange rates. EBITDA margin improved significantly to 13.9% in 1QFY14 vs. a 1.7% declined in 1QFY13 due to better sales and improving operational efficiencies. As a result of its high operating leverage, JCY recorded a significantly higher core net profit of RM38.9m in 1QFY14 vs. a RM32.7m core net loss in 1QFY13. The company declared an interim dividend of 1 sen during the quarter. We expect JCY‟s earnings to rebound strongly on the back of the improving industry demand, weakening competitive environment and better operational efficiency.
1.3 Share price remains a laggard JCY‟s share price was up by 15% since Jan 12, but it is still significantly lower relative to its customers which have been enjoying tremendous share price growth in the last 15 months. WD and Seagate, which are estimated to control about 80-85% of the global HDD market, have been growing at a whopping 211% and 181%, respectively. Meanwhile, Nidec, which is the world‟s largest HDD motor base assembly manufacturer, is the best performer among HDD
component manufacturers which have enjoyed 237% share price growth over the same period. YTD, Nidec continues to lead with 15% growth, followed by JCY with 13%. In the meantime, there are mixed performances between the HDD OEMs; WD was up by 7% while Seagate fell by 2%.
2. OUTLOOK 2.1 Recovery in industry demand We believe that JCY stands to benefit from a recovery in HDD industry demand on the back of enterprise storage growth from “big data” and cloud computing, pent-up demand from gaming consoles and potential exposure to the tablet segment from ultrathin drives. Gartner expects global HDD shipments to grow at a modest five-year CAGR of 2.9% from 552m units in 2013 to 635m units in 2018, driven by the increasing demand for digital data storage despite the sluggish demand for PCs. The positive growth is expected to come from robust enterprise storage demand which is forecast to grow at a 2013-18 CAGR of 25%. However, the slowdown in the PC segment is likely to persist with a decline of 7% in CAGR during the period. Nonetheless, the demand for storage will continue to drive industry growth as Gartner estimates that the average capacity for disk drives will increase from approximately 2.1TBs in 2013 to 2.69TBs in 2014 (+28% yoy). Meanwhile, Coughlin Associates, a storage industry consultant group, is also expecting the decline in HDD shipments to ease and could potentially reverse as early as 2014. The group expects HDD shipment volumes to grow by a higher 2013-18 CAGR of 5.6% on the back of rising demand from cloud storage and consumer electronics.
Big data and cloud computing are driving storage demand. Gartner defines “big data‟‟ as high volume, high velocity and high variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making. The big data phenomenon has enabled organisations to perform analyses with higher accuracy for a better decision making process. The industry research group, International Data Corp (IDC), forecast the big data market to grow by 30% in 2014, exceeding the US$14bn mark as demand for big data analytics skills continue to outstrip supply. Cloud computing is a prime beneficiary of the surge in demand for big data given that the agile nature, flexibility and highly scalable storage make it an appealing solution for big data. According to Cisco, the global cloud traffic volume is expected to increase by more than 3x in 2017, driven by consumer traffic which is projected to grow at a 2012-17 CAGR of 36% to 4,300 exabyte (EB) from 1,400 EB currently (1 exabyte is equivalent to 1bn gigabytes). The strong growth will be coming from applications such as video and audio streaming that are strong contributors to cloud traffic growth. Moreover, the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, which have been traditionally constrained by limited storage space, has created a huge demand for personal remote storage such as iCloud, Dropbox, SkyDrive and Google Drive. Cisco forecasts personal cloud traffic to increase from 1.7 EB in 2012 to 20 EB in 2017. Overall, we expect the robust growth in cloud storage to continue to spur further demand for HDD.
Potential from gaming consoles. In addition, we also expect HDD demand from the gaming segment to increase on the back of new gaming consoles such as Microsoft‟s „Xbox One‟ and Sony‟s „PlayStation 4‟ that were released at the end of 2013. According to the latest data from the market research firm, NPD Group, hardware sales in Feb grew by 42% yoy from US$244m in Feb 13 to US$347m in Feb 14, which indicates that the demand for these consoles is still strong. Gartner forecasts global video game console sales to grow from US$44bn in 2013 to US$55bn in 2015, which is at a two-year CAGR of 11%.
Moreover, we see the recent decision by China to lift its 14-year-old video game console ban as a positive catalyst for HDD demand. Although it is still early days before these gaming consoles penetrate the China market in bigger way, we are encouraged by the growth potential given that Huawei had earlier reported that there are about 400m people who play video games in China even though the majority of that population account for online PC games. Based on our recent meeting, JCY expects orders from the gaming console segment to pick up in 2H14. Ultrathin HDD opening up opportunities in the tablet market. Following the increasing popularity of mobile devices such as tablets, there are several developments in storage technology to address the demand for bigger storage capacity for tablets. One of them is the ultra mobile 5mm HDD which was announced by Seagate at the end of last year. The ultrathin HDD was specifically designed in a 5mm form factor for the tablet market. We think that the new product development could potentially mark a new end market for HDD. We see the development positively as it offers JCY exposure to the growing tablet market. We expect further margin expansion if the company is able to gain traction from the tablet segment given that these ultrathin drives generally command higher margins than its conventional hard drives.
Exciting future in storage technology. We think that the new developments within storage technology are embracing the shift in consumer demand and will propel the industry towards stronger growth. For example: Hybrid drives A hybrid drive is a storage device that combines the NAND flash solid state drive (SSD) with HDD technology. It offers better speed performance at the cost-effective storage capacity of traditional HDDs. Seagate highlighted that hybrid drive performance is closing the speed gap between HDD and SSD. For example, on average it took a start-up time of about 37 sec using HDD-based PCs, while SSD-based PCs cut that start-up time significantly to 20 sec. However, with hybrid drives, the start-up time is reduced considerably to 22 sec, or 40% faster than traditional HDD. Apart from a faster processing performance compared to HDD, hybrid drives cost much less relative to SSD. Based on our survey from the online retailer, Newegg, we found that hybrid drives are 5-6x cheaper relative to SSD prices. We think that with a competitive pricing strategy, hybrid drives could potentially drive down tablet and ultrabook prices. Hence, this could lead to higher hybrid drive shipment volumes.
PC remains a drag, but shipments decline is easing. Gartner reported that global PC shipments in 1Q14 fell by 1.7% yoy, which indicates an easing in the severity compared to the past seven quarters. Gartner highlighted that although PC market remains weak, it is showing signs of improvement compared to last year that was partly helped by Microsoft decision to end the Windows XP support on April 8. This has forced businesses and enterprise to accelerate the PC refresh cycle. Despite the weakness in PC market, all of the top five PC vendors recorded a shipments growth compared to last year. Lenovo, which is the biggest PC vendor in the world, recorded 10.9%yoy shipments growth driven by positive demand in all region except for Asia Pacific due to slowdown in China and longer holidays during the quarter.
2.2 HDD industry consolidation could lead to better margin We expect another round of consolidation among the HDD component manufacturers given the challenging operating environment. Based on our observation, there are several HDD component manufacturers that are still struggling to recover from the devastating floods in Thailand in 2011, while some have already left the market due to high reinvestment costs. Moreover, some of the remaining component manufacturers are also having operational issues as a result of the stringent quality requirements of HDD OEMs. The sluggish industry demand in 2013 also made the recovery even tougher. Since JCY was not impacted by the 2011 floods, we believe that it should benefit from any potential industry consolidation, given its size and financial strength. Size matters. Based on information gathered from listed HDD component manufacturers, we understand that JCY is one of the biggest HDD component manufacturers globally in terms of production volume. By market share, JCY is one of the leading suppliers of base plates, top covers, antidiscs and actuators in the world. We estimate that JCY currently has a market share of about 20-30% for each of the HDD components that it manufactures. JCY highlighted that it is one of the three major base plate producers, besides MMI and Nidec. These producers control about 70-75% of the global base plate volume. JCY supplies more than 60% of WD‟s base plates and about 10-20% of Seagate‟s base plate requirements. For top covers, JCY is one of top three major manufacturers that hold a combined market share of 80-85%, with the other major players being Metal Form and Supernova. We estimate that JCY has about 20-25% (vs. 14-16% previously) of the global market and supplying more than 50% of WD‟s requirements. Meanwhile for antidiscs, we understand that JCY is among the top two major suppliers left in this market, alongside Cheung Woh. Both companies are estimated to have a combined market share of around 60%. Finally, for actuators, JCY forecast that there are only three major manufacturers, namely JCY, Belton and Compact, left in this segment – these three players are estimated to have about 80-85% of the global actuator production volume.
Ability to supply multi-HDD components and offer vertical integration. One of the key strengths of JCY is its ability to supply multi- components in huge volumes to customers. Moreover, JCY‟s manufacturing facilities share common material planning and system integration, and this gives JCY better control of the quality of its components. More importantly, this can reduce the lead time, which allows the OEM to shorten the time-to-market for its products. Therefore, we think that any potential consolidation in the industry could provide the opportunity for JCY to clinch greater allocation and volume. Worst is over. Considering that JCY is sitting on a net cash position of RM127m and free cashflow of about RM200m, we expect JCY to take advantage of the challenging situation confronting some of its troubled peers in seeking potential acquisition targets in order to grow and achieve better economies of scale. Therefore we think the worst is over for JCY and it will maintain its position as a leading HDD mechanical components manufacturer. 2.3 Easing in ASP pressure Based on the historical earnings performance, we saw that JCY‟s end customers, WD and Seagate have been enjoying steady margin expansion over the last four quarters despite lower global HDD shipment volumes. The margin expansion is expected to continue in 2014.
We think the stronger margin trends enjoyed by WD and Seagate are mainly due to higher average selling prices (ASP). This was supported by Trendfocus which highlighted that retail HDD selling prices are still above the levels before the 2011 flood in Thailand. Trendfocus expects ASPs to remain flat in 2014 due to the limited incentives for WD and Seagate to engage in a price war given that both companies are still seeing orders come in despite the higher ASP. Hence, we actually see this as positive for JCY because it helps to ease the ASP erosion. Meanwhile, we expect its ongoing investment in automation and quality improvement to yield better operational efficiencies and higher operating leverage.
3. RISKS 3.1 Structural threat from SSD There are concerns in the industry regarding the competition from SSD as a potential storage solution replacement for HDD given its high speed performance and durability advantage. However, we do not think that SSD will replace HDD given the lack of NAND industry capacity to cater to the global storage demand. For example, Gartner reported that the HDD industry delivered about 66.5 EB to businesses in 2012, compared to 1.8 EB enterprise grade server and storage SSD. Gartner also estimated that it would take US$210bn in fabrication investments to displace 15% of the demand for drives in 2014. Seagate highlighted that a new hard drive production facility would cost about US$35m-50m and can be operational in about four months. However, a similar NAND flash factory that produces 100,000 wafers per month costs about US$4bn and takes about two years to build. Thus, we think that the higher cost barrier will deter SSD from replacing HDD as the main storage solution. 3.2 Rising cost of raw materials The cost and availability of certain raw materials used to manufacture HDD components are critical to JCY‟s performance. A potential increase in raw materials such as stainless steel and aluminium could impact JCY negatively due to higher costs and lower operating margins if the company is unable to transfer the increment to its customers. 3.3 Foreign exchange exposure A weaker US$ would impact JCY negatively given that the bulk of its operating expenses are in ringgit. However, in terms of raw materials, the company is naturally hedged given that almost all of its purchases are in US$ against 100% of its sales.
4. FINANCIALS 4.1 Profits set to rebound strongly in FY14 We expect FY14 to be a better year for JCY as the company is poised to ride on the demand growth in the enterprise and mobile segments within the HDD sector. We are projecting full-year sales of RM1.8bn with a core net profit of RM153m (FY14-16 CAGR of 10%), which is a significant jump from the RM70.4m core net loss recorded in FY13. However, we believe that this can be achieved, driven by higher HDD shipment volumes, the increasing allocation of orders from WD and Seagate and the potential expansion in product lines. The stronger growth in profitability is due to economies of scale and improving operational efficiencies. Strong balance sheet and cashflow to support its dividend plan. JCY has a strong balance sheet position with net cash of RM127m as at Dec 13 as the company has been prudent in spending and mainly focused on automation processes to increase its operational efficiency. In addition, JCY‟s free cashflow operation stands at RM200m as at FY13. We think that this should enable JCY to maintain its plans of paying out as much as 50% of its net profits in dividends. Based on our 50% payout assumption, the dividend yield is estimated to be between 5% and 6.3% for FY14-16. Improving debtor days, meanwhile credit turnover remains stable. JCY‟s average receivable days have been improving tremendously over the last two years from 67 days in FY12 to 51 days in FY13. In general, we expect the collection days to remain stable as customers typically pay within a 60-day period. Meanwhile, its payable days remain stable, ranging from 56 days to 58 days over the last three years. However, its average inventory has been trending up given the lower-than-expected demand following the recovery from the floods in 2011.
jcash; Tks for putting up the interesting report ; it has valid points. Can you provide the source? Few research houses cover JCY. Its financial performance is too volatile and unpredictable, ditto for its share price. Most analysts can't get it right, they are well behind the curve. I believe it 's currently a good trading buy with recovering profitability FY2014.
continue up trend,still can buy 0.80 and below..TP price 0.90, next TP 1.00 and above for this year...first Qtr profit 30mil, second qtr confirm profit...buy now before price jump 1.00 and above..
JCY International -----------------------------15//04//14 (JCYH MK) Technical BUY with +16.6% potential return Last price : RM0.755 Target Price : RM0.790, RM0.880 Support : RM0.715 Stop-loss: RM0.710 BUY with a target price of RM0.880 with a stop loss placed below RM0.710. Following a breakout above the cloud on 30 Dec 13, JCYH’s share price has continued to climb higher along the rising trendline. Rebounding from the recent low RM0.715, JCYH has successfully closed above both the 10-day and 21-day SMA lines, and is thus likely to trend higher. Given the higher trading volume of 13.2m shares recorded yesterday (vs 20-day average of 3.6m), we expect buying interest, in tandem with the surging momentum, to push the share price higher in the near term. A positive closing above the immediate resistance of RM0.790 may trigger more buying interest and catapult the share price toward our medium-term target at the 1.38x Fibonacci extension level of RM0.880.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
HC Lee
1,518 posts
Posted by HC Lee > 2014-04-10 09:12 | Report Abuse
Trappppppppp