Under the boom of the new energy vehicle industry, a number of Listed Companies in the lithium battery sector expect a “burst” of performance in the first quarter. According to the statistics of the reporter of Securities Daily, as of April 7, the listed companies in the lithium battery sector successively released the performance forecast of the first quarter. The net profit of 12 listed companies increased by more than 100% year-on-year, realizing high performance growth.
In this regard, Luo Xiaoli, an analyst of Longzhong information lithium industry, told the Securities Daily that the overall demand of the lithium battery sector increased rapidly, and the output scale of various enterprises was expanding. In the first quarter of 2022, some products were still in short supply, the market price increased greatly, and the performance of enterprises was better.
12 companies in the first quarter
Among the listed companies in the lithium battery sector with promising performance in the first quarter, two lithium salt enterprises ranked in the forefront Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co.Ltd(002497) performance grew the fastest. It is estimated that the net profit attributable to the parent company will reach 900 million yuan to 1.2 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, with a year-on-year increase of 10.54 times to 14.38 times Chengxin Lithium Group Co.Ltd(002240) it is estimated that the net profit attributable to the parent company will reach 900 million yuan to 1.1 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, with a year-on-year increase of 7.65 times to 9.58 times. With the support of high growth rate, Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co.Ltd(002497) , Chengxin Lithium Group Co.Ltd(002240) the performance in the first quarter of this year is close to or even higher than that of last year. Another lithium salt enterprise Tibet Mineral Development Co.Ltd(000762) expects to make a profit of 100 million yuan to 150 million yuan in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 3.98 times to 6.47 times.
In addition to lithium salt enterprises, the performance of listed companies related to electrolyte is also bright Guangdong Tonze Electric Co.Ltd(002759) , Do-Fluoride New Materials Co.Ltd(002407) , Zhejiang Yongtai Technology Co .Ltd(002326) , Shenzhen Capchem Technology.Ltd(300037) it is estimated that the net profit attributable to the parent company in the first quarter will be 400 million yuan to 440 million yuan, 700 million yuan to 730 million yuan, 372 million yuan to 423 million yuan and 482 million yuan to 513 million yuan respectively, and the upper limit of year-on-year growth of net profit will be 8.27 times, 6.83 times, 4.80 times and 2.30 times respectively.
Guangdong Tonze Electric Co.Ltd(002759) said that in the first quarter of this year, the company’s lithium hexafluorophosphate production unit continued to maintain full capacity production, the production and sales volume of lithium hexafluorophosphate increased significantly compared with the first quarter of 2021, and the sales price also increased significantly compared with the first quarter of 2021 Shenzhen Capchem Technology.Ltd(300037) said that in the first quarter, the development trend of the new energy vehicle industry continued to improve, the market demand of the company’s battery chemicals business was strong, and the production and sales volume increased significantly year-on-year, driving the improvement of the company’s profitability.
For lithium battery cathode material enterprises Ningbo Shanshan Co.Ltd(600884) , Hunan Changyuan Lico Co.Ltd(688779) , Anhui Annada Titanium Industry Co.Ltd(002136) it is expected that the profit caps in the first quarter will be 850 million yuan, 320 million yuan and 641485 million yuan respectively, with year-on-year growth caps of 1.81 times, 1.77 times and 1.10 times respectively. Aluminum foil material enterprise Jiangsu Dingsheng New Material Joint-Stock Co.Ltd(603876) and copper foil material enterprise Guangdong Jiayuan Technology Co.Ltd(688388) expect the upper limit of performance in the first quarter to be 220 million yuan and 232 million yuan respectively, and the net profit increased by 3.98 times and 1.09 times year-on-year respectively.
Overall, the performance of 12 lithium battery listed companies increased by an average of 4.14 times to 5.20 times in the first quarter. In this regard, Zhang Xiaorong, President of deep science and Technology Research Institute, said in an interview with the reporter of Securities Daily that the main reason for the high performance of lithium battery sector is the expansion of downstream demand, the rapid expansion of electric vehicle market and the popularity of 3C products, which lead to the growth of lithium battery demand.
upstream enterprises’ performance growth is fast
Among the listed companies in the lithium battery sector, the performance of upstream enterprises grew faster in the first quarter, which may be related to the rapid rise in the price of lithium salt materials. According to the data, as of the end of March, the unit prices of battery grade lithium carbonate and battery grade lithium hydroxide were 502500 yuan / ton and 491500 yuan / ton respectively, up 82.73% and 120.90% compared with the end of 2021, up 464.61% and 564.19% year-on-year.
Chengxin Lithium Group Co.Ltd(002240) said in the performance forecast of the first quarter that the new energy industry developed rapidly, the demand for lithium salt from downstream customers increased strongly, the price of lithium salt products continued to rise, and the profit of the company’s lithium salt business increased significantly compared with the same period of the previous year Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co.Ltd(002497) said that in the first quarter, the demand of lithium industry continued to rise, and the price of lithium salt products continued to rise. The company seized the opportunity to release production capacity and increase sales. The sales volume of lithium salt products gradually increased, and the profit of lithium business increased significantly.
Luo Xiaoli believes that lithium carbonate products are more prominent in the price rise of lithium battery industry chain, which drives the price rise of four cathode materials. However, the price transmission of the industry chain takes time, so the performance growth of upstream enterprises is faster than that of middle and downstream enterprises.
With the transmission of the price rise in the upstream of the lithium battery industry chain, there may be some pressure on the middle and downstream enterprises. For example, Hunan Changyuan Lico Co.Ltd(688779) said that the purchase price of raw materials such as nickel sulfate and lithium carbonate follows the market pricing, and the product sales price adopts the mode of raw material cost plus processing fee, which reflects the rise of raw materials in the product price, so as to maintain the processing profit of the company within a reasonable level.
Zhang Xiaorong said, “the upstream price increase increases the downstream costs, which will erode the downstream profits and cause the price increase of end products. If it is not controlled and guided, it will eventually exceed the market expectations, inhibit the expansion of market demand and reduce the speed of industrial development, which may affect the realization of national strategic planning.”
“In March, the prices of new energy vehicles have been raised one after another. It is expected that the raw materials will continue to be high or reduce the profit margin of the downstream.” Luo Xiaoli said that this round of price adjustment of new energy vehicles has basically transferred the rising cost of raw materials in 2021. However, if the price continues to rise in 2022, whether the price can be transmitted smoothly is also a problem. The first thing to bear the brunt is that the cost pressure of battery enterprises will be relatively large.
