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Cautious Approach As Cycle's Top Is Not Far Ahead: Nguyen Khac Viet Bach, Analyst
Cautious Approach As Cycle's Top Is Not Far Ahead: Nguyen Khac Viet Bach, Analyst
• FY2016’s earning jump reflects a unique combination of 1) sharp Listing From Dec 2008
recovery in the underlying commodity 2) HSG’s cheap inventories – a Price as of 05 Apr 17 50,600
situation which unlikely to repeat this year. 52w High 52,300
• Management’s revenue expectation seems overly aggressive as it 52w Low 22,100
incorporate both aggressive volume growth and selling price increase. Market Capital (VND bn) 10,024
• There is a thin margin of safety in term of valuation Shares Outstanding (mm) 196.5
Total Revenue in VND bn vs Gross Margin Free Float (mm) 106.0
23.2% 15-Day Average Vol (‘000) 1,646.6
19.6% 19.0% 19.0% 18.1%
14.9%
16.6% T12M P/BV (x) 2.41
11.7% T12M P/E (x) 5.47
9.7%
8.0% 6.9%
EV / EBITDA (x) 5.64
21,089 20,966 Dividend Yield (%) 1.98
17,491 18,006
15,005 Net Debt / Equity (x) 1.26
11,257 12,620
Source : HSG, TVS
4,913 5,793
2,836 3,919 1-Year Price Performance (VND bn)
HSG VN Index
2009A 2010A 2011A 2012A 2013A 2014A 2015A 2016A 2017E Q1 2016 Q1 2017
160%
Gross Revenue Gross Margin
120%
Source: HSG Annual Reports, TVS’s estimate
80%
Recommendation
40%
We categorize HSG as a cyclical company with the most significant
competitive advantage being economies of scale – a diminishing edge as 0%
HSG has grown to become one of the largest local players. The Company
-40%
has little pricing power and its input cost is highly dependent on cost of
10/4/2016
4/4/2016
7/4/2016
1/4/2017
4/4/2017
35.9%
Source: Bloomberg, TVS
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2 Hoa Sen Group (HSG) – Initiation
Drop In Commodities Lower Both The Company’s Unit Cost And Selling Price
The most important Unlike its competitor Hoa Phat Group, HSG has to import most of its inputs
commodities affecting HSG’s and thus is more sensitive to change in commodity price
profitability are Iron Ore, Peking Orders of Key Commodities in Steel Manufacturing
Coking Coal and Hot-Rolled- Iron Ore
Coil Steel – all of which (“IO”)
rebound significantly in 2016 Coking Coal
but forecasted to trend down (“CC”)
going forward. Hot-Rolled-Coil
(“HRC”)
There are other key raw materials in steel manufacturing such as limestone or
scrap steel but our studies shows that the above-three have the highest
impact on steel companies’ fundamentals.
Monthly Prices Change (Base Year April 2013)
80.0% • FY2016: IO (+101.5%); CC (+154.0%); HRC (+61.9%)
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
0.0%
-20.0%
-40.0%
-60.0%
-80.0%
Apr-13 Sep-13 Feb-14 Jul-14 Dec-14 May-15 Oct-15 Mar-16 Aug-16 Jan-17
IO CC HRC
Source: Bloomberg, TVS
Going forward, the trend is not as favorable. Most analysts expect these
commodities’ price to correct over the next 2 years citing higher supply from
Australia miners and a slow down in China construction sector
Price 2017E 2018E
Hot-rolled-coil 560 NA
Historically, as commodities HSG management also forecasted Hot-rolled-coil price to drop as low as USD
price drops, lowering unit 400 in 2017 thus we expect HSG’s selling price will have to drop too and the
cost, so does HSG’s selling Company will have to make up with substantial volume to hit revenue target.
price. However, impact on
Gross Profit Drivers (% Change)
Gross Profit is ambiguous
30.0% 34.4%
without further assessment 26.0%
of HSG’s purchasing pattern 13.9%
17.9%
-5.5% -7.5%
-11.2% -11.0%
-7.2% -10.9% -15.4%
-24.2%
-47.5%
-50.2%
FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016
Price/Tons Unit Cost/Tons Spread
Source: Bloomberg, TVS
% Revenue Purchasing
Source: HSG’s Financial Reports, TVS
If HSG can accumulate inventories of HRC at low price, they will set the stage
for the next cycle explosive earning. In our opinion this is due to a double
effect. Low material cost not only allow HRC to buy cheap inventories, it also
incentivize steel demand. As we map the annualized change in HRC price onto
HSG’s purchasing cycle, an interesting pattern revealed.
Monthly Annualized Change in HRC Price
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
For commodity businesses
0.0%
such as HSG, profits stem
from prudent purchases -20.0%
-40.0%
-60.0%
Dec-09 Aug-10 Apr-11 Dec-11 Aug-12 Apr-13 Dec-13 Aug-14 Apr-15 Dec-15 Aug-16
The current situation resemble late 2009 and there is a high chance that
growth will slow down sharply over the next 2-3 years. Thus we advise
investors to put on their contrarian hat while investing in the sector as HSG’s
share, post purchasing made at low input cost, outperforms significantly.
The Company’s strategy to keep lowering price and stimulate volume has
limitation. We are also cautious of extrapolating recent result and prefer to
appreciate the nature of commodity market to mean-revert as supply and
demand balanced.
Source: HSG’s Annual Report, TVS (1) %Change in Vol/-%Change in Selling Price (2) Implied from
management’s forecast
Our model implies a slow deterioration of both sales growth and operating
cash flow margin.
As mentioned above a declining sales growth rate is in line with our view that
HSG’s economies of scale advantage has diminishing return while its pricing
power are often dictated by external factors such as trade policies and
supply/demand dynamic.
DCF model’s sensitivity analysis(1):
Source: TVS
Note: (1) The two most impact variables in our model is cash flow margin and revenue growth rate. We
control these variables by applying a constant decay rate. The basic assumptions are that growth will
slow down and margin revert to a trending up long term average during the forecast period
…thus we prefer local peers We select peer companies with comparable revenue size with HSG both within
in making comparison and Vietnam and APAC region. As per the comparable table above, there are two
their multiples implies that observations to be made: (1) HSG enjoyed an above average growth rate,
HSG is fairly priced margin and profitability relative to peers (2) The Company achieving this with
relative modest leverage.
We believe HSG should generally trade at a premium to its peers group.
However, the drawback is that the commodity cycle affects all companies in
the sector and every companies’ multiples will compress at the same time.
Please visit TVS Research on Bloomberg at <TVSJ> GO
7 Hoa Sen Group (HSG) – Initiation
Valuation Summary & Conclusion
Valuation Summary(1)
FCFE
We recommend a Hold rating
for HSG stock with a target
price of VND 51,100, implying Historical P/E
a +1.0% return, with dividend Historical EV/EBIT
unaccounted for
LP P/E
LP P/B
LP EV/EBITA
LP EV/Sales
LP EV/EBITDA
RP P/E
RP P/B
RP EV/EBITA
RP EV/Sales
RP EV/EBITDA
Min Point 25th Point Mid Point 75th Point Max Point
We thus recommend a NEUTRAL rating for HSG’s stock as of April 5th 2017
Key risks to valuation models
- Upward revision can be due to (1) Strong demand from construction sector
persist, leading to higher volume growth (2) The recent anti-dumping on
China imported steel allow HSG to capture more market shares
- Downward revision can be due to (1) Faster margin compressed from a
commodity crash (2) Higher interest rate pushing up HSG’s interest
expense while slowing down demand at the same time
DISCLAIMER
ANALYST CERTIFICATION
I, Nguyen Khac Viet Bach, hereby certify that the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect our
personal views about the subject securities or issuers. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or
will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.
DISCLAIMER
Copyright©2017 by Thien Viet Securities Joint-Stock Company (TVS). ALL RIGHT RESERVED. This research
report is prepared for the use of TVS clients and may not be redistributed, retransmitted or disclosed as a
whole or partially in any form or manner without the prior written consent of TVS. The information herein is
obtained from various sources and TVS does not guarantee its accuracy. Neither the information nor any
opinions expressed in this publication constitutes a buy or sell recommendation on any securities or
investment. TVS therefore does not take any responsibilities for any investor’s decisions.
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