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26 Nov 2024
Chinese maker of automotive lidar sensors expects to post net earnings of $20M in closing quarter of 2024.
Hesai Technology, the Nasdaq-listed manufacturer of lidar units, has reported another sharp increase in shipments in its latest financial quarter - and says that it will post a healthy profit in the three months ending December 31.
The Shanghai company, which is ranked as a market leader in automotive lidar by analysts at Yole Intelligence, said it shipped just over 130,000 units in the third quarter - nearly three times the total recorded in the same period last year.
That didn’t translate to a similarly meteoric rise in sales revenues, which were up 20 per cent at $77 million, but CEO and co-founder Yifan “David” Li was able to report a much-reduced operating loss of $11 million, down from $22 million.
“OEMs at home and abroad have widely recognized lidar's essential safety features as a critical component in their holistic safety systems, similar to an ‘active’ seat belt or airbag,” Li commented.
“This quarter, we have made significant strides in the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) market, securing new design wins, partnerships, and development programs with key players, including a top-three OEM in Japan, SAIC Volkswagen, Leapmotor, and a premium electric vehicle brand backed by a leading Chinese automotive group.”
Shipment target
Li and his colleagues are confident that the current momentum will continue for the foreseeable future, with newly appointed CFO Andrew Fan suggesting that more records would be broken in the closing quarter of the year.
Fan told an investor conference call that lidar shipments are projected to reach 200,000 units in the December quarter, a figure that would be close to the firm’s annual total for 2023.
“Based on our current estimates, fourth quarter net revenues are expected to soar to nearly $100 million,” he said, along with an estimated quarterly net profit of around $20 million.
Fan added that he is anticipating a landmark finish to Hesai’s fiscal year, by becoming the first automotive lidar company to achieve full-year profitability - albeit using the "non-GAAP" accounting method that excludes certain costs.
Aside from the business progress, Hesai has been busy working on new products and Li said that the firm’s latest flagship product, the “OT128” 360-degree automotive-grade mechanical long-range lidar, is designed for scalable deployment in both robotaxi and industrial applications.
Hesai claims a point rate of 3.45 million per second and a 200 meter detection range at 10 per cent reflectivity for the new sensor.
“Lidar’s versatility, with applications in emerging areas such as industrial robotics, smart factories and logistics, continues to garner attention,” Li added.
If Hesai does hit its 200,000 unit shipment target in the current quarter, it will mean that the company will be closing in on annual shipments of half a million for 2024 - more than double the figure of 222,000 in 2023, and 80,000 in 2022.
• Investors responded well to the outlook from Hesai, with the firm's stock price soaring in value by more than 60 per cent on the Nasdaq shortly after the latest figures were released.
Currently trading close to a year-long high of just under $8, the stock now equates to a market capitalization in the region of $1 billion.
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