[ET Net News Agency, 10 April 2018] Citi Research cut its target price for BYD Company
(01211) to HK$75.9 from HK$97.8 factoring in BYD's cautious 1Q guidance and a more
conservative Skyrail assumption, and reiterated its "buy" rating.
The research house expects BYD's net NEV subsidy to turn back into positive YoY growth
in 2Q-4Q with an improving margin trend by assuming (1) BYD is able to maximize NEV
subsidies by allocating 1Q-4Q NEV sales as % of FY2018 at 17.3%/19.9%/28.9%/33.8%; (2) a
more positive FY2018 volume assumption with 351k units for ICE vehicles, 15k NEV buses,
and 160k NEV PVs; (3) NEV Bus FY18 retail ASP (ex-subsidy) to hike 5.3% YoY; (4) blended
battery cost per KWh to fall 14.3% YoY.
Over the longer term, Citi expects BYD to benefit from a better cost structure than its
peers such as Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Guoxuan High-tech (Shenzhen:
002074). (KL)