Ophthalmology company Aibo Medical's profitability continues to soar.

According to the performance report, in 2024, Aibo Medical (688050. SH) operating income was 1.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.22%; net profit was 387 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.36%.

Looking at the fourth quarter alone, the net profit was 69.57 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.76%, and the growth rate returned to more than 30%.

Since its landing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, Aibo Medical's net profit has increased significantly year by year. In fact, since 2018, Aibo Medical's net profit has increased from 20.31 million yuan to 387 million yuan, soaring for 7 consecutive years and an 18-fold increase in seven years.

Some people may ask, if the performance is so good, why doesn't the stock price rise?

There are two main reasons:

First, digest high valuations; Second, the collective negative of the medical device industry, that is, the ghost story of centralized procurement, always exists!

Aibo Medical's listing time was July 2020, when both the medical and new energy sectors were highly sought after.

In this context, the price-earnings ratio of Aibo Medical reached 55 times, the first day of listing rose as high as 648%, and then rose to 171.3 yuan per share in one go, and the price-earnings ratio once exceeded 500 times.

So, valuation regression is inevitable.

The other is policy risk.

Since 2021, not only Aibo Medical, but also the entire pharmaceutical and medical device industry has encountered the ghost story of centralized procurement, and the performance of many companies has deteriorated.

Let's put it this way, under the negative factors such as medical insurance cost control, centralized procurement, and anti-corruption, investors avoid medical devices, especially the ophthalmology sector.

At the performance level, the decline in net profit growth has exacerbated this concern to a certain extent.

In 2021, it will increase by 77.45% year-on-year;

In 2022, it will increase by 35.84% year-on-year;

In 2023, it will increase by 30.6% year-on-year;

In 2024, it will increase by 27.36% year-on-year.

As a result, there is a concern in the market, that is, under the influence of centralized purchasing, will the company's profitability shift from high growth to slow growth, or even negative growth?

To answer this question, let's start with the company's main business.

Founded in 2010, Aibo Medical is an innovative enterprise in the field of ophthalmic medical devices, with core products of intraocular lenses and orthokeratology lenses (OK lenses).

Focus on the intraocular lens business.

In July 2014, Aibo Medical's "Pronomine" intraocular lens was approved for marketing, which is the first foldable aspheric refractive intraocular lens with completely independent intellectual property rights in China.

Benefiting from factors such as artificial aging and consumption upgrading, as a rigid consumable for cataract surgery, the sales of "Promine" intraocular lens have grown rapidly, which has driven the take-off of Aibo Medical's performance.

However, it is also inevitably affected by the impact of centralized procurement. At present, centralized procurement has been basically implemented across the country, resulting in a decrease in the unit price of intraocular lenses.

However, behind the panic, it is not as bad as imagined.

First of all, although the unit price has decreased, the gross profit margin of intraocular lenses is still close to 90% and has not declined; Secondly, in the intraocular lens market, foreign companies almost monopolize the market, and with the improvement of the technical level of domestic brands, domestic substitution is accelerating; In addition, there are 180 million cataract patients in China, and with the deepening of the aging population, this number will continue to grow, in this context, the market is far from saturated.

Let's talk about OK mirrors.

The launch time of Aibo Medical's OK mirror product "Punuo Tong" is 2019, and after experiencing initial rapid growth, the industry growth has slowed down with the intensification of market competition.

In 2023, the year-on-year growth rate of sales revenue of "Punuo Tong" will be 26.03%; In the first half of 2024, the growth rate slowed to 6.89%. The market hopes that OK Mirror can become the second growth point, but at present, this business is facing more and more challenges.

However, considering that there are more than 700 million myopic people in China, OK lenses are still one of the best ways to treat myopia, and the dividends have not completely dissipated.

In addition, Aibo Medical is also cultivating new businesses.

In 2023, the company's "contact lens" revenue will be 136 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1504.78%, accounting for 14.36% of operating income; In the first half of 2024, the revenue of this business will be 183 million yuan, exceeding the full year of the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 956.92%, and the proportion of operating income will increase to 26.76%.

According to the performance report, this business has turned a profit!

Finally, Aibo Medical is a R&D-driven ophthalmic medical device company, and in the company's research projects, in addition to intraocular lenses and OK lenses, there are also a variety of medical aesthetic products such as sodium hyaluronate gel.

In 2020, Aibo Medical's price-to-earnings ratio once reached 500 times, and today, this figure is less than 50 times. If the valuations of the year were crazy enough, the valuation level of today has returned significantly.

It's just that the market is always buying more and more, and turning a blind eye to cost-effective things.

(Redirected from: Bubble Finance).