<Research>CLSA: CHINA LIT (00772.HK) Achieves Record Core IP & Online Business Profit; Target Price Raised to $42.3
Profit Alert and Impairment: CHINA LIT issued a profit alert indicating a significant impact on nominal net profit due to one-off goodwill impairment and losses from New Classics Media.
Future Profit Projections: CLSA forecasts that adjusted net profit from core IP and online business will reach a new high of RMB 1 billion by 2025, signaling a breakthrough in IP monetization.
Target Price Adjustment: CLSA raised its target price for CHINA LIT from $40 to $42.3 while maintaining an Outperform recommendation, reflecting confidence in the company's future performance.
Industry Context: Amid concerns over 'AI disruption', the mini-drama industry and IP owners are expected to benefit, suggesting a defensive stance in the entertainment sector.
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Profit Alert and Impairment: CHINA LIT issued a profit alert indicating a significant impact on nominal net profit due to one-off goodwill impairment and losses from New Classics Media.
Future Profit Projections: CLSA forecasts that adjusted net profit from core IP and online business will reach a new high of RMB 1 billion by 2025, signaling a breakthrough in IP monetization.
Target Price Adjustment: CLSA raised its target price for CHINA LIT from $40 to $42.3 while maintaining an Outperform recommendation, reflecting confidence in the company's future performance.
Industry Context: Amid concerns over 'AI disruption', the mini-drama industry and IP owners are expected to benefit, suggesting a defensive stance in the entertainment sector.

Nomura Upgrade: Nomura upgraded CHINA LIT (00772.HK) to a Buy rating, raising the target price from $33 to $47 due to a positive outlook for its short drama and animation drama business.
Market Performance: The stock saw an increase of +2.140 (+5.585%) with significant short selling activity amounting to $123.25M and a ratio of 18.733%.
Company Overview: CHINA LIT operates one of the largest online literature platforms in mainland China, benefiting from a large user base and a strong community of writers.
Revenue Growth: The company has built a substantial portfolio of high-quality intellectual properties (IPs), with its online reading business providing consistent cash flow and the IP operation business driving revenue growth.

Market Performance: The HSI rose by 83 points (0.3%) to 27,266, with the HSCEI and HSTECH also showing gains, closing at 9,268 and 5,499 respectively, and total market turnover reaching HKD217.218 billion.
Stock Highlights: SENSETIME-W and PONY-W saw increases of 2.9% and 2.6%, while HESAI-W surged by 7.9%. Conversely, YOFC dropped by 5.7% after being added to the MSCI China Index.
Tech Sector Movements: SMIC fell by 2.2% despite a significant YoY profit increase, while other tech stocks like TENCENT and BABA-W experienced slight declines, whereas KINGSOFT CLOUD and KINGDEE INT'L saw notable gains.
Auto and Gold Stocks: Auto stocks led the market with XIAOMI-W and BYD COMPANY rising significantly, aided by new EU tariff exemptions for Chinese electric vehicles. Gold stocks also performed well, with several companies experiencing gains of 2.8% to over 9%.

US Retail Sales and Market Response: December retail sales in the US fell short of expectations, while the DJIA rose 0.1% amid speculation of a potential rate cut.
Hong Kong Market Performance: The Hong Kong stock market saw gains, with the HSI up 116 points (0.4%) and notable increases in the HSCEI and HSTECH indices.
Stock Movements and Short Selling: Significant short selling activity was reported, particularly for companies like SMIC and CHINA LIT, which experienced stock price declines despite some companies reporting profit increases.
Automakers' Stock Surge: Automakers led the market gains, with companies like Xiaomi and NIO seeing substantial stock price increases following positive developments in tech innovation and profit forecasts.

Profit Warning: CHINA LIT's profit warning indicates a non-IFRS adjusted net profit of RMB800-900 million for last year, falling short of expectations from Citi and the market.
Loss Forecast for NCM: Citi predicts that New Classics Media (NCM) may incur a loss in FY25 due to delays in drama content releases, contrasting with earlier expectations of profit.
Lowered Non-NCM Profit Estimate: The anticipated profit from non-NCM businesses is now estimated at RMB1 billion, slightly below Citi's previous forecast of RMB1.08 billion.
Citi's Rating and Target Price: Despite the challenges, Citi maintains a Buy rating for CHINA LIT with a target price set at HKD38.

ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 Launch: The introduction of the Seedance 2.0 video model by ByteDance signifies a pivotal shift in the entertainment industry, heralding the rise of AI-generated content (AIGC) across various video formats.
Impact on Content Creation and Distribution: This model democratizes story visualization, potentially transforming content creation and distribution dynamics, which may challenge existing players to adapt and monetize new content effectively.
Benefits for Mini-Drama Industry: The mini-drama sector and IP owners are likely to see short-term advantages due to their resilience, with companies like CHINA LIT poised to capitalize on the demand for mid- to long-tail intellectual properties.
Intense Global Competition: The competitive landscape for generative video models is fierce, with over ten major companies, including Google, OpenAI, and KUAISHOU-W, striving for market leadership.



