Ming Yang
Analyst · Roth MKM. Please go ahead
Thank you, Anita. Hello, everyone. This is Ming Yang, CFO of Daqo New Energy. We appreciate you joining our earnings conference call today. We'll first go over the company's fourth quarter 2023 financial performance, then follow with our full-year 2023 financial results. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 were $477 million, compared to $484.8 million in the third quarter of 2023 and $864.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The decrease in revenue compared to the third quarter of 2023 was primarily due to decrease in sales volume, mitigated by increasing ASP. As Mr. Xu mentioned earlier, ASP for Q4 was $7.90 per kilogram, which was 3.8% above Q3 ASP of $7.68 per kilogram. Gross profit was $87.2 million, compared to $67.8 million in the third quarter of 2023 and $669 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Gross margin was 18.3%, compared to 14% in the third quarter of 2023 and 77% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase in gross margin compared to the third quarter of 2023 was primarily due to higher average selling price and lower production cost. Despite an 8% increase in silicon metal procurement costs in Q4, compared to Q3, we managed to reduce costs slightly due to improvements in utilization, as well as other improvements in manufacturing efficiency. SG&A expenses were $39 million, compared to $89.7 million in the third quarter of 2023 and $44 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. SG&A expenses during the fourth quarter includes $19.6 million in non-cash share-based compensation expense related to the company's share incentive plan, compared to $46.3 million in the third quarter of 2023. R&D expenses were $3.3 million, compared to $2.8 million in the third quarter of 2023 and $2.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. R&D expenses can vary from period-to-period reflect R&D activities that take place during the quarter. R&D activities for the quarter were primarily related to quality improvements and anti-product research. Foreign exchange loss was $0.8 million, compared to a gain of $3.1 million in the third quarter of 2023, and is attributed to the volatility and fluctuation in the USD, the CNY exchange rate during the quarter. Income from operations was $83.3 million, compared to $22.5 million in the third quarter of 2023 and $623 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Operating margin was 17.5%, compared to 4.6% in the third quarter of 2023 and 72.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Net income attributable to Daqo New Energy shareholders was $44.9 million, compared to net loss of $6.3 million in the third quarter of 2023, and net income of $332.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Earnings per basic ADS was $0.64, compared to loss per basic ADS of $0.09 in the third quarter, and earnings per basic ADS of $4.26 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Adjusted net income attributable to Daqo New Energy shareholders, which excludes non-cashier-based compensation costs, was $66 million, compared to $44 million in the third quarter of 2023 and $363 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Adjusted earnings per basic ADS was $0.94, compared to $0.59 in the third quarter of 2023 and $4.65 in the fourth quarter of 2022. EBITDA was $128.2 million, compared to $70 million in the third quarter of 2023, and $649 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. EBITDA margin was 26.9% compared to 14.5% in the third quarter of 2023 and 75% in the fourth quarter of ‘22. Now I will go over the company's full-year 2023 financial results. Revenue for 2023 was $2.3 billion, compared to $4.6 billion in 2022. The decrease was primarily due to lower polysilicon average selling prices and partially mitigated by higher sales volume. Gross profit was $920.7 million for 2023, compared to $3.4 billion in 2022. Gross margin was 39.9%, compared to 74% in 2022. The decrease in gross profit was primarily due to lower average selling price. SG&A expenses were $213 million, compared to $354 million in 2022. The decrease was primarily related to a reduction in non-cash share-based composition costs related to the company's share incentive plan. R&D expenses in 2023 were $10 million, compared to $10 million in 2022. Income from operations was $783.4 million, compared to $3 billion in 2022. Operating margin was 33.9%, compared to 66% in 2022. Net interest income was $52.3 million, compared to $14.5 million in 2022. The increase in interest income for 2023 was due to the company's higher cash balance at banks. Income tax expense was $174 million, compared to $577 million in 2022. Net income attributable to Daqo New Energy Corp shareholders for the full-year of 2023 was $421 million, compared to $1.8 billion in 2022. Earnings per basic ADS were $5.64, compared to $24 in 2022. Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to Daqo New Energy shareholders was $554 million, compared to $2.1 billion in 2022. Adjusted earnings per basic ADS were $7.42 in 2023, compared to $27.97 in 2022. EBITDA was $918.6 million, compared to $3.15 billion in 2022. EBITDA margin was 39.8%, compared to 68.4% in 2022. And now on the company's financial condition. As of December 31, 2023, the company had $3 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, compared to $3.28 billion as of September 30, 2023, and $3.5 billion as of December 31, 2022. At the end of 2023, the bank notes receivable balance was $116 million, compared to $275.8 million as of September 30, 2023 and $1.13 billion as of December 31, 2022. Notes receivable represent bank notes with maturity within six months. Now on the company's cash flow. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2023, net cash provided by operating activities was $1.61 billion, compared to $2.46 billion in the same period of 2022. And for the 12 months ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in investing activities was $1.19 billion, compared to $998 million in the same period of 2022. Net cash used in investing activities in 2023 primarily related to the company’s capital expenditures on the company’s 5A and 5B polysilicon expansion projects in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. And for the 12 months ended December 31 2023, net cash used in finance activity was $795 million, compared to $1.47 billion of net cash provided by financing activities in the same period of 2022. The net cash used to invest in finance activities in 2023 was primarily related to $486 million in share purchases and $303 million in dividend payments made by the company's subsidiary Xinjiang Daqo, to its minority shareholders on the China's Asia market. And that concludes our prepared remarks. We will now open the call to Q&A from the audience. Operator, please begin.