Earnings Labs

Zepp Health Corporation (ZEPP)

Q4 2020 Earnings Call· Mon, Mar 15, 2021

$16.96

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for Zepp Health's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Ms. Grace Zhang, Director of Investor Relations for the company. Please go ahead, Grace.

Grace Yujia Zhang

Analyst

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Zepp Health Corporation's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Earnings Conference Call. The company's financial and operating results were issued in our press release via newswire services earlier today and are posted online. You can also view the earnings press release and the slides through which we will refer on this call by visiting the IR section of the company's website at www.zepp.com/investor. Participating in today's call are Mr. Huang Wang, our Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Leon Cheng Deng, our Chief Financial Officer. The company's management will begin with prepared remarks, and the call will conclude with a Q&A session. Mr. Mike Yeung, our Chief Operating Officer, will join us for the Q&A session. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, and other filings as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. Please also note that Zepp's earnings press release and this conference call include decisions of our audited GAAP financial information as well as our audited non-GAAP financial information. Zepp's press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited most directly comparable GAAP measures. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. Huang Wang. Please go ahead.

Wang Huang

Analyst

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. 2020 was a remarkable year for all of us. Yet with all the severe disruptions brought by the global pandemic, I'm pleased to report we recorded full year revenue growth on a year-over-year basis of 10.7%, and total shipment volume rose 8% for the year, reached 45.7 million units, especially our self-branded products, which rose 20%, reached 4.7 million units. These results are despite a fourth quarter tempered by COVID's impact in several of the international markets we serve. Specifically in Q4, our revenue dipped by 6.6%, and total shipment volume fell 9.5%, both on a year-over-year basis. We should highlight, however, against the challenges, our own brands achieved 31.3% shipment growth in the fourth quarter and continuously strengthened market leadership in countries and regions, such as Indonesia and Spain, which we still ranked #1 in terms of adult smartwatch shipment. As vaccinations worldwide have begun rolling out in [ March ] we are confident that our business will rise again should in both revenue and shipment volume in 2021, especially our own branded watches, which will become the main engine for the business to grow. Our solid full year results bear evidence to the soundness of our strategy of connecting health with technology, the broad appeal of our smart health products and services, and our adaptability to execute in a rapidly changing environment. In 2020, we made significant strides in building out our strategy of connecting health with technology. Notably, we identified 3 pillars that will function and be developed as the framework for our business. These are consumer health technology, data analytics and industrial health. I would like to take a few minutes to explain this now. Consumer health technology is the backbone of our business. Our products and services…

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

Thank you, Huang. I'm going to drill down from 1 full year view to talk specifically about the fourth quarter. As I did last quarter, I want to provide some specific color, commentary on just a few key metrics. Starting with sales. From my perspective, the company had a great quarter despite renewed impact of the COVID virus, reinstituting lockdowns in some of our key European markets for the important holiday period. Our unit sales were up in most of these markets, but they were up not as much as we believe they would have been otherwise. In addition, a second COVID-related impact on the quarter was product deliveries delays in China with some of our new products in the quarter. As a result, Q4 revenue from our own Amazfit and Zepp branded products was up 25% year-over-year, which we believe could have been even stronger. The third and the largest factor pushing our numbers to the lower end of our guidance range was that sales of Xiaomi products were not as robust as we had hoped for, resulting in a 21% decrease in revenue in the quarter compared to 2019. We believe consumer anticipation of Xiaomi's new model may have factored into this effect. These effects together translated into Q4 revenue of RMB 1.97 billion compared to our guidance range of RMB 1.95 billion to RMB 2.15 billion. One of the important takeaways of the quarter is that we saw strong product sales performance across our pricing spectrum from the higher end to the value priced. For example, of our own branded smartwatch and band products, the more fashion-oriented GT series, in which the new model sell for USD 180 comprised 41% of the smartwatch and band unit shipments in the quarter. Sales of our basic smartwatch series Bip…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Clive Cheung from Crédit Suisse.

Ho Fung Cheung

Analyst

My first question in regards to, I guess, the lower-than-expected sales in fourth quarter. I think Leon mentioned that partly it was due to the, I guess, waiting for the new generation of the products. So the question is, do you see this as an extension of the replacement cycle, the risk to your company? And if there is any structural change in the demand? That's my first question.

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

Clive, I think I can take this question. The answer to your question is no, right? So as I just explained in the script, Xiaomi's sales drop for this quarter is very much driven by, number one, COVID, especially in the international markets; and number two, there's certain expectation on the new products, which is going to be launched very soon, right? So from that perspective, I think what we experienced in Q4, we think it's very much a seasonality pattern rather than a structural issue. I guess, I mean, our forecast for 2021 and also for Q1 the outlook reflects that point. And also, we believe we should have a solid 2021 based on what we prepared in Q4 and Q3 for the product introductions.

Ho Fung Cheung

Analyst

Okay. Just a follow-up to that question, I guess. Could you remind us what is the current split in terms of geography for new band products?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

I think the Xiaomi products, I think China remains as a key market for the Xiaomi products and also the international market is playing a bigger and bigger role. I think, overall, if you take our own self-branded and Xiaomi products together, Europe and the international market overtakes the Chinese market as our biggest region of sales.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Andre Lin from Citigroup.

Ang-Chi Lin

Analyst

And I have a question regarding the recent acquisition of Yitong. Can you please share with us your strategy or your plan on the new acquisition and the timetable if possible?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

Yes. Maybe I will answer this question. I will take this one, again, Andre. So there's a few things on, Yitong? So number one, Yitong is actually a minority stake investment, which we had invested in January. So it's not a Q4 event, it's rather than a Q1 event. And then we also don't consolidate Yitong in our financial results. And number two, Yitong has its own core business. And I'm not sure if you have noticed that they recently, I think it's last week, published their annual result and then the net income of Yitong actually in 2020 grew by more than 20% versus 2019. And the third thing, which I want to mention here is also very much in line with what we disclosed before. We want to leveraging -- the rationale behind taking this minority stake in Yitong is that we want to leveraging that health's core capabilities as well as Yitong access to Chinese domestic capital market. And then by join hand, Zepp and Yitong we're going to expand the health care ecosystem for China market in the longer term, right? I think that's everything we can say about it at this moment.

Ang-Chi Lin

Analyst

And I have a follow-up question. And given you have provided your sales guidance for the first quarter. Can you please also share with us unit forecast or current status in the first 2 months of this year? And also the -- when do you think the contribution of the new generation of [indiscernible] were picking. And so that will drive the seasonal sales in this year?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

Yes. So I think we have guided -- we have given the outlook for 2021 Q1, and you just heard that. Last year, at the same period, I think our turnover was around RMB 1.09 billion. And then this year, we guide around CNY 1 billion to CNY 1.15 billion. So we think there's a high chance that our revenue is going to fall between this range. And the first 2 months trend actually provides some confidence on this outlook, right? And looking at the Xiaomi's new product, I cannot say too much about the exact timing. But the only thing I can tell you is that this MI Band 6 is coming out very, very soon.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from [ Joe Lee from Investor Securities ].

Meng Cao

Analyst

Congratulations on this quarter performance in spite of the unfavorable environment. I have several questions to follow-up. My first question is about house monitoring. Could the management team give us more color on how we operate with insurance companies, like social insurance or even hospitals? I think this could be a potentially huge market.

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

I could -- Mike to answer.

Yan Yeung

Analyst

Yes. This is Mike Yeung, yes. Yes, let me try to answer the question. Yes. So as Wang mentioned in the script, the data analytics is one of our strengths, pillar, especially the PAI technology and algorithm, which we acquired. When we work with the insurance companies, basically PAI can provide value in at least a couple of ways. First is PAI can help increase customer engagement for the insurance companies. Because monitoring the PAI score, PAI Health is a -- can be a customer engagement tool to increase the customer engagement for the insurance company. Secondly, because PAI is scientifically proven with many years of study and large calculation, insurance companies can use PAI score as a factor in their actuary formula to help in their underwriting, whether it's for health insurance or for life insurance, both can use the a PAI score to help them improve their underwriting. So this is a second way that the -- we're working with insurance companies to integrate the PAI technology. And also, Gen Re, we mentioned earlier, has given a -- make a lot of study and published that the PAI score is a very effective tool for both of these services from insurance companies. Does that answer your question?

Meng Cao

Analyst

Yes. Yes. And my second question is that it's easy to understand the company's advantage in -- to be market things since company's product resembles third-party hardware supplier with leading technology. However, I wonder how to build a stronger brand recognition? And what is the target shipment or revenue mix between Xiaomi and self-branded products?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

Yes. That's a good question. Now -- so I think you have seen our 20-F in 2019, the current weight between Xiaomi and self-branded products is around 70%/30% from an absolute revenue value perspective, right? And I think in gradually throughout the year, we're seeing this trend gradually moving for more self-branded products in the weight versus Xiaomi, although the moving is gradual, right? So because Xiaomi was such a big contribution factor to our top line and any move for our self-branded product to gain the weight to actually require the self-branded products sales or revenue growth to be double or triple the Xiaomi growth rate in order to change that mix, right? So to answer your question, I think starting from Q3 and going into Q4 and Q1, we're seeing this self-branded product mix in the overall sales mix taking place. So the self-branded products as an overall company's portfolio has gradually gaining weight. But as I just mentioned, any changes to a significant amount will require a few quarters for you to see such significant or structural change.

Meng Cao

Analyst

Okay. Got it. And my third question is about the paying rate of your health service? Or could you share us the current paying rate and how this rate would go up in the future? And how would that contribute to our revenue mix?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

I think it's -- as we mentioned before, most of these services or health services, are -- there are 2 things. One is actually the PAI Health and the prudential and the Gen Re type of insurance tech type of a cooperation. So these type of -- the revenue out of these type of services is going to come up in second half of 2021 based on our latest forecast, right? And then if you're talking about the more industrial health, as what we mentioned today, early on in the script, the investments of the x-ray machines, MRI machines, that's going to be a long-term investments. And it's going to be very much self-sustaining like the business model of white labeling, right? And in order for you to see a significant revenue of that part of the business coming up, probably, it's going to be a year out. So probably you will see something coming up in early 2022 or mid-2022. That's our best estimation at this moment in time.

Meng Cao

Analyst

Okay. Got it. And I have one last question is how is the shipment rolling off second-generation of Huangshan? And would the industrial shortage impact the supply of our chips?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

I think we cannot disclose the specific information on a product line. But as we mentioned in the script early on that the Huangshan-2 to is being rolling out to all the self-branded of our products as we go, right? So that progress is being carried out as we speak. And then yes, we also have noticed that there's a shortage of the IC chips across the industry. And for that reason, we're also piling up some of the inventories for the key components of the IC chips also for our smartwatch products. So you will see a little bit of that in the inventory number of our balance sheet probably in Q1.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from Jacky He from China Renaissance.

Jiayu He

Analyst

And I only have 1 question for the next quarter or the whole year. Could you give us some guidance on the shipments and ASP for Xiaomi and self-branded product?

Leon Cheng Deng

Analyst

Yes. No. So I think we have already given the outlook for Q1. And then on the full year basis, normally, we don't give that outlook. But I think based on what we see and also there's a caveat how bad the COVID in the international market and how fast we can resume the back to normal type of working pattern. We believe at this moment that the full year sales growth for the company overall, taking the Xiaomi plus, the self-branded products should be at least at the same pace of the growth rate of 2020, if not more, right? On the ASP part, ASP is actually one of those metrics that is affected by timing of product introductions and seasonality as well as the product mix changes. So we want to be very careful about its use. So for the full year, if you look at the combined ASP, it declined slightly versus last year, versus 2019, the ASP for Xiaomi products for the year flat, and the ASP for our own branded products was up dramatically. So -- and we think the ASP trend for our own branded products will continue to expand in the coming quarters. I hope that, to some extent, answers your question?

Operator

Operator

As there are no further questions, I'd like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.

Grace Yujia Zhang

Analyst

Thank you, once again. Thank you, once again, for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Zepp's Investor Relations department. This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.