Earnings Labs

China Automotive Systems, Inc. (CAAS)

Q3 2016 Earnings Call· Thu, Nov 10, 2016

$4.43

-1.99%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+3.76%

1 Week

+8.27%

1 Month

+72.93%

vs S&P

+67.94%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the China Automotive Systems Third Quarter 2016 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host Dixon Chen. Thank you, Mr. Chen. You may begin.

Dixon Chen

Analyst

Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us today. Welcome to China Automotive Systems' Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us today are Mr. Qizhou Wu, Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Jie Li, Chief Financial Officer; Ms. Levine Rachel, Financial Manager of China Automotive Systems. They will be available to answer questions later in the conference call with the assistance of translation. Before we begin, I would remind all listeners that throughout this call, we may make statements that may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements represent the Company's estimate and assumptions only as of the date of this call. As a result, the company's actual results may differ materially from those contained in these forward-looking statements due to a number of factors including those described under the heading Risk Factors in the company's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2015 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2016, and in other documents filed by the company from time-to-time with the Securities Exchange Commission. The Company expressly disclaim any duty to provide updates to any forward-looking statements made in this call whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. On this call, I will provide a brief overview and summary of financial results for the third quarter and nine months of 2016, then I will turn the call over to the management to conduct a question-and-answer session. Then the following 2016 third quarter and six months results are unaudited; and these results are reported under the US GAAP. For the purpose of our call today, I will review financial results in US dollars. We will begin with an overview with the recent dynamics of the automotive industry and China Automotive Systems' market position. Overall unit vehicle sales in China grew…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now be conducting the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of William Gregozeski with Greenridge Global. Please proceed with your question.

William Gregozeski

Analyst

Hi, guys. What's the new revenue guidance? Can you just talk about where you see the growth coming from in the sales for the fourth quarter? And then just looking into next year where you see the growth coming from? [Foreign Language]

Qizhou Wu

Analyst

[Foreign Language] Okay. For the fourth quarter, we are seeing our EPS, Electric Power Steering product growth is accelerating and our traditional hydraulic product sales is also having some good growth. Another area where we see growth is in the commercial vehicle sector. [Foreign Language] As we mentioned earlier, those area, we're experiencing good growth. What's driving this, there are three factors: first is Tier-3/Tier-4 city. Organization is continuing and we see those new urban centers. There are more people from those area buying cars. We believe those markets still have quite a bit room to grow and for the auto sales; secondly, as we mentioned earlier, purchased tax reduction introduced by Chinese government since early this year, still ongoing and that has been a benefiting factor for not above auto buyers to come in before the end of the year. That's also driving growth; and thirdly in the commercial vehicle sector, they are a lot more regulation coming in whether from emission perspective or from overloading perspective. We're seeing more astringent regulation in that area where are positively affecting commercial vehicle sales. [Foreign Language] Looking to 2017, we are cautiously optimistic and that we think the market probably will continue with a moderate growth of 10% overall market and auto industry will remain an integral part of growth engine as we all know Chinese economy still experiencing some difficulty to raise reasonable growth. So that being said, we see there's a possibility in auto purchase tax reduction may continue 2017. And also with that kind of incentive as well as earlier mentioned urban area for Tier-3/Tier-4 market still have some room for growth. We think domestic China market will shape up okay 2017. For our international market, we have a few order book that's going to put us into a good track for growth in 2017. Overall in 2016, as being a decent year, our production level is running at a historical high.

William Gregozeski

Analyst

Okay. You mentioned the hydraulic as having some growth. Do you expect that to increase, or be flat, or still decline for 2017? [Foreign Language]

Qizhou Wu

Analyst

In 2017, the hydraulic product sales may experience a small decline. That's mainly due to the more increased adoption of EPS products and we are going to grow the EPS area as well.

William Gregozeski

Analyst

Okay. All right, thank you.

Dixon Chen

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sam [ph], a Private Investor. Please proceed with your question.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Hi. Congratulations on a good third quarter. I am a shareholder of CAAS. I have been holding those shares for quite a long time. I've seen the value of the shares decline dramatically. And a question for management is what is being done to improve the shareholders' value? Please share with us on a constant basis the news about your organization and your business model and tell us about any intentions if you're planning to pay dividends for shareholders. Thank you.

Dixon Chen

Analyst

Thank you. [Foreign Language] We also noticed the relatively soft stock price. We have announced and we have implemented share repurchase for one. Unfortunately, that's part of the rule. The repurchase that can only be 20% to 25% total volume on daily basis. It's limiting us buying more shares, but we have to be patient.

Qizhou Wu

Analyst

[Foreign Language] We are actually already been planning. We'll provide more updates of our business operation. We will provide more frequent updates of operations. In terms of dividends, there are a few things here we're seeing as more difficult. One is the more restricted foreign exchange on the Chinese government. It's going to be more difficult for us to move money from China. And secondly, withholding taxes and also a capital gain taxes for the dividend distribution, there are some more cost. We are seeing probably the share repurchases more effectively to increase shareholder value at the moment.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Thank you very much. Another follow-up question, please. What happened to the increase of reduction in Brazil? Quite a number of quarters ago, there was a part about opening a facility in Brazil producing some components or parts over there. Can you give us an update on that facility, please? [Foreign Language]

Qizhou Wu

Analyst

[Foreign Language] Yes. The resilient facility is up and running. Our initial design capacity was 300,000 units. However, due to the currency fluctuation in Brazilian real, depreciated quite a lot and so, we decided to scale back the size of [indiscernible] production from 300,000 units to 100,000 units.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

All right. Thank you.

Dixon Chen

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to the management for closing comments. End of Q&A:

Dixon Chen

Analyst

Thank you for attending China Automotive Systems Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. We look forward to speaking with you. Have a great day.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful day.