常熟银行：业绩稳定高增，资产质量保持稳健

Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is "Buy" (maintained) [1][3]. Core Views - The company has demonstrated stable high growth in performance, with asset quality remaining robust. The net profit for the first half of 2024 increased by 19.6% year-on-year, while revenue grew by 12.0% [2][3]. - The company has a unique competitive advantage through its "Changnong Microloan Model," focusing on small and micro enterprises, which has led to a leading growth rate in performance compared to peers [3][22]. Summary by Sections Performance and Growth - In the first half of 2024, the company achieved revenue of 5.506 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.0%, with net profit reaching 1.734 billion yuan, up 19.6% [2][7]. - The growth in performance is attributed to several factors: 1. "Volume compensating for price," with net interest income forming the performance base, contributing 15.5 percentage points to performance [8]. 2. Investment income driving other non-interest income, contributing 5.5 percentage points [8]. 3. Cost optimization leading to an 11.1 percentage point positive contribution to profit [8]. 4. Increased provisioning impacting performance, with provisioning negatively affecting profit by 4.0 percentage points [8]. Credit and Deposit Trends - The total loans and advances reached 238.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%, with corporate loans growing by 14.0% and personal loans by 6.9% [10][12]. - The deposit balance increased by 16.7% year-on-year, driven primarily by a 26.6% growth in personal time deposits, indicating a trend towards more time deposits [12][13]. Asset Quality - The asset quality remains stable, with non-performing loan (NPL) ratios at 0.76%, slightly up from the end of 2023 [19][21]. - The company has a provisioning coverage ratio of 539%, indicating strong risk mitigation capabilities [21][22]. Future Outlook - The company is expected to maintain a high growth trajectory, with projected net profit growth rates of 17.4%, 16.0%, and 15.2% for 2024-2026 [3][22]. - The price-to-book (PB) ratios are forecasted to be 0.67, 0.60, and 0.54 for the same period [3][22].