SEP(600021) 国信证券·2024-10-31 09:42Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is "Outperform the Market" [5][18]. Core Views - The coal power sector's profitability continues to improve, with a significant increase in net profit for the third quarter of 2024. The company achieved a net profit of 2.459 billion yuan, up 66.57% year-on-year, driven by enhanced efficiency in coal power operations and accelerated green transition initiatives [1][6][15]. - The company is actively developing new coal and renewable energy projects, which are expected to further enhance its performance. Current projects under construction have a total capacity of 6 million kilowatts, and the renewable energy segment is expanding with new installations [2][14]. Summary by Sections Financial Performance - For the first three quarters of 2024, the company reported operating revenue of 32.566 billion yuan, a 3.41% increase, and a net profit of 2.459 billion yuan, reflecting a 66.57% increase. The third quarter alone saw operating revenue of 12.445 billion yuan (+11.13%) and net profit of 1.132 billion yuan (+67.57%) [1][6][15]. - The company's gross margin improved to 25.25%, an increase of 2.07 percentage points, primarily due to lower coal prices reducing fuel costs [11]. Power Generation - In the third quarter of 2024, the company generated 156.16 billion kWh from coal power (+3.95%), 33.03 billion kWh from gas power (+28.48%), 21.92 billion kWh from wind power (+20.52%), and 20.08 billion kWh from solar power (+21.62%) [1][7][14]. Future Outlook - The company has a robust pipeline of coal power projects, including the Caoyang Comprehensive Energy Center Phase II and the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Power Plant expansion, which are expected to enhance profitability upon completion [2][14]. - The renewable energy segment is also set to grow, with an additional 454,100 kW of solar capacity added in the first three quarters of 2024, bringing the total installed renewable capacity to 9.4102 million kW [14]. Valuation - The company is projected to achieve net profits of 2.7 billion yuan, 2.92 billion yuan, and 3.08 billion yuan for 2024, 2025, and 2026, respectively, with corresponding EPS of 0.96, 1.04, and 1.09 yuan. The current stock price corresponds to a PE ratio of 10.0, 9.2, and 8.7 for the respective years [15][16].