AI ushered in a new wave of revolution, and artificial intelligence has risen, but who is the "first robot stock"? After this question was left unanswered, the answer was finally revealed in the anticipation of the stockholders.
Listing is not a "one-size-fits-all profit", and years of losses are still "exploring".
As early as 12 years ago, when people's concept of robots was not clear enough, UBTECH focused its main business on the research and development of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots, the development and application of platform software and product sales, and said that it is a global high-tech innovation enterprise, which is well deserved. However, focusing on the application-oriented R&D, forward-looking R&D and commercialization of artificial intelligence and robot core technologies, whether it is high-performance servo drives, computer vision, or robot operating system application framework ROSA, to achieve the successful advent of commercial service robots and personal home service robots, it takes a long process, behind which must be based on continuous investment and experiments. Continuous financing may not survive the successful launch of the product, and the company is already in danger.
Fortunately, the institutions that invested in UBTECH were full of patience and unique vision, and saw the day when artificial intelligence will rise, and a large number of robots are listed on the board of the times, even if the company was established in the first 10 years, it has been in continuous losses, but it is favored by investment institutions, and many star enterprises and capital predators are firm supporters behind it.
As of June 30, 2023, that is, in the first half of last year, UBTECH has sold a total of 760,000 robots and more than 10 humanoid robots in the three application scenarios of industrial manufacturing, commercial services and home companionship, but it has not achieved profitability so far. In the three years from 2020 to 2022, the company's revenue was 7400 million yuan, 81.7 billion yuan, 100.8 billion yuan, and the net profit was -70.7 billion yuan, -91.8 billion yuan, -98.7 billion yuan, while the humanoid robot business continues to increase, the loss is still expanding.
Although humanoid robots will contribute 51.84 million yuan in revenue in 2022, an increase of more than 3 times over the same period, the high technical barriers of humanoid robots have made the investment in research and development nearly 1.6 billion yuan, accounting for 56% of the average total income5%。Of course, the advantage of having 1,800 patents related to robotics and artificial intelligence also maintains a gross profit margin of more than 50% for its business, showing huge development potential and application space.
Rome was not built in a day, and robots are not so easy to replace humans, many years of "exploration", maybe waiting for the day of listing, but whether the listing can be profitable, the answer is actually full of many uncertainties.
Benchmarking peers, is UBTECH worth looking forward to?
Looking at the entire industry, UBTECH is not the only domestic enterprise that is developing and manufacturing robots, this industry has a huge space for application scenarios in the housekeeping market, business market and industrial production market, and the future application prospects in many fields such as medical care, education, and services are undoubtedly broader. After years of deep cultivation in this industry, UBTECH has technical advantages that are difficult for peers to match, but the cumulative loss is more than 3 billion, the profit has not yet come, the sales and marketing expenses are high, and the commercialization of new products and the development of new robots and artificial intelligence technologies are all unavoidable funding gaps.
On the surface, it has technical resources and years of industry accumulation advantages, but in fact, there are only 2 in the industry of intelligent service robot solutions8% market share, 64% and 4There is still a significant gap of 6%, while the fourth and fifth places behind it are respectively. 22% market share, the gap is very small. The outlook is very optimistic, but the pressure in the short term is not small, and it can even be said that the technology needs to be improved and the cost must be controlled, which is the key problem that needs to be solved urgently.
Compared with enterprises that have a complete industrial chain and independent R&D capabilities, and can occupy the entire industry process by themselves through their own technology and equipment, UBTECH's biggest advantage is the technology accumulation in hardware integration, control system, drive system and execution system. However, humanoid robots, which are still in the early stages of development, have high manufacturing costs and need to continuously improve their performance, so they will inevitably bear huge R&D expenses. There will be more challenges and difficulties that may be faced after listing, and short-term performance may plague market evaluation to a certain extent, but the long-term development potential is worth optimizing, and the valuation is not too high.