Earnings Call Transcripts
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for Huami Corporation's Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. 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 Zhang: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Huami Corporation's third quarter 2020 earnings conference call. The company's financial and operating results were issued in a press release via newswire services earlier today and are posted online. You can also view the earnings press release and the slides to which we will refer on this call by visiting the IR section of the company's website at www.huami.com/investor.
Huang Wang: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings conference call today. We are pleased to report another quarter of solid financial results, highlighted by revenue growth of 20% year-over-year that exceeded our expectation, despite supply issues due to the COVID-19, that's partially dampened result. Our top line result were complemented by bottom line plus visibility, together this testifies to the resilience of our portfolio of smart health products and services, as well as our efficient product development capability. We have launched five new smartwatch products in the third quarter. I'm pleased with our development pace. Through agile development processes, our teams executed according to plan. And our product portfolio is well positioned for the global history -- holiday this season. Innovation has always been the core of our DNA. It drives our R&D development and supports our comprehensive health and fitness ecosystem. Reflecting this, we recorded a number of new product upgrades and launches in the third quarter. In September, we upgraded our most popular product line, the GTS and GTR smart watches, with numerous technology enriched functionalities.
Leon Cheng Deng: Thank you, Wang. I'm excited to join the Huami family. I believe that with my global consumer health experience, I can help the company focus and manage its sustainable growth. Huami has grown very fast and has many opportunities on both the health and fitness sector and consumer industrial side of healthcare.
Operator: Thank you. We’ll now begin the question-and-answer session. The first question today comes from Kyna Wong of Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Kyna Wong: Thanks. Thanks for taking my questions. I have like maybe two to three questions. So, the first one is actually wanted to ask just in the gross margin. Because I also -- I heard that the overall product mix is the main reason. But do you think that this is also more long lasting issue going into fourth quarter, and also the first half next year? Because we also see some industry pushing more -- pushing harder to the -- for those promotions and also launching product in the IoT business. So, I think they want to drive the recovery in the IoT business for the second half and also next year. And so, would this becomes more like long lasting, I mean into coming quarters in terms of these like Xiaomi product mix issue? And I also want to check if there's any impact from the currency, the ForEx change in terms of the margin, because we also see the RMB appreciation in the past quarter. And going forward, any impact on this? That's the first related to the gross margin first question. The second one is about the -- I would say the sales -- the overall -- because I -- we see this sales and marketing and also the R&D expenses continue to increase. But the -- a mess is out is that tradetaking some time to pick up, and of course, some is due to the COVID-19. But how to like -- how could we expect that the investment in the R&D and also sales and marketing can be harvesting in the future? So, yeah, I just wanted to check this. Thanks.
Leon Cheng Deng: Okay. Thank you very much. Those are good questions. So let me try to answer the first question first, right? On the gross margin, I think, you're right that it is always Xiaomi's goal to provide high-quality cost-effective products to the end customers and we continue to also pack cutting-edge functionalities and sensors into our products, right? That's also why we keep on selling our products better always than the next -- the previous generation, right? So, it is true that the gross margin from the Xiaomi Band 5 is actually lower than the previous generation last year. However, we're actually looking for scale and operating leverage from the Xiaomi products. Right? On the other hand, you also noticed that our own brand sales, is also picking up, right? And our own brand sales is actually -- carries a relatively high gross margin compared to Xiaomi product, right? So in the end, with the effort of the product shipments of our own brands and also the continued growth of the Xiaomi product in the next year, we, at least, expect the gross margin to stay at the current level if -- and maybe in the second half of next year to expand a little bit. I think that answers on the gross margin part. On the currency part, I think we're more looking at a natural hedge situation because in the end, we sell quite a bit of the products overseas and we receive dollars. And also most of our purchase are also paid in dollars. So in this case, setting along the Chinese market because that is not subject to currency fluctuation on the foreign exchanges of the dollar impact, I think it's relatively minimal to us. So I don't see any big adverse currency impact coming out of dollars. So I guess that concludes on the gross margin part. To coming back on your question on OpEx, right? I think we are always a long-term kind of thinking and we apply to that to our management and how we manage our business going forward, right? So there's some saying says never waste a crisis, right? So in this time we try to invest ahead of time and try to build that foundation for our product launches for next year and also to build network of our distributions and channels overseas for next year. We believe that when the coronavirus is little bit getting away then it is good – and that probably is going to be in second half of next year that will be the time that we will see a rebound of our performance.
Operator: Thank you. The next question comes from Joe Hui of Industrial Securities. Please go ahead.
Joe Hui: Okay. Thanks for taking my question. My first question is could the health monitor function turn smartwatches and smart bands into a more widely used device like TWS earphone? And what are the core barriers of these two kinds of products? Do we have some medical certification that differentiate our products from others? And that is my first question. Thank you.
Leon Cheng Deng: I think, probably I will be the person to answer your question again. Yes, we see adopting – consumers adopting more and more the usage of health monitoring functionalities of a smartwatch during the pandemic, right? So that's why you see also our competitors and all the usage of the data of the wrist are picking up, right? Whether or not they will become a TWS market? I think it's too early to tell. But as you see both Apple and other big brands, they are actually packing more and more functionalities like ECG and stuff like StO2 meds into their watches. I think it's a good sign and then also a trend on where the industry is moving, right? And yes, there's definitely a barrier to it because you have the difference between health and fitness device and medical device, right? And then I think on the medical device part we're on par if not better than our key competitors, right? And with regard to if there's any core barriers on the usage of such a data, I think the FDA approval and the medical devices approval is going to set us apart between a cash – health and fitness player and a serious health player which we want to be in the future.
Joe Hui: Okay. Okay, thank you. My second question is that as the last analyst mentioned, the R&D investments is relatively high in the past nine months this year, could management give more color on what we invest in and how can we improve the property of our device?
Leon Cheng Deng: Okay. Now so on the R&D actually, there's a lot of information which we could disclose a little bit more. And I would definitely refer you to the press releases which we did at the beginning of this year around April-May timeframe on, what we have invested I think, we have invested in AI, we have invested in a lot of new functionalities, which will be used in our next-generation products. And not to mention, that we have actually -- maybe you don't know, we almost refreshed all the product lines which we currently have for our own brands, by the end of this year. We have launched so many products in the course of this quarter, which should set us apart and also laid a great foundation for next year. I think that's just because of a few R&D investments which we did. And if you need to know more, please feel free to send a question to our IR contact. And then, we'll get back to you.
Joe Hui: Okay, okay. Thank you. And then, I have one last question. We've heard that, Huami have some cooperation with, maybe insurance company to promote our health care solution. Could the management share more details on that?
Leon Cheng Deng: I think we update…
Mike Yeung: Oh! Yes. Hi. This is...
Leon Cheng Deng: Okay, go ahead Mike.
Mike Yeung: Yeah. Okay. Sorry, Leon yeah. So, yes, so we -- regarding the insurance companies as you may have heard, we partner currently in Asia with Prudential Asia, where they are -- they contributed our Pie technology algorithm, into their Pulse app which is their consumer app, that will be launched in over 11 countries in Asia. And that's just the beginning of our partnership with them. We will also partner with them on data analysis and also cross-selling of products. And we are also working on, similar type of deals models, not only in Asia, but in U.S. and North America as well as Europe. And you will see announcements, soon that we have signed those deals yeah.
Joe Hui: Okay, okay. Thank you. And that’s all my questions.
Operator: The next question is a follow-up from Kyna Wong of Crédit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Kyna Wong: Hi. Thanks for taking my follow-up questions. So I noticed that there is a pretty high EBITDA large increase in the stock-based compensation in the third quarter just wanted to get more idea about the pattern going forward? We also expect certain -- I mean time thing that there will be some large stock-based compensation expenses, even though it will not really affect the adjusted earnings, but still wanted to know the -- I mean the pattern, I mean going forward? What should we expect on that end? And -- yeah and, will we -- shall we expect these similar levels in the fourth quarter as well?
Leon Cheng Deng: So I think the increase of this quarter is as what we mentioned in the press release, it's primarily due to the increase in share-based compensation which we give to a few key -- to some key employees', right? Whether or not, it's going to -- the same level is going to continue into Q4, I think at this moment, my answer is no, because the previous one which you saw, it's pretty much a one-off, which tied back to some incentive scheme which we had. At this moment to the best of my knowledge, I don't see anything in Q4 popping up.
Kyna Wong: Okay. Thanks.
Operator: Next question comes from Michelle Zhang of China Renaissance. Please go ahead.
Michelle Zhang: Hi. Thank you, management for taking my questions. I have two questions. The first one is, I want to know about the current development progress of the distribution channel expansion for Amazfit product? And that is my first question. Thank you.
Leon Cheng Deng: Excuse me can you repeat your first question?
Michelle Zhang: Yes. Sure. Sir, my first question is about the current status of the distribution channel expansion for Amazfit product?
Leon Cheng Deng: Okay. Now, I get it. So, we have actually very meaningful progress of the Amazfit product channel building in the third quarter. As we mentioned, our star products Bip S and GTS entered more than 2,800 Walmart stores in the third quarter. And we're also now serving more than 70 countries and our sales team covering different regions. We have a strong presence in the universal large platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Ali Express, where we also cooperated with a lot of local partners like Reliance in India and Svyaznoy in Russia. These are only just a few examples of our strong overseas channels. And we'll continue to strengthen our global distributions in the coming quarters.
Michelle Zhang: Okay. Thank you. And my second question is about the management outlook for the shipment growth of Xiaomi Band and also Amazfit products for next years? Thank you.
Leon Cheng Deng: Normally, we don't guide for the next year. But I can give you some flavor on what it is, right? I think, on a higher level, the global band market is becoming a relatively mature market. So we would anticipate the Mi Band product, the Xiaomi Band product shipment and ASP to somehow stabilize a little bit with moderate growth going forward. But on the other hand, you know the ASP of our own products, are much higher than those of the Xiaomi's. So, I would expect that our own product shipment will continue to grow, alongside with the gross margin expansion. So -- but however, I need to caution you that, the COVID-19 virus still has the impact on the global market and we don't know whenever that is going to stop. So therefore, there's still quite some uncertainties around that topic. I hope that answers your question. I'll give you at least some flavor on what it is.
Michelle Zhang: Yes, yes sure. Thank you, so much.
Operator: As there are no further questions, now I'd like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.
Grace Zhang: Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Huami's Investor Relations department. This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.
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