Why do we invest in this stock?
Hype? Well perhaps initially because we wanted to find the next BIDU, STP, First
Solar (Before all got hammered due to stock market correction). But after some
research, GA could be a decent investment.
"GA is a three-year-old
company and a new-comer to the Chinese online gaming industry, specializing in
MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games). Its first MMO game,
ZT Online, went into commercialization only in January 2006. However, this game
proved the company to be a super-runner. ZT Online was rated the most popular
online game in China in the same year by both IDC and game
players."
Sounded pretty good. Let's examine ZT Online.
ZT Online
sequential growth:
"Its first six months (following commercial launch)
brought in RMB 82.4M revenue and 43.5M net income. Each of the following two
six-month periods recorded three-digit sequential growth. Revenue for the second
six-month period (ending December 2006) increased by 296% sequentially to RMB
326.1M and net income increased by 362% sequentially to 201.1M. Then the third
six-month period (ending June 2007) saw sequential revenue growth of 111% to RMB
687.5M and sequential net income growth of 155% to RMB 512.3M. Obviously this
type of growth rate is not sustainable. So Q3 began to revert to the more normal
sequential growth rates. In the quarter net revenue grew by 9.5% sequentially
and net income grew by 9.8% sequentially over Q2 of the year. The abrupt growth
deceleration appears related to the life cycle of MOM games which tend to peak
roughly 18 months following commercial launch."
That's the reason GA got
hammered when they announced Q3 numbers. The reliance on a single block buster
game could hurt you if it had peaked. We won't know how successful ZT Online in
2nd and 3rd tier chine cities till Q4.
Let's see the magnitude of a
single block buster game did to the industry: According to iResarch, the
industrial revenue in 2006 grew 60% over 2005. And it reached RMB 3.04B in Q3
2007 alone, compared to RMB 7.68B for whole year 2006. As of Q3 GA's market
share was third in the industry, at 13.8%, only trailing NetEase's 15.1% and
Shanda's 18.4%.
Imagine a game capturing 13.8% market share of online
gaming revenue in China! We'll have to watch the trend on Q4 to see Giant
Online's potential in increasing GA's market share, assuming ZT Online has
peaked, and subsequent quarters for King of King 3 contribution to capture more
market share.
Imagine a game capturing the top spot in terms of net
income for a company. GA 290.2M NTES 260.2M SNDA 238.9M
Pretty
impressive don't you think? We know that GA will make a lot of money from ZT
Online, the big question now is how Giant Online will perform?
"Mr. Shi
expects this game to generate at least the same level of revenue as ZT Onlne.
Furthermore, the company will be rolling out its licensed 3D game King of Kings
III next year. And you can count on more games to be developed and released in
the future." HMMM.... We could speculate what that would do to the stock
price!
Next to the Net Margin: GA is holding the top spot for ALL
Chinese companies! Clocking at 70% operating and 70% net margin. Let's compare
it to other companies:
SNDA: 40%, 62% NTES: 55%, 55% PWRD: 41%,
42% BIDU: 33%, 37% STP: 13%, 13%
To increase market share, net
margin will suffer because of competition. Enjoy it while you can. Of course
BIDU and STP are not in the online gaming industry...but it's just an
interesting comparison.
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