Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Many of the major funds have been burned on this. IQE need a huge turnaround just to break even. Pressure still feels downward here. Volume trades have not kicked in at these prices. 2-3 million trades a day is barely 3% of stock. Minimal. Private investor may be buying but mostly soaking up sellers. 20p still feels possible here but a slow grind without shorters. 22p is next target. I would rather wait for news before investing here as H2 may not be as strong as expected. Likes of Apple and Samsung not amazing markets.
https://www.iqep.com/investors/financial-calendar/
11/05/2023 2022 results
21/06/2023 AGM
So next TU maybe on AGM date or in July for closing statement.
Sadly this news barely shifted the share. IQE revenue from Apples is down as it is. Unclear how much IQE makes from Apple. IQE need huge revenue boosts just to break even. 2023 is likely to be bleak. 2024 will offer hope but still losses of 9-10m based on broker forecasts. Can revenues return in H2? For now IQE will build up debt in the hopes its big plans come to fruitition.
So Barclay have updated their broker forecast page which I think takes an average from all the brokers.
2023 147.65m with 16.77m loss.
2024 163.90m with 9.47m loss.
So 26-27m more debt over 2 years.
Will all these new big orders materialise? Do you invest in the hope that their massive plans for expansion actually happen? Otherwise this could just be a loss making business for years.
That's a big if really. The Government visited IQE back last June/July. IQE lack credibility now. The government won't waste millions on IQE with demand across the world falling. Think the vision is for IQE to make the parts for companies instead of just making wafers. The government has no money. Moving to US may not be a bad thing. Holding onto a factory that is only 10% filled makes no sense. Must be a better way to do this. Can Lemos show if he gets the investment this will actually happen? Would take revenue of over 500m-1bn to make this worth it. Right now I bet they have many machines just gaining dust. Why not move some production into the firms they supply for?
When asked at AGM they hinted the UK site was covering costs. Is that still true I don't know.
I am no expert
Actually the brokers lowered their forecast slightly week before the TU. So maybe you should not completely ignore them? Think it should of been obvious that their clients had a lot of inventory leftover. Like most on advfn you get over excited as the share rises and you stop looking at what is really happening out there.
https://research-centre.barclays.co.uk/shares/iqe/broker-views/broker-forecast/
Now predicting 165m for 2023 with 9.13m loss.
179m for 2024 with -0.04m loss
These are taken from the average of broker views so some downgrades on the way. Possible some brokers have not yet updated.
From what I can remember they set up a debt facility with a main bank. I doubt they are with SVB.
'The Group renewed a $35m revolving credit facility with HSBC in December 2021 and had a cash position as at 31 December 2021 of £10.8m. ' Which suggest they bank with HSBC? They have threatened to leave the UK with no support.
As for 35p. Very unlikely without news. This assumes no funds ditch the share here. Shorts could be major issue too. Their debt will be up 5-10m? or so by end of year and there is no guarantee their target for H2 will happen unless new orders come in. So many ifs with IQE plans here. If it's a bad year expect more TU with bad news. Could still announce more new partnerships. At some point they will need to raise capital if they plan to buy more tools. Wonder how well that will go down at 28p? Wonder how many tools are just sitting idle doing nothing in H1? What are all the staff doing at these production sites? See what Monday brings.
https://research-centre.barclays.co.uk/shares/iqe/broker-views/broker-forecast/
They have put revenue for year at 180m. They reduced the figure by 10m for today. They must be expecting a strong H2. Seems very unlikely unless all these new orders they were talking about are coming in. I think many are cutting back on orders. The move of Apple from China to India is not going well with quality control going badly.
I did wonder why this share had been so bullish reaching 60p. Will Lombards keep buying at these prices? They paid a lot more for the other shares.
I think wait and see before investing here. Getting a TU 6 weeks after the January TU is really bad. Next one should in theory be a closing statement at the end of H1.
I assume the 2022 results will still be in 2-3 weeks and match expectations.