One of the hottest investment lines this year—the AI (artificial intelligence) sector has cooled down recently. On the one hand, the “reduction wave” in the AI sector continues to hit, and there are few increasers; on the other hand, the performance growth of many AI concept stocks is weak, and it is difficult to support the rise in stock prices. At the same time, on a global scale, the AI sector is also gradually “turning off”, and the outflow of funds is accelerating.
Industry experts said that the recent adjustments in the AI sector are mainly related to the “get off” of some investment institutions after making profits. In the medium and long term, the industry is still in a stage of rapid development. However, investors should beware of hype when investing in the AI sector, and carefully identify the growth and real R&D strength of investment targets.
AI plate “reduction tide” hits
After the market closed on June 26, Hanwang Technology disclosed that due to personal capital needs, Xu Dongjian, a company executive who holds 0.24% of the company’s shares, plans to reduce the amount of shares through centralized bidding within 6 months after 15 trading days from the date of announcement. Hold no more than 140,000 shares of the company (accounting for no more than 0.0573% of the company’s total share capital). Previously, on June 21, five companies including Hechuan Technology, Evert-U, and Yaoji Technology all issued a shareholder reduction announcement.
According to the data, as of press time, since June, nearly 20 listed companies in the AI sector have disclosed shareholder reduction announcements, and no company has issued a shareholder increase announcement. Among them, many companies reduced their holdings for multiple shareholders at the same time. Based on the observation of the data since this year, it is also showing a similar situation. Among the 203 listed companies in the AI sector, 79 companies have issued shareholding reduction announcements during the year, accounting for nearly 40%, while only 2 companies disclosed that shareholders increased their holdings during the period.
The reporter noticed that among the listed companies that disclosed shareholding reduction announcements this year, more than half of the companies disclosed shareholder shareholding reduction announcements several times, including No. Shareholders of more than a dozen companies such as U have sold out their holdings in a liquidation manner, and there are many important executives such as actual controllers of the company among the shareholders of the reduction.
Evert-U has issued two shareholder reduction announcements since June. The company announced on June 6 that due to the relevant arrangements of the investment plan, Midea Group, a shareholder holding more than 5% of the shares, plans to reduce the number of shares held by no more than 31,306,800 shares through centralized bidding and block transactions, which is almost a liquidation reduction; Then on June 21, the company disclosed that due to its own capital needs, Xinwei Cornerstone, a shareholder holding more than 5% of the shares, and Maanshan Cornerstone, its person acting in concert, planned to reduce the number of shares held by a total of no more than 31,306,800 through centralized bidding and block transactions. share. Before that, on May 18, the company also issued an announcement on the reduction of shareholders holding more than 5% of the shares.
The overall performance is not optimistic
Partly thanks to the continuous launch of AI applications such as ChatGPT, the AI sector has become one of the hottest investment lines this year. However, there are various signs that the AI sector is cooling down. Taking artificial intelligence as an example, the index fell sharply in two consecutive trading days on June 21 and June 26, with a cumulative decline of 6.44%.
“Since the second quarter of this year, computer, media, communications and other industries have been driven by the continuous release of domestic digital economic policies and the development of artificial intelligence. In the first half of the year, the overall AI industry has experienced a relatively large increase. The recent adjustments are mainly due to the profit-taking of some investment institutions. “Talking about the reasons for the cooling of the AI sector, Chen Li, chief economist of Chuancai Securities and director of the research institute, said.
From a global perspective, the popularity of the entire AI sector has also cooled. Bank of America strategist Michael Hartnett said in a new report that there are tentative signs that investors are fleeing tech stocks — the sector just saw its biggest outflow in 10 weeks at $2 billion. At the same time, according to data from the website data analysis tool SimilarWeb, the number of visits to ChatGPT, the most popular AI application, has also dropped significantly, and the month-on-month growth rate in June may be negative.
From the perspective of performance, the performance situation of listed companies in the AI sector is generally not very optimistic. Data show that in the first quarter of 2023, nearly half of the 203 listed companies in the AI sector saw a year-on-year decrease in net profit attributable to their parent companies, and there are many popular AI concept stocks. Among them, Haitian AAC achieved a net profit loss of 13.6163 million yuan attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first quarter of 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 244.27%; Capital Online realized a net profit loss of 57.2905 million yuan attributable to shareholders in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 257.47%. Judging from the performance forecast of the semi-annual report, among the four companies that have already announced their performance, two of them, namely Rongqi Technology and Youkede-W, are expected to have pre-decrease and continued losses respectively.
Investment should identify growth and R & D strength
Despite the cooling of the AI sector, people in the industry are still generally optimistic about its future development prospects. “We remain optimistic about the long-term industry trend of AI+, but we warn that there may be risks of adjustment at this stage, and we are relatively optimistic about AI stocks that will have performance in the mid-term report.” Soochow Securities analyst Chen Li said.
“Fix the main line of AI applications amidst the turmoil, and select companies with ‘AI+’ products in games/IP/education/sports that will be launched quickly.” Kaiyuan Securities analyst Fang Guangguang also said that it is recommended to continue to actively deploy “AI+” products in the fields of games, IP, education, etc. Companies that land quickly, have good results, and are expected to bring incremental performance.
Chen Li also believes that in the medium and long term, the AI industry is still in a stage of rapid development and the trend is good. “However, in the investment process, it is especially important to note that technology drive is one of the core elements. And there are many companies that are hype, and it is necessary to carefully identify their growth and real R&D strength.”
(Article source: Economic Information Daily)
Article source: Economic Information Daily
Original title: After the high heat of the AI sector, “big cooling” experts remind investors to be cautious about hot spots
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