SEE is worth over ÂŁ1 a share

Ridiculous as it might sound, when Seeing Machines is currently 4p a share, I believe its intrinsic value is even now well over ÂŁ1 a share. This is because it will continue to dominate the automotive driver monitoring niche for the next few years at least.

Anyway, here’s my thinking in a nutshell. I’ve based my valuation on auto alone as I think that is the real driver of value with SEE (excuse that pun!).

In his note on January 16th Jean-Marc Bunce, analyst at house broker Cenkos, revealed: “Seeing Machines has a far more conservative approach to announcing automotive revenue visibility that its competitors”.

In the note he pointed out details on the deals already done. I’ve outlined my thoughts on them here:

  • OEM 1 [General Motors] — Supercruise will be rolled out to entire range of Cadillacs (some 350,000 cars by end 2021). Thereafter, I’d expect it to go into most of GMs 10m cars.
  • OEM 2 [Mercedes] — Programme is just for its flagship S Class saloon car, equivalent to 5% of the total cars produced.
  • OEM 3 [BMW] — stated minimum contract value of USS$25m. However, BMW sells 2.3m cars a year and Fovio chip will be rolled out across the entire group.
  • OEM 4 [Ford] — F-150 is a phenomenal earner for Ford and last year Adam Jonas, the famous Morgan Stanley analyst, stated the franchise could be worth more than Ford itself. It has been estimated that Ford will is planning to produce around 1m a year of these in the future. I expect Ford will also roll it out across other car models in due course. Note that Ford produced 6.6m cars in 2017.
  • OEM 5 [Byton] — relatively small volumes but I’d expect them to grow and other premium electric cars to put Fovio into their offerings.

Imminent wins

By the end of this financial year I expect SEE to have announced wins with FCA, Volkswagen and Volvo with Toyota and probably Honda following shortly after.

Alternatively, you can gain a sense of the value of Seeing Machines auto business by looking at the macro picture. Assume 70% of cars have DMS by 2022, and SEE have at least 50% of that market, with estimated global car volumes of around 110m in 2022. If SEE received US$20 a car (blended average of Fovio selling at US$30 a chip and software at US$10) that would deliver revenues of approximately US$770m a year.

If Gen 2 Fovio can maintain pricing at US$30 a car, revenues would be nearer US$1.1bn a year. EVERY YEAR!

Then, were SEE to be sold for a Mobileye-type valuation of 42x revenues it would be worth a minimum of between US$32bn to US$46bn. Note that Mobileye sold for US$15.3bn.

Now discount that back for execution risk, meteor showers etc and even the meanest industry player would probably pay at least US$5bn (ÂŁ3.6n) for its strategic value and future cash flows this year. That is about ÂŁ1.50 a share from its current 4p.

I know some will say that is totally unrealistic. Still, the figures are there if you dig. It has happened before to shares with far less real value than SEE.

Takeover

But don’t worry, I anticipate that long before 2022 Seeing Machines will be bought by a huge company that does see the potential here. In any case, when SEE announces a couple more huge OEM wins (before the end of June) the price should start to appreciate substantially.

So why hasn’t it happened already? Well, I think the market has yet to catch up with reality. But the aroma of coffee is wafting inexorably towards its nose and it will wake up very, very soon.

Colin Barnden, Lead Analyst at Semicast Research wasn’t keen to be drawn on the exact valuation of Seeing Machines but did explain: “What is clear to me is no one is following the DMS market (the big investors still believe in autonomous driving at Levels 4 and 5). This will change soon enough and CES was a big step in that direction. Certainly the car OEMs are in no doubt. I think the delays have come about from the OEMs taking longer to decide which T1/T2 to use, and then rolling DMS out much faster than had been previously thought. All will be clearer by June.”

My fears of a low-ball bidder getting SEE on the cheap have now receded substantially, given the accelerating take up of its camera-based DMS into cars. Any such bid, if publicly acknowledged, would surely just ignite a bidding war.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.

Cadillac extension gives Seeing Machines US$10m boost

News from Motor Authority that Cadillac is rolling out Super Cruise across its entire range of Cadillacs from the end of 2020 is very positive for Seeing Machines, as the system incorporates its Driver Monitoring System (DMS).

Cadillac

Global sales for Cadillac were 356,00 in 2017 and at approximately US$10 a car (only software being used not the chip, apparently), Seeing Machines can look forward to initial revenues with milestone payments of up to US$10m. Thereafter, annually it is likely to be less unless GM moves to a Gen 2 chip or extends the DMS to its entire range of cars.

The Super Cruise system, which enables safe hands-free semi-autonomous driving, was only this week voted the 2019 Technology of the year by Autoblog.

This extension across the entire Cadillac range is certainly materially important, so I’d expect a full RNS at some point. Personally, I think its the first stage in what eventually will be a roll-out across all GM cars. For, just as every car now has seat-belts, DMS is going to be mandated as an essential system around the world to prevent accidents from driver fatigue and inattention.

I’m also expecting confirmation, whether from news articles or RNS announcements, of several other huge auto OEM wins over the next few months.

Fleet

It’s also very encouraging to learn that First Bus, one of the UK’s leading bus operators, to deploy Guardian to numerous bus services across the UK & Ireland.

In the blog post on the Seeing Machines website (why not via an RNS?) the company revealed: “Following an extended evaluation of at the Reading RailAir coach service, running from Reading train station to Heathrow Airport, First Bus has decided to rollout the technology further across their fleet.

“Phase one of the agreement is the fit-out of Guardian to a number of services in the UK and Ireland and has begun with Glasgow Buchanan Street Bus Station to Glasgow Airport. The installation across the region will comprise a mix of retrofit to existing coaches and new builds with Guardian pre-installed. This phase is expected to cover more than 70 buses and coaches and to be completed in early 2019.”

Broker notes

I look forward to Cenkos, and yes even Canaccord Genuity, soon producing updated estimates for this year and well beyond. This is because I believe projected revenue growth over the next 3 years, led by auto, will amaze many. Moreover, contracted revenues should grow exponentially this year, led by further deals with auto manufacturers who are keen to incorporate Seeing Machines Fovio driver monitoring technology into their cars.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.

2019: Seeing the rise of driver monitoring

It’s now mainstream news that 2019 will be the year the world realises that driver monitoring systems are the next big thing in the world of auto. After all even Waymo CEO John Krafcik has acknowledged that widespread adoption of autonomous cars is some way away – hence its use of a Back-up Driver Monitor in its vehicles.

Seeing Machines is the leader in this space and it’s great to see some of its OEM customers, such as Byton, BMW, Mercedes at CES 2019. Others that have been developing DMS now realise they will have to choose SEE if they want the best camera-based DMS system.

Smarteye’s move to develop a chip must be seen both as a validation of Seeing Machines’ auto strategy but also as an indication that it is losing out to the Fovio chip in winning OEM business.

Auto revenues underestimated

It’s my contention that in the light of the incessant and pressing demand for its technology Seeing Machines auto revenues from 2020 onwards will be seen to be vastly underestimated.

Examining a detailed note from house broker Cenkos dated 22nd June 2018 is revealing. In it, (page 14) analyst John-Marc Bunce predicted auto revenues of A$63m in 2021, rising to A$213m by 2022.

I’d argue that global penetration of DMS as well as Seeing Machines market share of that penetration have been underestimated. That is already becoming clear to industry insiders and will become obvious to investors very soon.

What I believe will trigger it will be confirmation that Seeing Machines has cracked any of the following: another premium European OEM (Volvo or VW), a US OEM (Fiat Chrysler) and a Japanese OEM (Toyota, Honda, Subaru). I don’t think investors have too long to wait.

To be fair to Bunce he did acknowledge in the above note: “If Seeing Machines, as a similar market leader to MobileEye, manages to win 60% market share of the DMS market, and we assume global penetrating of DMS is 80% in 2026, this would imply the potential for over 50m vehicles pa (which compares to our current forecast of 27m).

It seems perfectly logical to me that a big beast will acquire Seeing Machines long before this becomes a reality — and not for peanuts either. Indeed, it’s strategic value cannot be overestimated and, even as I write, I wonder if discussions are taking place at CES that may eventually result in a takeover.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.