Following recent announcements relating to Magna, reinforced by analysis from CEO Paul McGlone at an investor event in London, Iām confident that Seeing Machinesā technology lead across, auto, fleet and aviation will soon start to be reflected in its share price.
The recent news that auto Tier 1 Magna is paying US$17.5m for the exclusive rights to use Seeing Machines technology in its rearview mirrors until the end of 2025, while also agreeing to invest up to an additional US$47.5m, just confirms its global leadership position in Driver and Occupant Monitoring Systems (DOMS).
Crucially, the cash injection removes any concerns that Seeing Machines needs to raise cash. It is now fully funded to profitability in 2024.
The Canadian Tier 1 Magna has gone exclusive with Seeing Machines in rearview mirrors because it aims to the vast majority of that market, 100% has been suggested by one expert, as no real rival to their DOMS offering currently exists. By partnering with Seeing Machines it has a product that is apparently superior to that of its competitors in terms of price, performance, and time to market. Thatās presumably why it won the huge A$125m VW contract in December 2021.
By 2026, itās likely that Magna will have won as much as 50% of the overall auto DOMS market in partnership with Seeing Machines – since half of DOMS is forecast to be delivered via rearview mirrors. Thus it will have done to its main rival Gentex what Qualcomm has done to Intel in auto. The huge VW win with Magna should have confirmed this, future wins certainly will.
Itās no coincidence that both Magna and Qualcomm have chosen to partner exclusively with Seeing Machines. These moves should be seen as part of a strategic land grab that I expect to deliver Seeing Machines at least 75% of the auto DOMS market by volume by 2026.
That is because its competitors (Smart Eye, Cipia, and Jungo) arenāt winning anywhere near the number or volume of RFQs that Seeing Machines is. For example, Smart Eye appears to have effectively been replaced by Seeing Machines in forthcoming BMW models. The 10 BMW models featuring Smart Eye technology are from past wins, such as the X5 (2015) and M8 (2018).
Of course, OEMs may do some dual sourcing. Speaking to Smart Eye last week its CEO Martin Krantz tentatively said that Smart Eye āwill probably be in future BMWsā. I wish him luck but I donāt think it is going to be a threat to Seeing Machines going forward.
Indeed, investors need to beware of looking in the rearview mirror at market share unless they want to crash their prospects for significant financial gains. For those paying attention to the road ahead, itās Seeing Machines that is in the fast lane to market dominance.
Over the past year, Seeing Machines states that it has won 80% of the RFQs for which it has bid. Iām confident it will maintain that win rate with the $A1-2 billion of contracts for which it is currently bidding.
Looking at design wins, Smart Eye currently boasts 94, while Seeing Machines has 120. However, even this figure fails to reflect the latterās dominance. Not all of Smart Eyeās 94 āwinsā made it into production, in contrast, every Seeing Machines design win has hit the road.
Iāve long admired the Smart Eye people – not least for their PR bravado – but it canāt blind me as to where I should invest my hard-earned dough. Iād also be doing readers a disservice if I didnāt state what I honestly believe.
Following the Seeing Machines investor presentation Friday, (when the video is posted I will provide a link) Iām very confident that an inflection point has been reached.
Increased margins
From now on license revenues for vehicles hitting the roads will begin to ramp up for Seeing Machines. This is a very high-margin business as the main costs have already been borne in the development phase. It currently has a pipeline of A$395m in auto but this is expected to grow substantially over the next few years on the back of further wins.
Similarly, in aftermarket more large enterprise customers such as Shell are coming along. These margins for selling the product and the monitoring service are much higher than selling indirectly via distributors.
It should also be noted that Seeing Machines Gen 3 Guardian will be launched by the end of this financial year, opening up the prospect of huge scale-up in Fleet sales. The product has apparently been re-engineered to reduce costs yet will be better, with automotive-grade additions and much faster install times. In addition, there is huge money to be made from the service element of monitoring the drivers.
Thus, now there is clear visibility of increasing revenues and cashflows with SEE set to make huge profits over the next few years.
In addition, Iām still confident that a lucrative license deal will soon be struck to deliver Seeās pilot monitoring technology into the cockpits of aircraft. Being early is the same as being wrong but I hope by Christmas Iām proven right.
Bids coming
As readers know, Iāve long believed that SEE will face a near-term bid. To that view some have argued that such is its success that it really doesnāt need a takeover to prosper, unlike some of its rivals who hope to be saved by one. Iād certainly agree with the assessment that Seeing Machines could perfectly well prosper as an independent.
However, even if Seeing Machines isnāt āup for saleā, it doesnāt mean that it cannot be bought. A wise man recently told me: āGreat companies get bought NOT soldā. Well, I believe Seeing Machines is a great company.
Ask yourself, how badly must some company want what Seeing Machines has? Its technological lead, data, and market leadership would take years and many billions to replicate for even a company of the stature of Google, Apple, or Amazon. If you had the money (and they do) why wouldnāt you just buy it?
If Magna is prepared to pay millions for the exclusive use of SEE technology for a couple of years, why wouldnāt they want it permanently? Qualcomm, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia also have reasons to enter a bidding war when the starting gun is fired. Indeed, even Gentex does if it wants to win future DOMS rear-view mirror contracts and protect its market share from rivals such as Magna.
Thereās even the argument that a consolidator might want Cerence and Seeing Machines to create something very special.
Value stock
As legendary value investor Irving Kahn taught, investing is an art rather than a science but I think were he alive today, heād take an interest in Seeing Machines as it ticks many of the criteria he looked for in an investment.
The good news for investors is that they can now sit back and enjoy the ride. It has been substantially de-risked, which is why Cenkos upgraded to 25p last week. I expect the other analysts following the company to do likewise in short order as the contracts and license deals roll in.
The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.
After today’s SmartEye results it’s easy to conclude that Seeing Machines is the current leader in the space… possibly for many years!?
We are long term holders and believers in SEE and its technology… and more recently in its leadership…
I also believe strongly that the market can misprice a stock for a long time.
So now what? We know NASDAQ is not likely for a year or two. I actually don’t want them to sell for at least that long either! Because they might get 20p-25p if lucky… when they’re worth twice that much or more in a few years.
Institutional investors won’t waste their time if they can’t buy a meaningful position (millions worth) without moving the market against their fiduciary interests to get a low execution price.
Individual investors are chock full of shares already. I’ll speak for myself at least.
Who’s the incremental buyer to buy the stock to make it rise? Who should Sophie and Paul be targeting now? Given the company doesn’t need the money, why worry about prospective investors and/or the stock price at all? I think it’s important for employee retention and to have the stock higher in order to prevent a low-ball coup “at a 100% premium.”
Do you have examples of AIM listed names that have grown to be huge and profitable? I once was impressed by FeverTree but they’ve dwindled meaningfully from their peak. I’m just wondering if there are examples of success stories that are still around too “brag” today? Unicorns? Decacorns? Household names?
Thanks again for your perspective!