Knorr-Bremse has successfully completed the acquisition of Duagon, significantly strengthening its capabilities in rail electronics, embedded systems, and signaling. The transaction reinforces the company’s position as a Tier-1 partner across the full rail system, from rolling stock to infrastructure, while adding around 1,000 skilled electronics and software specialists. The integration of Duagon is expected to deliver meaningful synergies, accelerate innovation and digitalization, and support the long-term profitability of the Rail Division. In our view, the deal enhances earnings visibility and highlights rail as a key growth and margin driver. The Commercial Vehicle Systems business, on the other hand, continues to face short-term headwinds from challenging macro conditions weighing on the truck market. We raise our estimates and increase our price target to EUR 86.00 (from EUR 80.00) but downgrade our rating to SELL (from HOLD) following the strong share price rally in recent months. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/knorr-bremse-ag

Following Sartorius’ roughly 20% share price recovery since mid-November, a reassessment of the investment case appears appropriate. Sartorius remains a high-quality company with strong market positions, high entry barriers, and a resilient consumables business that has supported a gradual operational stabilization during FY25. However, the broader market environment remains challenging, with cautious capex behavior among pharma and biotech customers, elevated financing costs, and rising political uncertainty. US industrial policy adds a further structural risk for European suppliers. While margins benefit from cost discipline and mix effects, visibility on a sustained recovery in order intake is limited. The stock continues to trade at a significant premium to peers, which appears difficult to justify given the moderate pace of recovery. We confirm our price target of EUR 175 and maintain a SELL rating. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/sartorius-ag

Redcare Pharmacy’s Q4 2025 preliminary sales missed market expectations, reflecting softer non-Rx performance. Group sales grew 18% yoy to EUR 794m, below consensus, as non-Rx growth slowed to 9% yoy despite a seasonally supportive quarter. In contrast, German Rx sales rose 60% yoy, in line with expectations and confirming continued momentum in e-prescriptions. For FY25, group sales increased 24% yoy to around EUR 2.9bn, with Rx fully delivering while non-Rx growth undershot consensus. We now assume a more cautious earnings trajectory due to intensifying competition in non-Rx. Consequently, we lower our PT to EUR 120.00 (old: EUR 144.00) but maintain our BUY rating, supported by the intact e-Rx thesis and expected efficiency gains from ongoing logistics automation. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/redcare-pharmacy-nv

Recent share price strength suggests the market is increasingly pricing in a smoother transition into the next upcycle, with first meaningful signals expected in H2 2026 from AI-related GaN orders tied to NVIDIA’s 800 VDC architecture. However, following recent discussions with Aixtron, we now see 2026 shaping up weaker than initially anticipated, largely due to continued weakness in SiC, prompting a downgrade to our near-term forecasts. Encouragingly, margins should still edge higher yoy, supported by a more favorable mix skewed toward GaN and photonics (30% higher yoy 2026E). Beyond this bridge year, we raise our outer-year estimates as we are more confident in a tangible volume inflection in 2027 onwards, underpinned by a re-acceleration in SiC from early 2027 alongside the ramp of AI-related GaN orders. This supports a higher price target of EUR 21.00 (from EUR 18.00). At current levels, we see the risk-reward as balanced, with valuation already reflecting early-cycle dynamics, upside hinges on a materializing recovery, and downside linked to residual timing uncertainty and execution, leading us to maintain our HOLD amid still-weak 2026 fundamentals. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/aixtron-se

Bechtle remains well positioned from an operational standpoint. Its strong presence in the public sector, broad customer base, and solid balance sheet provide stability in a selectively challenging IT market environment. In addition, recent contract wins and the Q3 25 performance point to signs of an operational bottoming-out. The next potential catalyst will be the release of FY25 results on March 20. In our view, guidance for FY26 is likely to be conservative, reflecting the still cautious investment behavior in parts of the private sector and limited visibility at the start of the year. Until then, we believe a wait-and-see stance is appropriate. Following the gradual recovery of the share price, our price target of EUR 48.00 is now within reach, resulting in a more balanced risk-reward profile from a valuation perspective. We therefore confirm our existing estimates and price target but see limited upside potential in the near term. We downgrade Bechtle from BUY to HOLD. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/bechtle-ag

LS telcom AG has presented its final figures for the 2024/2025 fiscal year, which were in line with expectations. After a loss-making previous year, the company returned to profitability. With revenues remaining virtually stable at EUR 36.6m, EBIT of EUR 0.7m was achieved, supported by a consistent cost and efficiency program. The order backlog rose by 16% yoy to EUR 36.4m, which corresponds to approximately one year's revenues. The increasing share of recurring service and maintenance revenues as well as larger projects in the defense sector is positive. For the 2025/2026 fiscal year, the Management Board is forecasting sales of EUR 37.0 to 42.0m and EBIT of EUR 0.4 to 1.6m. As our estimates are in line with the forecast, we are only making minor adjustments and introducing estimates for the 2027/2028 fiscal year. We confirm our price target of EUR 6.00 and BUY rating. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/ls-telcom-ag

Q4 2025 and the full-year annual report are expected on 26 March. The quarter unfolded under a markedly less supportive jackpot environment, with Eurojackpot losing momentum as average jackpots fell ~54% yoy and no jackpot peaks materialized (vs. seven peaks last year and two in Q3), resulting in bets declining ~47% yoy. By contrast, 6aus49 offered some stabilization, with higher average jackpots (+50% yoy) supporting bets growth of ~4.5% yoy, though insufficient to offset the Eurojackpot drag. Against this backdrop, we forecast Q4 group revenue of ~EUR 54.5m (-19% yoy, -10% qoq) and an EBITDA margin easing to ~28% (-12pp yoy, -2.7pp qoq), reflecting softer engagement, tougher comparables, and continued H2 investment, partially cushioned by lower-than-expected marketing intensity in the absence of jackpot peaks. Looking ahead to 2026, we model just below 10% revenue growth with EBITDA margins expanding modestly yoy, with further margin upside should marketing intensity and investments prove lower than assumed. We reiterate our BUY rating and EUR 67.00 price target. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/zeal-network-se

Hensoldt is being pulled higher by a broad defence sector rally rather than by company specific news. The move looks hard to justify fundamentally given the company’s negligible Venezuela exposure and only limited indirect linkage to the Iran / Israel headlines that drove risk sentiment. With the stock now trading materially above our price target, we see the risk reward turning asymmetric. The macro tailwind remains intact, but the order wave is cyclical and competitive pressure is rising, especially in sensors and software defined defence - Hensoldt´s main growth areas. We therefore downgrade to SELL from HOLD, with PT unchanged at EUR 65.00. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/hensoldt-ag

Intershop updated its FY25 outlook following stronger-than-expected Cloud bookings toward the end of Q4. Cloud order entry is now expected to increase by around 8% yoy, compared with prior guidance for a slight decline, while Net New ARR is guided below EUR 1.0m due to a higher share of multi-year Cloud contracts. While these contracts lift order intake immediately, ARR builds more gradually over the contract term, resulting in a lower first-year ARR contribution. Overall, the update points to improving sales execution after a prolonged period of weak conversion, while revenue and EBIT guidance remain unchanged. We reiterate our BUY rating with a price target of EUR 2.00 ahead of FY25 results on 18 February 2026. The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/intershop-communications-ag

Airbus SE has likely met its lowered 2025 delivery target of ~790 aircraft, materially above both our and other industry experts’ earlier estimates, which had assumed weaker deliveries due to the slow start to the month. As a result, FY 2025 financial guidance for EBIT and FCF now looks achievable. EPS, which is not guided, could positively surprise consensus, supported by gains from the 10.6% Dassault stake, although this contribution is non-operational. At the same time, this creates a negative base effect for the following year. Focus now shifts to order intake, where momentum is softening and Airbus risks losing the annual order race to Boeing for the first time in six years. Furthermore, COMAC remains an underappreciated medium-term competitive risk at current record-high valuations. Todays 2% share price move looks like a relief rally. PT unchanged at EUR 167.00. SELL The full update can be downloaded under https://research-hub.de/companies/airbus-se