Wacker Chemie shares: Forecast missed

Last Updated: 29. Januar 2024By

Wacker Chemie stock has had a weak start to 2024 after a disappointing year in 2023. For the first time since 2020, the stock has fallen below 100 euros at the start of the year, currently trading at around 99 euros (as of January 29, 2024, at approximately 11 am).

The preliminary figures for the fiscal year 2023 are not helping – Wacker Chemie has even slightly missed its already lowered forecast and achieved significantly less revenue. As previously announced, the weak demand in the past fiscal year 2023 has had an impact. Improvement is currently not in sight.

Wacker Chemie narrowly misses expectations In October 2023, Wacker Chemie had slightly revised its forecast for the full year and expected a revenue at the lower end of the range between 6.5 and 6.8 billion euros. Now, the company has announced a revenue of 6.4 billion euros – 22 percent less than in 2022.

For EBITDA, Wacker Chemie had forecasted 800 to 900 million euros after Q3 and has at least hit the range: The EBITDA for 2023 is expected to be 824 million euros, or 60 percent below the previous year’s value. In total, the company expects a profit of 330 million euros for the fiscal year 2023. In 2022, it was still a profit of 1.28 billion euros.

The overall weak demand, full customer inventories, sluggish development in the solar industry, and problems in the construction industry have had an impact on Wacker Chemie’s business. The Munich-based group produces polymers that are used in various construction products.

Wacker Chemie stock: Is everything already priced in? It is still unclear when business at Wacker Chemie will pick up again – there is still no clear demand recovery for the first few months of 2024. Nevertheless, after the weak figures for 2023, analysts have not changed their price targets. It seems that a lot has already been priced in.

Remarkably, based on the current level, all new analyses see higher prices for Wacker Chemie stock – the price targets vary between 109 euros (Baader Bank) and 133 euros (Warburg Research). Investors should continue to be cautious in the short term with Wacker Chemie stock. However, in the medium and long term, in the event of a noticeable recovery in the entire chemical industry, there could also be a significant increase.

Source: https://aktienscreener.com