According to the announcement, the auto parts and defense supplier wants to distribute 5.70 per share to its shareholders. In the previous year, the DAX-listed group paid EUR 4.30 per share. Analysts on average only expected 5.02 euros per share for 2023.
According to further information, sales climbed by 12 percent to 7.176 billion euros in 2023. The operating result reached 918 million euros, an increase of 19 percent. The corresponding margin was 12.8 percent after 12.0 percent in the previous year.
Rheinmetall had expected sales of between 7.4 billion and 7.6 billion euros for 2023. Rheinmetall cited “date adjustments” as the reason for the lower than expected sales, which is why deliveries were postponed until 2024. The operating profit margin was targeted at around 12 percent.
Rheinmetall is targeting sales of around 10 billion euros in the new year. The operating profit margin should be around 12.8 percent.
Siemens shares – the party can continue
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Profit forecast pushes Rheinmetall shares to record highs
Rheinmetall’s profit forecast for this year convinced investors on Thursday. Regardless of the share price jump of around 50 percent that had already taken place in the still young year of 2024, they continued to take action and sent the shares of the defense company and automotive supplier to another record high of 447.90 euros at the previous daily high. Last year, the price increase was just over 54 percent, making Rheinmetall the strongest share in the DAX in 2023 – and this after the price had already doubled in 2022.
Now it temporarily rose by 5.13 percent to 442.90 euros, which means the share remains at the top of the DAX.
Analyst George McWhirter from Berenberg Bank spoke of strong figures. According to him, both profit and cash inflow (FCF) were above expectations. In addition, the order backlog in the defense sector has increased by almost 60 percent. McWhirter also called the medium-term sales targets for some product lines ambitious and the group targets for operating results and FCF in the current year were above the average analyst estimates, he praised. He had therefore already expected the positive price reaction of the share.
UBS expert Sven Weier also expected the share price to rise given the figures and outlook. Although sales and operating earnings (EBIT) fell short of expectations in the fourth quarter, the average operating profit forecast for 2024 is slightly above expectations, he stated and also expects optimistic statements from management during the conference call.
Analyst Alexander Wahl from the investment bank Stifel said that expectations had only been missed due to delivery delays for trucks, which have now been postponed from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024.
FRANKFURT (Dow Jones/dpa-AFX)
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