Correction is an opportunity: Up to BUY from HOLD Correction with the semi equipment market. 5 weeks ago, Aixtron shares surpassed the AlsterResearch price target or EUR 27, resulting in a valuation that fully reflected the quality of the business and the growth perspectives at the time, triggering our downgrade to HOLD. Relative valuation showed a significant premium to a broad semiconductor equipment peer group, and only a small discount to ASML (11% on EV/EBITDA 23E). Since then, shares of Aixtron have experienced a significant rerating by 23%, correcting even more sharply than the peer group and widening the discount to ASML to 16%. On its own cycle. The market correction is driven by fears of a cyclical downturn of semiconductor end markets, which tends to hit the equipment manufacturers hardest. However, this is not doing Aixtron justice, as it is increasingly serving uncorrelated end markets with strong structural growth drivers, like the SiC power market, which is driven by electric vehicles and charging stations, and the potentially huge and only now emerging market for Micro LEDs. Order activity thus looks set to remain buoyant into H2. Quality not in doubt. Over time, Aixtron has steadily gained market share and now has a near-monopoly position in the MOCVD market for the deposition of compound semiconductors. This allows the company to widen the gap to the competition with the help of a generous R&D budget. Pricing power is thus likely to improve further. At the same time, the weaker EUR versus the USD is supportive of the gross margin and might provide upside to the guidance of a gross margin of 41% and EBIT margin of 21-23% for 22E. Upgrade to BUY, unchanged PT EUR 27. Considering all of the above, it seems like a good opportunity to get exposure to a high-quality business largely decoupled from the overall business cycle. We upgrade Aixtron from HOLD to BUY with unchanged price target of EUR 27.00. https://research-hub.de/companies/research/...er&utm_medium=email
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