Two 59%+ winners, four above 25% in Aug – How this AI model keeps picking winners
Investing.com -- Shares of Komax (SIX:KOMN) tumbled more than 15% on Tuesday after the Swiss wire-processing equipment maker reported first-half results that missed market expectations and lowered its 2025 guidance.
The company posted orders of CHF 277 million in the first half of the year, up 2.9% from a year earlier but 7% below consensus estimates of CHF 298 million.
Sales totaled CHF 280 million, down 13% organically, 8% below forecasts, with declines across Europe, North and South America and Asia-Pacific.
Africa was the only region to record growth, rising 44% on a shift of wire harness production.
Earnings before interest and taxes came in at CHF 6.2 million, short of the CHF 7.7 million expected.
The company posted a net loss of CHF 3.5 million, compared with a consensus forecast for a CHF 2.9 million profit. Free cash flow was CHF -2.0 million, reversing an inflow of CHF 9.8 million a year earlier.
Komax said a 100-basis-point contraction in EBIT margin was contained by a 470-basis-point increase in gross margin from a higher share of services revenue, partly offsetting operational deleverage and currency headwinds.
The company achieved CHF 6 million in incremental cost savings, exceeding its CHF 3 million plan, and raised its full-year cost base reduction target to CHF 25 million from CHF 20 million.
Net debt rose to CHF 101.3 million from CHF 98 million at the end of 2024, representing 2.84× net debt-to-EBITDA, below its covenant of 3.25×.
Komax now expects 2025 sales of CHF 580 million, down 8% from last year, and slightly positive EBIT excluding CHF 7.5 million in restructuring costs.
Consensus forecasts call for CHF 625 million in sales and CHF 28.8 million in EBIT. Second-half guidance implies sales of CHF 300 million, down 3% from a year earlier, with little expected improvement in EBIT.
The company replaced its previous midterm target of CHF 1-1.2 billion in sales and CHF 120-160 million in EBIT by 2030 with a goal to return to double-digit EBIT margins by 2027 and grow faster than the market’s average rate of 6%.
Based on UBS calculations, this suggests more than a 30% cut from the original 2030 EBIT plan.
“Despite the stock trading below the 2020-lows and at the lowest level since 2013, the print was weaker than anticipated. The implications for longer-term estimates are probably manageable, but near-term revisions will be significant,” said analysts at UBS Global Research in a note.