Fifth wheel couplings and landing legs - that doesn't sound particularly exciting.

But such parts for trucks and other commercial vehicles can do very good business.

The Jost-Werke from Neu-Isenburg show this with great regularity.

Because, as the company once explained, there are products from the supplier in four out of five trucks.

According to a set of figures for the first quarter, which analysts approve of, the Südhessen share listed in the small value segment has continued its climbing tour.

At the end of this week, it marked a record high at 57.70 euros.

Thorsten Winter

Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

    The title is also not expensive compared to other suppliers to commercial vehicle farmers. The engine manufacturer Deutz is rated significantly higher than Jost with a price / earnings ratio of 40. With a PER of 11.5, SAF-Holland is two points lower and has a higher dividend yield. But the Jost share has done even better in the past six months than the SDax title SAF, which claims to be a leading global supplier of components and systems for trailers, semi-trailers, trucks, semitrailer tractors, buses and mobile homes -Industry, including landing gear.

    And according to some of the analysts who rate the South Hesse, the climbing tour continues.

    Frederik Bitter from the Hauck & Aufhäuser bank is particularly confident.

    In addition, analyst Nicolai Kempf from Deutsche Bank has just raised the price target for the share and recommended it to be bought.

    This should have given the title the boost in the morning.

    The company had already presented good figures in mid-May.

    "The demand for our products is very high worldwide," the company quoted its boss Joachim Dürr as saying.

    Robust business model

    In March of last year, Jost-Werke plunged to the all-time low of just under 19 euros, a consequence of the general downward trend on the stock market due to the consequences of the corona pandemic. The title recovered almost as quickly as it crashed. In addition to the buoyancy of the SDax, the reason for this was also the robust business model of Südhessen. In the first quarter of this year, the company then turned over 257.3 million euros, a third more than a year ago, as it reported. The operating profit doubled and the profit margin improved by four points to 11.6 percent. The bottom line was that the company turned a loss into a profit of almost 19 million euros. The outlook for the rest of the year promises an increase in sales and adjusted operating profit "in the low double-digit percentage range".

    Analyst Bitter had previously described the Neu-Isenburger as "one of the best plays" to take part in the recovery of the global automobile and commercial vehicle industry. At the time, he raised the price target from EUR 54 to EUR 70. He is therefore still the most confident, as the price target overview on the Jost website shows. At 63 euros, MMWarburg considers the title to be fairly valued. Commerzbank names 59 euros as the target, while Exane BNP Paribas names one euro less.

    An exchange with company representatives showed continued strong demand, wrote analyst Nicolai Kempf from Deutsche Bank on Friday. He praised the work on the costs and pointed out possible spin-offs of not too profitable parts of the company. According to most analysts, Jost-Werke will continue to increase. The price potential is between 5 and 22 percent, depending on the analysis. The owners of the Jost share can expect a dividend yield of around two percent. The index itself only offers a good half.