Carl Zeiss Meditec to outpace sector in near term - UBS ups to 'buy'

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG

08/01/2024 13:33

** UBS upgrades Carl Zeiss Meditec AG  AFXG.DE  from
"neutral" to "buy", as it expects the German med-tech firm to
deliver some of the highest growth in the sector in coming years
    ** The broker expects 10% revenue and 18% EPS growth for
Zeiss in 2024-2028, saying this will mark the end of three years
of margin declines 
    ** It says the acquisition of Dutch Ophthalmic Research
Center in a near $1 bln deal in December raises forecasts by
4-17%
    ** Consensus revenue forecasts are ignoring a doubling of
research & development spending, and U.S. cataract/refractive
opportunity is still undermodelled, UBS says
    ** It raises target price to 125 euros from 89 euros,
calling it a "historic discount"
    ** The Zeiss shares in October touched their lowest price
since March 2020, after underperforming the sector by 25% in
2022, according to UBS
    ** On Monday, Zeiss rises more than 4% to 97.5 euros per
share

 (Reporting by Marleen Käsebier)
 ((Marleen.kaesebier@thomsonreuters.com))