AEBI SCHMIDT GROUP: Another "good hand"; +24%!

In the last WI issue on April 2, we opted for a "comeback vote" on the shares of specialty vehicle manufacturer AEBI SCHMIDT GROUP. After a first realized gain of +42% at the beginning of the year, we set the buy limit at USD 9.25 on April 2. And on the same day we succeeded in buying at a pleasing USD 9.21 (FX: 0.7955). However, we would not have thought that the share would be up +23.7% just one week later (USD 11.39 on Friday). And this is probably not the end of the story, as EBITDA and order development are excellent. The record order backlog of USD 1.2 billion is also impressive! The forecasts for 2026 as a whole are also very encouraging. At the recently held "Work Truck Week 2026", all AEBI SCHMIDT brands made a joint appearance for the first time. A clear focus on the "One Group" strategy was evident in mid-March. The portfolio includes bundled solutions for winter service and municipal vehicles, for truck bodies and also offers of e-mobility vehicles. Furthermore, a "van body programme" was launched with Advantic, which focuses on robust vehicles for extreme operating conditions, including optimized slope mechanization.

In brief: operationally strong (growth, orders, profitability); strategically undergoing restructuring (integration, brand bundling); future-oriented (innovation and expansion in the USA). Structural growth drivers can be found in urbanization, climate change, sustainability and, as a result, electrification. The diversified business model reduces dependence on individual markets. In addition, recurring income from service and spare parts stabilizes margins. In terms of risks and challenges, the integration risks (of the merger) could be seen, although we only see synergies here. Cyclical end markets will always be an issue, i.e. part of the business is cyclical... but where is this not the case? Weather dependency can be an advantage and a disadvantage; lots of snow equals greater demand for winter maintenance equipment/vehicles, and vice versa. Despite more pros than cons, we don't want to be too euphoric, which is why we have set our preliminary target price at USD 12.90. We are adding the position to the model portfolio as we did last time.

AEBI SCHMIDT GROUP is listed on the NASDAQ in New York under the symbol AEBI, the security number is 2,735,299, last price approx. USD 12.22.