The Austrian technology group Kontron $KTN (+1,18%) intends to pay its shareholders a higher dividend for the past financial year.

A dividend of EUR 0.60 per share will be proposed, the company announced in Linz. This is ten cents more than in the previous year.

On the bottom line, Kontron achieved a record profit of EUR 90.7 million in 2024, compared to EUR 77.7 million in the previous year.

The company benefited from high demand in the infrastructure and defense sectors.

According to "Welt", companies active in construction, rail infrastructure, digitalization and the energy industry are considered to be beneficiaries of the debt pact. So-called green sectors are also likely to benefit.

A few examples:

$FAST (+0%) - Fastned

$ACC (-2,88%) - Aker Corp

$IOS (+0%) - Ionos

$KTN (+1,18%) - Kontron

$NDX1 (-3,22%) - Nordex

$BC8 (-2,2%) - Bechtle

$VOS (+0%) - Vossloh

$S92 (-13,32%) - SMA Solar

Despite all the debt euphoria, however, investors should bear in mind that the infrastructure companies are smaller stocks that are not without risk.

Source (excerpt) & chart: World

$KTN (+1,18%) Kontron has performed well due to the recent large number of good orders. The share price has clearly broken out of the volume weighted average price channel that has been in place since August 2018. From a technical perspective, both oscillators (momentum, MACD) and indicators (SMA and EMA) point to "buy" or "strong buy". However, figures often bring completely different reactions.

I reduced my position by 1/3 yesterday and took profits. Kontron is currently up a good +50% for me. I still hold 400 shares, but they are rather tightly hedged. I expect quite good figures, but you can never tell how they will be received by the market.

I'm either happy that I sold at least 1/3 or I don't regret having held the whole position. You always know better afterwards, let's see what happens... 😂

The analysts' estimates are mostly above the current level and go up to €37, but the analysts' opinions are often the last support for their own theses, according to the motto - if you don't know what to do yourself🤪

There are a few posts on Kontron and the fundamentals in the feed for those interested.

Who of you has $KTN (+1,18%) in the portfolio? What is your assessment?

Edit: added the YTD 4 hour chart with the price areas with liquidity for the short term view - white lines. These areas could be approached again.

Donald Trump wants to overturn US Chips Act + Lufthansa profits slump + DHL expects little earnings growth in 2025 + Merck aims for further profitable growth in 2024 after uprising + Kontron share price jumps to record high after order

Donald Trump wants to overturn US Chips Act

• Should the US government actually stop payments or cut commitments, this would affect many US companies: Although reporting is dominated by Intel $INTC (+0,62%), Micron $MU (-1,06%), Samsung $005930and TSMC $2330, which will receive up to 8.49 billion US dollars. But also Texas Instruments $TXN (+2,49%), Applied Materials $AMAT (+0,18%)and the University of Arizona will also receive money.
• In addition, a number of small companies are to receive between 200,000 and 300,000 US dollars. All projects can be found in a list maintained by Nist. In the case of Intel, the loss of subsidy commitments could exacerbate the current crisis.

Lufthansa $LHA (+0%)Profit collapses

• Strikes, higher costs and lower ticket prices caused Lufthansa's profits to plummet last year.
• The core brand Lufthansa Airlines was even in the red in its day-to-day business, as the MDax-listed company announced in Frankfurt on Thursday.
• Group-wide operating profit before special items therefore slumped by over one billion to around 1.65 billion euros.
• For the current year, CEO Carsten Spohr is aiming for a "significant" improvement.
• The already announced restructuring program should contribute to this.
• Last year, Group airlines such as Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and Eurowings carried 131 million passengers, seven percent more than in the previous year.
• Turnover increased by six percent to 37.6 billion euros.
• Unlike the passenger division, the cargo subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo and the maintenance division Lufthansa Technik were also able to increase their operating profit.
• The bottom line was a Group-wide surplus of just under 1.4 billion euros, 18 percent less than in the previous year.
• Nevertheless, shareholders are to receive an unchanged dividend of 30 cents per share.

DHL $DHL (+0%)expects only little earnings growth in 2025

• The logistics group DHL is implementing a cost-cutting program to combat sluggish global trade and the uncertain geopolitical situation.
• This is accompanied by the reduction of 8,000 jobs in the German mail and parcel business, as the company announced in Bonn on Thursday.
• CEO Tobias Meyer sees "both shadow and light" for the Group in the US customs policy.
• Meanwhile, the Bonn-based DAX-listed company expects only a sluggish improvement in earnings in 2025, after 2024 performed somewhat better than analysts had feared.
• "We continue to expect an operating result (EBIT) of over 7 billion euros in the medium term," Group CEO Tobias Meyer told the financial news agency dpa-AFX.
• He had previously targeted earnings before interest and taxes of more than EUR 7 billion for 2026.
• Similar to Brexit, the number of shipments is expected to decline on the one hand, while on the other hand DHL is likely to gain in added value, for example because more shipments will have to be cleared through customs.
• On this basis, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) are expected to increase slightly to at least EUR 6 billion in 2025.
• However, analysts surveyed by the company had estimated a median of 6.3 billion euros.
• At the same time, free cash flow is expected to remain stable at EUR 3.0 billion and thus be slightly better than expected, as in 2024.
• In 2024, the DAX-listed company earned EUR 5.9 billion in day-to-day business, a good 7 percent less than in the previous year.
• However, the operating result did not fall quite as sharply as analysts had feared.
• At 3.0 billion euros, the free cash flow was also better than experts had expected.
• DHL therefore met the targets it had set itself.
• At EUR 3.3 billion, the bottom line for shareholders in 2024 was a good 9 percent less profit than in 2023.
• The Board of Management intends to propose a stable dividend of EUR 1.85 per share at the Annual General Meeting.
• The share buyback program is to be increased by EUR 2 billion to EUR 6 billion and extended until 2026.

Merck $MRK (+1,22%)aims to continue to grow profitably after the upswing in 2024

• After a weak previous year, day-to-day business at the pharmaceutical and technology group Merck KGaA has picked up again in 2024.
• The final quarter was above average.
• CEO Belen Garijo now wants to build on the upswing in the current year.
• "Merck is back on course for growth with all three businesses," said the manager in a statement on Thursday.
• "In 2025, we will once again grow profitably across the entire company."
• Shareholders are to receive a stable dividend of 2.20 euros for the past year.
• According to the statement, Merck is targeting sales of EUR 21.5 to 22.9 billion in the current year, which corresponds to organic growth of three to six percent.
• Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) are expected to increase organically by three to eight percent to EUR 6.1 to 6.6 billion.
• Last year, Group revenue climbed by 0.8 percent year-on-year to EUR 21.16 billion, supported by good business with medicines and semiconductor materials for artificial intelligence (AI).
• Since the second half of the year, there have also been signs of an upturn in the laboratory division, after the division had suffered from weak demand for a long time following the coronavirus boom.
• The Group also kept its costs in check.
• Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (adjusted EBITDA) increased by 3.3% to almost EUR 6.1 billion.
• Merck's sales and operating result were thus in line with its own targets and also more or less in line with analysts' expectations.
• Due to higher taxes, however, the Darmstadt-based company earned just under EUR 2.79 billion, around two percent less than in the previous year.

Kontron $KTN (+1,18%)share price jumps to record high after order

• Following an order, Kontron shares reached a record high of EUR 23.34 on Wednesday.
• Most recently, the share price rose by 12.9 percent to EUR 23.18 and was one of the top positions in the small cap index SDax.
• The Austrian technology group announced a further order from the automotive industry worth 40 million euros.
• This involves the delivery of highly developed sensor technologies.
• This should at least benefit the perception of the share, commented a trader.
• On February 20, Kontron had announced an order with a total volume of 250 million US dollars over several years from a "leading supplier to the automotive industry".

Thursday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures

• ex-dividend of individual stocks
• Qualcomm USD 0.85
• BHP Group AUD 0.80

• Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
• 22:00 Broadcom quarterly figures
• 22:05 Hewlett Packard Enterprise quarterly figures
• No time specified: Costco Wholesale | Universal Music Quarterly figures

• Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe
• 07:00 Lufthansa | DHL Group | Merck KGaA | Siltronic | Ströer | Zalando | Aareal Annual results
• 07:30 Compugroup Medical | Prosiebensat1 | Dürr | GFT Technologies | Air France-KLM | Bouygues Annual results
• 08:00 Deutsche Beteiligungs AG | Reckitt Benckise Annual Results
• 09:00 DHL Group Analyst Conference | Aareal Bank | Zalando BI-PK | Ströer Analyst and Press Conference
• 09:30 Lufthansa BI-PK
• 10:00 Merck KGaA PK | Siltronic Analyst Conference | Dürr BI-PK
• 10:45 Zalando Analyst Conference
• 11:00 DHL Group BI-PK
• 11:30 Prosiebensat1 BI-PK
• 12:30 Lufthansa Analyst Conference
• 14:00 Merck KGaA Analyst Conference | Dürr Analyst Conference
• 18:00 Vivendi Annual Results
• No time specified: Andritz | Solvay Annual figures

• Economic data

08:00 DE: Services turnover December

11:00 EU: Retail Sales January Eurozone FORECAST: +0.1% yoy previous: -0.2% yoy

12:00 TR: Turkish Central Bank, outcome of the Monetary Policy Council meeting Key interest rate FORECAST: n/a previously: 45.00%

14:15 EU: ECB, outcome of the Governing Council meeting and staff projection for growth and inflation in the eurozone Deposit rate FORECAST: 2.50% previously: 2.75%

14:30 US: Initial jobless claims (week) FORECAST: 235,000 previously: 242,000

14:30 US: Trade Balance January FORECAST: -128.7 bn USD previously: -98.4 bn USD

14:30 US: Productivity ex Agriculture (2nd release) 4Q annualized PROGNOSE: +1.2% yoy 1st release: +1.2% yoy 3rd quarter: +2.3% yoy Unit labor costs PROGNOSE: +3.0% yoy Preliminary: 1st release: +3.0% yoy Previously: 3rd quarter: +0.5% yoy

$KTN (+1,18%)

I bought Kontron in the last few days. This has made it one of my top 5 stocks in the portfolio. The timing was lucky.

A new order for EUR 40m leads to a rise in the share price of EUR 3 today. This increases the market capitalization by around EUR 190m in one day.

I think that's exaggerated, but I'm happy about the share price increase. :)

Other European tech stocks in my portfolio and also in my top 5 are:

Init Innovation and Nagarro. All 3 have a P/E ratio of around 20 or less and good growth prospects.

$KTN (+1,18%) Düsseldorf, March 5, 2025 - Kontron, a leading global provider of IoT technology, announces that its automotive site in Düsseldorf has landed a significant new business worth 40 million euros. The contract covers the supply of advanced sensor technologies.

We are thus breaking into the resistance zone. There could soon be a breakout here (bull flag)

Here is my presentation:

https://getqu.in/qpD2Nv/

So I've had a look around and picked out a few interesting stocks where I see a lot of potential. I would like to hear your opinion. I am not planning any long-term positions, but rather trading for a maximum of 6 months. I have decided on $RWE (-0,35%) with HD4M7A entry price of 1.73 $GBF (+0%) with SX04B8 entry of 0.35 $JGHHF with HD9ARC entry today for 1.40 $DUE (-2,6%) with HD90XX entry 1.25 $KTN (+1,18%) with SX04FN entry 0.21 I think that these stocks will perform well over the next few months if the tech stocks correct sharply, as I expect.

$KTN (+1,18%) Today I would like to introduce you to Kontron in a little more detail, as an interesting zone has been reached both fundamentally and in the chart.

Roughly speaking, Kontron is a full-stack provider (hardware and software) of IoT solutions.

Trends that Kontron plays on:

• IoT
• Industry 4.0 (i.e. networked production machines)
• automation
• Transportation (IoT data networking for trains)
• Defense (especially secure communication solutions)
• Energy and smart home (AI could also be seen here)

With KontronOS, Kontron offers a secure IoT operating system that has been specially developed for machines.

KontronGrid allows up to one million IoT devices to be connected with each other.

Last year, Kontron acquired the Katek Group, adding smart home applications and intelligent energy control (e-cars, photovoltaics) to its portfolio.

Kontron generates the majority of its sales (over 80%) in Europe and the rest mainly in the USA and China. European sales are growing significantly faster.

Summary/investment thesis:

Kontron is a very broadly positioned industrial group that manufactures and services networked technologies for production, defense and energy (AI was also mentioned here at one point). There is an ever-increasing proportion of software, which is slowly increasing margins (gross margin is now around 36-40%).

Kontron has been able to announce new orders in recent months (and also today):

• with automotive manufacturers for 5G communication modules for vehicle networking (volume approx. €250m)
• in the defense sector for high-performance communication computing units for surveillance (volume approx. 165M€)
• in the area of defense for sensors for autonomous air traffic control (20M€)
• in the area of transportation for an innovative platform for interlocking systems

There is also a collaboration with Qualcomm $QCOM (+1,11%) to revolutionize the areas of edge computing and artificial intelligence.

The order backlog is growing steadily and the company is really playing on almost every trend. According to its own statements, there are high barriers to entry.

Here is the CEO's comment:

"Kontron has become the global technology leader of IoT technologies. With our secure KontronOS operating system, innovative solutions for ultra-fast 5G data communication and our de facto IoT standards for special markets such as railroad technology, defense and smart charging technology, we are driving future applications such as artificial intelligence - based on huge amounts of data that only IoT-enabled devices can deliver. We are therefore only at the beginning of a promising growth cycle in IoT technology."

Kontron is currently valued relatively favorably with a P/E ratio of 14.5 and a forward P/E ratio of 11 (5-year average: 19). Sales growth over the next few years is expected to be around 10%, while profits are expected to grow by 20%pa. The stock has not made a great return so far and is moving sideways, but it has risen quite a bit in the last few months. There is a resistance at around 22-22.5€ which has been tested several times (and is also ATH). There is also a dividend yield of 3.2%. The dividend should also continue to grow strongly.

PS: Kontron is sitting on a huge treasure trove of data (from all the IoT machines etc.). This could be leveraged and AI could also be used here, e.g. for digital twins or to optimize production, similar to what $SIE (-1,6%) Siemens is currently doing

Hello everyone,

My current portfolio was completely reorganized after the takeover of $COP (-0,53%) at the end/beginning of the year. I have reinvested almost all of the liquidity freed up as a result in small-mid caps. I also see further potential here in the coming years due to more flexible adaptability (with regard to the USA) and financing costs. At the beginning of the year $SESG (+0%)
$NA9 (-1,56%)
$TNIE (-3,76%)
$KTN (+1,18%)
$ALCRB (-4,31%)
$DSFIR (-0,69%) made it into my portfolio. Today, I swapped the pipe burner $P911 (-3,79%) in $MUM (+0%) . My next idea would be $SIX2 (-1,4%) I would like to hear what else you have on your watchlist in this segment.

Greetings

Micha

Kontron $KTN (+1,18%) has exceeded its earnings target for 2024 and expects to continue on its record course in the current year.

According to initial calculations, the Austrian specialist for autonomous communication between devices ("Internet of Things, IoT") has exceeded its target for the operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 190 million, Kontron announced on Tuesday.

Compared to the previous year's figure, the increase will probably be over 50 percent.

Turnover will increase by more than 40 percent to over EUR 1.7 billion. For 2025, the Management Board is forecasting significant organic revenue growth to EUR 1.9 to 2.0 billion and EBITDA of at least EUR 220 million.