Spectacular share price capers, short attacks and insider buying. A battle for investor confidence is raging behind the scenes.
A targeted attack?
In recent months, the Kontron-Aktiehas experienced a boom. Since the end of 2024, the share price has risen from below 16 to 29 euros, an increase of around 80 %.
But the path has been anything but straightforward. There have been repeated price fluctuations.
The most recent fall in the share price was triggered when it became known that several hedge funds had opened short positions.
According to the Federal Gazette, four hedge funds are short.
In my view, however, the timing is much more interesting. As luck would have it, the news about the short positions came at almost the same time as the news that Goldman Sachshas reduced its stake in Kontron.
I would never say that, of course, but a targeted attack would not look any different.
It is equally possible that the hedge funds simply knew in advance that Goldman would reduce its stake and took advantage of the moment of weakness.
Insiders strike
The Executive Board reacted to the situation with aplomb and presented preliminary quarterly figures in order to counteract the "fundamentally unfounded price slide" and "prevent market speculation".
As the final figures are now also available, we will skip the preliminary figures and take a closer look at the Quartalsbericht later in the article.
However, the preliminary figures were not the only confidence-building measure. On October 28, the CEO and major shareholder bought over EUR 100,000 of Kontron shares at a price of EUR 23.12. Aktienfrom Kontron.
CFO Billek struck at a price of 23.10 euros and bought 2,000 shares for just over 46,000 euros.
Subsequently, Ennoconn International Investment Co., which is associated with the Supervisory Board member Chu, acquired 30,000 shares with a total value of EUR 662,400 in one go at a price of EUR 22.08 per share.
Some hedge funds and Goldman seem skeptical, but the insiders are not.
Strategic realignment bears fruit
The business figures show why this is the case. As Kontron has sold the COM business, which generated annual sales of around EUR 100 million, consolidated sales in the first nine months are virtually unchanged at EUR 1.18 billion.
However, profitability has improved significantly. Consolidated net profit rose from 62.3 to 110.8 euros. Earnings per share climbed from EUR 1.01 to EUR 1.80.
The order backlog has increased massively from 2.08 to 2.44 billion euros since the turn of the year. The order books are therefore full to bursting, which suggests that growth will continue.
The value of the project pipeline has even risen from EUR 6.64 billion to EUR 7.80 billion.
The company's strategic realignment appears to be paying off:
Kontron sold the majority of its IT business to Axians in 2022. At that time, three IT companies with a turnover of EUR 220 million remained in Hungary, Romania and Austria. 70 million in IT business has since been terminated.
The disposal of the COM business and the reduction in IT activities resulted in a loss of around EUR 170 million in revenue. A further sale of IT activities is being planned.
At the same time, however, the gross margin increased from 34.7% in 2022 to 41.7% in Q3 2025. In the same period, the EBITDA from EUR 70 million in 2022 to EUR 220 million (operational without special effect). The focus is paying off.
Massive jump in profits this year
The earnings forecast for the current financial year has been confirmed. Kontron continues to forecast an operating EBITDA of more than EUR 220 million, plus one-off positive special effects of EUR 46 million from the sale of COM.
Accordingly, Kontron is forecasting a jump in earnings from EUR 1.47 to around EUR 2.47 per share for the current financial year.
The P/E ratio is therefore 9.3.
In addition, the company believes it is well positioned to continue its growth and profitability in the coming year.
The reported earnings per share could nevertheless remain flat, as the positive one-off effect from the sale of COM will no longer apply.
This may also be one of the reasons for the short attack on the share. If the reported profit falls in the next financial year, this can easily be used for negative headlines - even if the operating result rises at the same time.
Therefore, a rising Dividendeexpected. The distribution for 2025 could rise from EUR 0.60 to EUR 0.83 per share, which corresponds to an increase Dividendenrendite of 3.63 %
Kontron share: Chart from 12.11.2025, price: EUR 22.82 - symbol: KTN | Source: TWS
From a technical perspective, the sell-off was of secondary importance. The share did not return to the Abwärtstrend but bounced back and then rose above EUR 22.50 again.
This gives the bulls the advantage again. Starting from this base, a rise towards EUR 24 or 25 could occur at any time. Above this level, a Kaufsignalwould be triggered.
However, if the share falls below EUR 22.50, a renewed setback to EUR 21 must be expected. However, things only become really problematic below EUR 20.
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