(Boursier.com) — Despite a more complicated final session, the CAC40 rebounded by 1.67% over the week, to 7,629 points this Friday evening. Political uncertainty remains high and is expected to increase further as the first round of early legislative elections approaches next weekend. Not enough to encourage risk-taking on the Parisian market. Especially since the quarterly figures are looming on the horizon and the flash PMI indices for the month of June showed a greater than expected weakness in activity in the euro zone… This could encourage the Central Bank European Union to continue its monetary easing after reducing the cost of credit by 25 basis points at its last meeting. On Wall Street, the situation is much calmer: the indices have reached records in recent days, still boosted by everything related to AI. On the values side, Atos continued to make headlines. Quadient and Bic were heckled.
It’s been a tough week for the euro, which is suffering from political uncertainty in France and indicators signaling a lack of momentum for the bloc’s economy. The single currency is trading below $1.07 this Friday evening. On the raw materials side, black gold prices further increased by almost 4% over the week with a barrel of Brent (contract for August delivery) at 85.7 dollars in London. An ounce of gold fell by 0.3% to $2,335. Finally, Bitcoin is trading around $64,240 on Coindesk.
VALUES
* Atos takes back 33.8%! No specific information explains this acceleration while the financial restructuring offer selected by the digital services group, that is, that carried out by Onepoint with the support of Butler Industries and Econocom, will result in extreme dilution for the current shareholders. The company provided an update this Friday on the short-term interim financing target of 800 million euros and confirmed that it hopes to reach a definitive financial restructuring agreement with the Onepoint consortium and a majority of financial creditors during the week of July 22 .
* Nexans rose by 4.5%, not far from its historic highs. JP Morgan, ‘neutral’ on the value, increased its target from 97 to 101 euros, while Bernstein (‘outperform’) increased its target from 120 to 130 euros.
* Thales rose 4.2%. The group won several contracts at the Eurosatory 2024 trade fair. Oddo BHF also raised its value recommendation to ‘outperform’ by targeting 195 euros. The stock has suffered from a strong derating since the end of 2023 since it trades at a discount of 7% compared to the main European defense peers while it benefited from a premium of 7% on average since the start of 2022. This discount seems unjustified given its attractive growth/valuation couple (PE 2026e of 13.4x and TMVA 24/26e of EPS of 14.2%). Certainly, the French legislative elections could bring volatility in the short term but the analyst does not see any scenario which would modify his trajectory of estimates.
* Euroapi (+4.6%) announced the implementation of a five-year development and manufacturing agreement with Priothera, a biotechnology company specializing in molecules for the treatment of hematological malignancies and for the improvement of CAR-T cell therapies. Priothera is based in Dublin (Ireland) and has a subsidiary in France, in Saint-Louis (Haut-Rhin). As part of this collaboration, EUROAPI will develop and industrialize the manufacturing process for mocravimod, an innovative molecule in oncology, via its Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) activity. This project will be carried out at the EUROAPI site in Budapest, its center of excellence for complex chemistry.
* EssilorLuxottica rises 3.9%, supported by a note from UBS. The Swiss bank raised its recommendation on the eyewear manufacturer to ‘buy’ due to the stock’s defensive appeal in a context of slowing growth in the luxury sector as a whole. The objective is increased from 181 to 232 euros. The group and Diesel have signed an exclusive licensing agreement for the design, production and global distribution of Diesel eyewear. This agreement, which takes effect immediately, will continue until December 31, 2029, with an option to automatically renew for 5 additional years. The first collection resulting from this agreement will be launched in the 1st quarter of 2025.
Conversely, * Quadient drop of 15.4%, sanctioned after the presentation of its new strategic plan “Elevate to 2030”. With this plan, Quadient is targeting more than €1 billion in revenue linked to subscriptions and a current EBIT of €250 million in 2030. With a platform even more focused on customer needs, Quadient aims to continue to be a leader in Mail and to establish itself in both Digital and Lockers, by prioritizing profitable and sustainable growth of its recurring revenues. But until then, growth will be more moderate with an objective of average annual organic growth of at least 1.5% for turnover and at least 3% for current EBIT between 2024 and 2026.
* Sartorius Stedim Biotec stumbles by 11.9% on market speculation relating to a possible challenge to the company’s guidance. Rumors rejected by the parent company of the Sartorius group.
* Bic plunges 11.8%, sanctioned after its warning on sales. Citing a difficult macroeconomic environment, and in particular a more marked deterioration than expected in the lighter market in the United States, the company now expects low single-digit revenue growth, at constant exchange rates and excluding Argentina (compared to growth initially between +5% and +7%). The outlook for margin and net free cash flow remains unchanged. “We expect a slight improvement in the adjusted operating margin and a generation of net free cash flow above 220 million euros in 2024,” indicates management.
* Remy Cointreau loses another 3.9%, while the market fears that cognac is one of the European products which could be affected by possible Chinese reprisals in response to the imposition by the European Union of additional customs duties on imports of electric vehicles. TP ICAP Midcap lowered its target on Remy Cointreau from 138 to 128 euros following the adjustment of its model parameters and the updating of comparables. Uncertainties about China’s momentum and intentions are penalizing the course, according to the broker.
* OPmobility (formerly Compagnie Plastic Omnium) lost 4.6%. Deutsche Bank (‘conserve’) lowered its target from 14 to 13 euros based on revised forecasts of the end market and financing costs of the automotive supplier. The analyst expects no change to the annual guidance but some comments on second half expectations when the company publishes its half-year figures on July 23.