Highlights of the capital market day; mwb research confirms BUY.

Wacker Chemie’s Capital Markets Day on September 19, 2024 provided important insights into the 2030 growth strategy and expectations for fiscal 2024. While the company confirmed its forecasts for fiscal 2024, third-quarter sales are expected to be slightly below the second-quarter level at EUR 1.46 billion, missing the consensus estimate of EUR 1.57 billion. EBITDA is also expected to be around EUR 160 million, below the consensus estimate of EUR 203 million. The reasons for this cautious outlook are weak order intake in the silicone business area, weak construction activity in the polymers business area, and lower polysilicon sales volumes due to uncertainties in the US solar market. Nevertheless, Wacker remains focused on long-term growth and reiterates its goal of generating sales of more than EUR 10 billion by 2030. with an EBITDA margin of over 20%. With 20m electric cars expected to be sold worldwide by 2025 and 40m by 2030, which require four times more silicone than conventional cars, Wacker’s silicone products will play a key role in battery safety and thermal management. In the semiconductor industry, Wacker is expanding its high-purity chemicals capacities to meet increasing demand in the areas of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and digitalization, which are expected to grow at a CAGR of 16%. These strategic investments and the leading position in specialty markets open up significant growth potential for the company. Despite the short-term challenges, the analysts at mwb research reiterate their BUY rating with an unchanged price target of EUR 128.00. The full analysis is available at