Berenberg Downgrade ALSO Rating Due to Mid-Term Guidance Risk

LootboxPhobia · 2026-03-12T12:14:34+00:00

Berenberg downgraded ALSO Holding AG's rating from buy to hold, with a target price reduced to CHF 165, citing market challenges and declining performance. The company's 2025 fiscal year EBITDA fell short of expectations, with sales projected to grow slowly, and slow commercialization progress of AI products placing pressure on future growth.

LootboxPhobia

2026-03-12 12:14:34

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Investing.com - Berenberg has downgraded ALSO Holding AG (SIX:ALSN) from Buy to Hold and lowered the target price from CHF 320 to CHF 165, citing significant downside risks to the company’s medium-term outlook amid a challenging market environment.

This downgrade follows the company’s release of FY2025 results on February 17.

ALSO reported an EBITDA of €286 million for FY2025, at the low end of its guidance range, with net profit 23% below market expectations.

The stock fell over 30% after the earnings announcement on February 17. Berenberg has transferred coverage of this stock to Chiara Di Giammaria.

The firm states that ALSO faces recent component shortages and longer replacement cycles, impacting its transactional hardware and software distribution business, which accounts for 72% of sales.

International Data Corporation forecasts an 11.3% decline in PC shipments in 2026. Berenberg notes that this segment is ALSO’s slowest-growing and lowest-margin division, with a historical annual growth rate of 0.5%.

Berenberg indicates that commercialization of AI products is progressing slowly, as customers are transitioning from pilot to deployment phases at a sluggish pace.

The firm also states that ALSO has experienced negative growth since 2021, with a rebound in 2025 driven by the acquisition of Westcoast. Berenberg projects a compound annual sales growth rate of 1.8% from 2026 to 2028.

ALSO expects its mid-term EBITDA to be between €425 million and €525 million, while Berenberg’s estimate for 2029 is €384 million.

Berenberg notes that achieving this guidance would require a 14% CAGR in EBITDA from 2025 to 2029, compared to an 8% average annual growth rate over the past decade.

The firm states that this would necessitate an EBITDA margin of 2.8% to 3.5%, but given that ALSO’s historical profit margin peaked at 2.5% and fell to 2.1% in 2025, it considers this target difficult to reach.

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