The medical technology group Carl Zeiss Meditec has revised its sales and profit forecasts for the current fiscal year downwards. The reason for this is an unexpectedly slow recovery in the equipment business. As the company, which is listed on the MDAX, announced on Monday in Jena, business in April and May fell short of expectations.
Instead of the originally targeted 2.1 to 2.15 billion euros in revenue, Carl Zeiss Meditec now expects around 2 billion euros. The operating profit (EBIT) is anticipated to be between 215 and 265 million euros, significantly below the previous target of approximately 348 million euros.
The stock market's reaction was correspondingly negative: In the afternoon, the stock prices fell via XETRA by 20.51 percent to 67.05 euros. This accelerated the downward trend that has persisted since mid-March and marked the lowest level since March 2020. The company has already lost around 28 percent of its market value this year. It is far from the record high in September 2021, when the stocks were trading beyond 200 euros.
RBC analyst Jack Reynolds-Clark called the forecast reduction disappointing, but noted that many investors had already anticipated it. UBS analyst Graham Doyle added that the extent of the target reduction for operating profit was greater than feared. Carl Zeiss Meditec needs to explain how the financial forecasts could diverge so significantly from the current expectations just a few weeks ago. JPMorgan analyst Anchal Verma now expects that the analyst consensus for operating profit this year will decrease by more than 30 percent.
The recently acquired Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center (D.O.R.C.) is not included in the forecasts of Carl Zeiss. This acquisition is expected to contribute an additional 100 million euros to the revenues in the second half of the fiscal year. For the 2024/25 fiscal year, the company anticipates growth again, relying on the introduction of new products in key markets. Carl Zeiss remains committed to its mid-term goals and aims for growth at least at the market level and an operating margin of over 20 percent.
Most recently, Carl Zeiss was particularly affected by weaker demand in the equipment business. In North America, the company experienced a 'restrictive investment climate among key customer groups.' Additionally, the important summer season for refractive surgeries in China has been sluggish so far, and orders for corresponding consumables fell short of last year's levels. Furthermore, the introduction of new government allocation systems for intraocular lenses in China was delayed.
In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, Carl Zeiss's revenue declined by three percent to just under 1.26 billion euros. The operating profit (Ebit) dropped by 26 percent to 135 million euros. To counteract this, the MDAX-listed company plans to further reduce costs, particularly in sales and marketing as well as research and development. Details on this will be announced on August 6 with the presentation of the third-quarter figures.
