Heidelberger Druck, wallstreet:online, Alibaba: When new business brings 271% returns

Heidelberger Druck: From boring to innovative

The Heidelberger Druck share was long considered boring. And uninteresting. As a manufacturer of high-precision printing presses, Heidelberger Druck benefited from its know-how but suffered from dwindling sales in the traditional print business. As a countermeasure, the Company invested in IT companies with a focus on software related to the digitization of technical documentation. Heidelberger Druck wanted to offer solutions and earn a stake in almost every area where companies needed to become digitally more efficient. The idea at the time was a good one - but it still failed. In 2021, the software subsidiary was sold again. In the meantime, the Company has been extraordinarily successful in a completely different area: namely, with wallboxes for electromobility.

A few years ago, Heidelberger Druck discovered that it had quite a lot to offer in manufacturing the wallboxes itself, which are subsidized by KfW. Most recently, the fledgling business unit grew by a staggering 190% within a year. For the formerly beleaguered Company from a struggling industry, the new business is a fountain of youth. Heidelberger Druck is now worth around EUR 800 million and is no longer a penny stock. After 271% in one year, the share stands at over EUR 3. The example of Heidelberger Druck shows the power that can be found in traditional industrial companies when they break new ground. Although analysts expect growth to slow in the coming months, the share remains a success story.

wallstreet:online: Growth for tomorrow's success

A true success story is also wallstreet:online. In recent years, the operator of stock market portals and financial news websites has also reinvented itself. With its Smartbroker, wallstreet:online took off in the competitive broker market and won many customers. The recipe for success: lean fees despite good service. In this way, wallstreet:online has succeeded in keeping up with major players such as Trade Republic in terms of customer assets under management. The prospects for wallstreet:online also look good. Because of its business with stock exchange forums, around 830,000 registered users cavort on the Company's pages. Much of the content can also be accessed without registration.

In the age of social media, wallstreet:online thus has clear advantages over competitors who have to buy every new customer at great expense via a marketing budget. In the future, the Smartbroker is to be integrated even better into the media offering, for example, by means of trading buttons in the editorial environment. The path to sales for the Smartbroker would then be particularly short. Until then, the Company is still focusing strongly on growth and is also investing heavily. This approach also makes sense - the stronger wallstreet:online grows, the bigger the cake that can be distributed in a few years. Last year, the share reached the EUR 30 mark and can now be bought for EUR 22. When stock market sentiment brightens again, wallstreet:online should also profit again.

Alibaba: Beijing declares war on hedonism

Alibaba shareholders have been waiting for the share price to go up again for about a year. The Chinese Amazon actually has everything it needs to be a success story. The central government in Beijing, however, is now increasingly emphasizing the common good and has turned away from growth at all costs. This is also accompanied by stricter moral standards. One example is the strong regulation of video games. The days of unbridled consumption seem to be over in China for the time being. For many months, this has weighed on Alibaba's share price. Over the course of a year, the stock has lost around 43%. A bottom could form in the EUR 100 range, below which things are likely to get uncomfortable. Alibaba is a promising digital company, but Beijing restricts the market. Caution is warranted here!

When companies break new ground with innovation, it can mean a groundbreaking turnaround - as in the case of Heidelberger Druck. It is even better when new business and traditional offerings complement each other, as in the case of wallstreet:online. However, investors should be sure to evaluate business models in the light of the respective regulatory framework. The example of Alibaba is a good reminder that products and market conditions must be compatible for an investment to be successful.