Tanks, Ships, and Ammunition: How Rheinmetall, Renk, thyssenkrupp, TKMS and Power Metallic Mines Can Make Your Portfolio Bulletproof

Rheinmetall and Renk: Many May Have Miscalculated

Investors who, after years of share-price surges, thought profits at Rheinmetall and Renk would soar on their own are now rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Instead of champagne corks popping, calculators are clacking away in executive suites, as the transition from a full order book to actual mass production is proving a tough nut to crack. Many investors underestimated the fact that you cannot scale a highly efficient tank manufacturer overnight like you would an app. Supply bottlenecks for electronic components and the acute shortage of skilled workers are acting like a handbrake on these lofty return dreams. Moreover, the urgently needed consolidation of the two conglomerates demands far more management energy than the analysts' glossy brochures ever suggested. Instead of a rapid doubling of share prices, the agenda now calls for painstaking, detailed work to align these massive organizations profitably. Investors who speculated here on a quick profit are learning the old stock market adage that even the hottest defence stock ultimately obeys the laws of gravity. For patient investors, however, this phase of disillusionment offers an excellent opportunity to ground their own expectations in reality. After all, Rheinmetall and Renk are trading at a discount of a good 50% from their highs of over EUR 2,000 and EUR 90, respectively. Analysts on the LSEG Refinitiv platform estimate 2028 P/E ratios between 13 and 15. That makes the stock market fun again!

At least there are Rheinmetall and Renk; both are trading roughly 50% below their historical highs, sitting at around EUR 1,011 and EUR 42 today rather than their peak targets of over EUR 2,000 and EUR 90, respectively.

TKMS: thyssenkrupp Spin-Off Wins a Huge Fleet Contract

At TKMS's shipyards in Kiel, the champagne corks are currently popping nonstop. The often-criticized thyssenkrupp spin-off has seemingly transformed overnight into a favourite among analysts and secured an unprecedented billion-euro deal for the German fleet. The huge government contract not only brings substantial liquidity into the company's coffers, but also seems to dispel lingering doubts about its long-term prospects. Suddenly, the former problem child has become the undisputed driving force behind a new maritime boom.

While other defence contractors are still consolidating internally, TKMS is shifting into turbo mode and making its mark on the world's oceans. This historic major contract spans 10 to 15 years and, in its first phase, includes EUR 6.3 billion for the construction of four MEKO A-200 frigates, with an option for four additional ships. In addition, as part of the largest defence deal in Canadian history, the company secured the contract as the preferred supplier for the construction of up to 12 submarines with a total value of several dozen billion euros. The order books are thus fully loaded for years to come, giving management a high degree of planning certainty. For the parent company, thyssenkrupp, this breakthrough is proving to be a masterstroke that impressively takes the wind out of critics' sails. Investors with an eye for detail must now redraw their charts as quickly as possible.

Power Metallic Mines: The Resource Is There; Now the Next Round Begins

Copper remains one of the bottleneck commodities for electrification, as the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) study underscores. Looking ahead nearly 10 years, there could still be a supply gap of around 25% by 2035, despite an improved project pipeline. Spurred by this fundamental data, Power Metallic Mines is continuing to advance the NISK project in Québec. The project has now evolved from an early-stage exploration story into a much more concrete resource project. The decisive step came on September 8 with the first resource estimate for the Lion Zone, which reports 4.145 million metric tons of indicated resources with a robust 3.86% copper equivalent, plus an additional 0.601 million metric tons of inferred resources with 4.01% CuEq.

The quality of the resource is remarkable: more than 85% of the Lion tonnage is already classified in the higher "Indicated" category, while the mineralization begins at surface and has been modeled down to a vertical depth of over 600 m. This provides the drilling history to date with a robust geological framework for the first time, which could change the valuation logic. Added to this is a remarkable array of metals, as Lion contains not only copper but also palladium, platinum, gold, silver and nickel, contributing approximately 406 million pounds of copper equivalent to the resource estimate. The project also delivers outstanding metallurgical data: locked-cycle tests achieved copper recoveries of more than 98% and concentrates with over 25% copper, with the associated metals also showing high recovery rates. The real highlight, however, lies below the resource defined to date, as the current estimate ends where drilling concluded as of the cutoff date of April 19, 2026, while five drill rigs are now specifically investigating the continuation of the ore body at depth.

CEO Terry Lynch is pursuing a clear geological hypothesis: Lion could represent the copper- and precious-metal-rich outcrop of a larger magmatic sulfide system, while the as-yet-undiscovered, nickel-rich source could lie deeper within the system. This hypothesis still needs to be substantiated through exploration. It is by no means economically certain, but it opens up additional potential, as the company is no longer just looking to expand the known resource but to identify the possible source system. NISK Main is already showing what it is made of: With an updated estimate of 2.703 million metric tons Indicated and an additional 2.016 million metric tons Inferred, it is becoming clear that an additional ore source could be incorporated into the project planning.

IIF host Lyndsay Malchuk interviewed CEO Terry Lynch about the next steps, the status of PEA preparations, and the outlook for 2027.

https://youtu.be/FxN8s8xFC2o

For the next stage of development, the planned PEA in the first half of 2027 is therefore particularly important, as it will involve the first economic analysis of open-pit and subsequent underground mining scenarios for Lion, as well as the potential integration of NISK Main. The Québec site stands out for its existing road and energy infrastructure, while copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, and palladium appear on the critical materials lists of several Western jurisdictions, thereby also heightening the project's political significance. The investment story has changed significantly in just a few months: High-grade drill cores have yielded a NI 43-101-compliant resource; this resource is now set to form the basis of an economic project study, and further exploration potential lies beneath. Power Metallic is thus no longer at the beginning of the story, but at an exciting turning point where resource, metallurgy, depth potential, and the PEA come together for the first time to form a robust overall picture. The stock has attracted significant investor interest again for several days and is now approaching its previous highs.

The defence market is heading toward a sweeping shakeout, with only TKMS remaining untouched. A massive government contract is currently driving tremendous momentum here. In contrast, industry giants such as Rheinmetall and Renk still face a clear need for integration. In the strategic metals sector, substantial reserves and reliable expansion plans are clearly winning out over visionary announcements. Power Metallic Mines provides a solid foundation for sustainable value growth with its current project. For a crisis-resistant portfolio, targeted diversification across different sectors, industries, and geographic regions remains the decisive factor.