wallstreet:online, Commerzbank, MorphoSys - Things are looking up again!

WALLSTREET:ONLINE AG - Management team expanded again

The smart broker has recently strengthened the management team with three industry experts to support dynamic growth and achieve set goals. Together with the board members Stefan Fischer, Dietmar Gabor and Christian Wendrock-Prechtl, will push the transformation to a digital financial service provider. An application to extend the existing KWG license was submitted back in July.

Another high priority is to dovetail the wide-ranging stock market portals operated by wallstreet:online AG with the financial offerings of Smartbroker to accelerate growth and leverage synergies. The trading front end is to be completely revamped, and a Smartbroker app developed. Since its launch in 2019, the neobroker has written a success story. At the end of the half-year, the Group had more than 187,000 custody accounts, of which more than 142,000 were Smartbroker customers, with EUR 6.8 billion in assets under management.

Smartbroker differentiates itself from the broad field of neobrokers, which offer investors, among other things, free stock trading by providing low conditions and, in addition, a wide range of products. The operating Company of Smartbroker is wallstreet:online capital AG., the majority of whose shares are held by the parent company wallstreet:online AG.

According to preliminary, unaudited figures, the Group increased its revenues by a good half to EUR 23.8 million in the first half of the year. The operating result (EBITDA) before new customer acquisition costs of the Smartbroker almost doubled to EUR 9.0 million. The annual targets were confirmed with group sales of EUR 45 million to EUR 50 million and EBITDA, before Smartbroker customer acquisition costs, of EUR 12.5 million, between EUR 16.5 million and EUR 18.5 million.

Analysts consistently rate the stock as a Buy. The analysts at Warburg formulate a price target of EUR 34. The experts at GBC even see upside potential for the Berlin-based stock of up to EUR 37.70.

COMMERZBANK AG - Rumor Mill

Rumors move prices, and also recently the Commerzbank share. Speculation about a shift in the shareholdings of major shareholders boosted the stock. According to media reports, the financial investor Cerberus, which currently holds around 5% of the share capital, is interested in acquiring the German government's 15.6% stake. Neither Cerberus nor the Federal Ministry of Finance wanted to comment on the rumors.

In our opinion, such a deal would make little sense. The federal government would sell at a loss, and Cerberus would be tying itself up in too big a knot with the financial institution. Commerzbank is still undergoing far-reaching restructuring, which will continue for some time and initially result in high costs. Nevertheless - the stock is moderately valued, trading at around a quarter of book value and a 2022 P/E of 10.

In the first 6 months of the current fiscal year, the financial institution had reported a loss of EUR 394 million, almost four times as much as in the same period last year. However, this included planned restructuring charges of nearly EUR 1 billion. That makes it increasingly questionable whether the planned EUR 2 billion to implement the "Strategy 2024" for restructuring will be sufficient. At the moment, analysts are assuming a resumption of the dividend payment for fiscal 2022 at EUR 0.07. However, if higher-than-planned costs are incurred, the next disappointment lurks at this point. On average, analysts rate the stock as "hold" and only allow the financial institution's share an upside potential of 13%.

MORPHOSYS AG - Is this the liberation blow?

In the last 12 months, the shares of the biopharmaceutical company have lost about 2/3, which has caused the market capitalization to shrink to EUR 1.4 billion. The acquisition of Constellation Pharma and the slow launch of a new cancer drug had attracted many short-sellers. Many analysts lowered their price targets and ratings in recent weeks.

Morgan Stanley remains a bullish representative, most recently confirming its "Buy" rating with a target price of EUR 75. Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Deutsche Bank have switched to the "hold" camp with target prices of EUR 42, EUR 47 and EUR 46, respectively. In recent trading days, the stock recovered slightly above the EUR 40 mark. Whether this is only a glimmer of hope or the initiation of a countermovement will be seen soon. Next week, the Company will present at the 10th Baader Investment Conference. On November 10, the Q3 figures will be published.

All three companies described have opportunities, but the risk side is quite different. As is characteristic for a biopharmaceutical company, MorphoSys is still operating in the red, but a more positive sentiment is emerging. Regardless of the current rumors, the shares of Commerzbank are promising with a medium-term investment horizon. wallstreet:online has the most attractive growth story for us. If analysts are to be believed, the stock has an upside potential of around 60%.