The shares of Schaeffler responded to the automotive and industrial supplier’s surprisingly good quarterly figures on Tuesday with a share price increase to its highest level in two and a half years. Most recently, the shares were up 5.7 percent at 6.94 euros. There has so far been a price jump of 64 percent for 2025.
Since the record low a good six months ago, the values of the Swiss franc have more than doubled – also thanks to the AI fantasy in the course of a technology cooperation with Nvidia.
After the good business development in the past quarter, Schaeffler expects a better performance in terms of free cash inflow in the current year. The annual sales and operating margin targets were confirmed.
The company announced on Tuesday in Herzogenaurach that the cash inflow (free cash flow), adjusted for takeover costs, will be between 0 and 200 million euros at the end of the year. Schaeffler had previously expected a negative cash flow of up to 200 million.
The reason for the increase is better returns, lower investments and savings measures. In the third quarter alone, free cash flow improved to 175 (previous year: minus 364) million euros.
Sales increased by 1.3 percent from July to September after adjusting for currency effects, Schaeffler said. According to the company, analysts had expected a decline of 0.5 percent. The operating return on sales before taxes and interest (EBIT margin) improved to 4.5 (previous year: 3.5) percent and was therefore also above the experts’ expectations. Schaeffler did not give absolute numbers; they are scheduled to be released on November 4th.
Things are apparently going better, especially in the rolling bearing and industrial sectors. Schaeffler now expects an EBIT margin before special items of 6 to 8 (previously: 5 to 7) percent in 2025. However, the group-wide goal remains an adjusted EBIT margin of 3 to 5 percent.