Raute - Extended uncertainty for now

The pandemic continued to hurt top line and order intake

Raute reported EUR 27.9m in Q3 revenue, down by 17% y/y and up 14% q/q, missing our EUR 34.0m estimate. The 4.8% operating margin also fell short of our 6.2% estimate. Although revenue grew q/q order intake nevertheless continued to slide, and the EUR 11m Q3 figure missed our EUR 21m estimate largely because project orders touched a low of EUR 2m, whereas we expected some recovery to EUR 10m. Services orders, at EUR 9m, were also lower than our EUR 11m estimate.

We revise our estimates slightly down

We still wait for signs of acceleration in smaller equipment as well as relatively large-sized modernization orders (the latter are recognized under services). Europe was digesting investments in new production capacity already before the pandemic, and right now it’s quite unclear when actual orders might begin to pick up again. Russia remains an important market and Raute describes local demand still active, however uncertainty continues to plague decision making there as well. It’s still early to talk much about China, although the market seems to be maturing and thus developing favorably from Raute’s point of view. The market is a big opportunity for Raute, however in our opinion the prospect should be valued cautiously. We revise our top line estimate for FY ’21 down to EUR 132m from EUR 139m and EBIT estimate down to EUR 6.0m from EUR 6.6m.

It seems profitability is unlikely to be high next year either

Raute’s competitive positioning remains intact and earnings are bound to gain significantly in the coming years from this year’s low point. However, next year’s profitability outlook still appears quite modest and hence earnings multiples seem to be on the high side of the acceptable range. In our view Raute’s valuation is now full unless there’s imminent recovery in smaller equipment orders and services. Such a pick-up in orders could happen quickly but we are cautious towards this prospect as uncertainty currently shows no signs of fading. Raute is trading at 6.8x EV/EBITDA and 11.4x EV/EBIT on our updated estimates for next year. Our TP is now EUR 18 (20), rating still HOLD.