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Vaisala - Upgrades outlook on continued good momentum

Vaisala upgraded yesterday its 2019 outlook. The upgrade did not come as a surprise as momentum in both business units have continued strong and as such our estimates were already taking this into account. We’ve made small upward adjustments to our estimates. We maintain our HOLD recommendation with new TP of 29.5 (prev. 24.5).

Continued good momentum in both business areas

Vaisala cited that strong demand in both business areas has continued. In Q3 Vaisala’s orders received YTD was up +34% yoy with bulk of growth being organic, supported by acquired businesses. Strikes in November and December have been a significant risk to production and logistics, but Vaisala has been able to maintain its good delivery capacity also during Q4. The continued strong demand has had a positive impact on gross margin and project margins have also remained at a good level. However, there are still uncertainties related to the rest of the year, like the ongoing strikes in France, and estimating the impact of these is challenging.

Outlook upgrade not a surprise, estimates slightly upwards

Vaisala now estimates 2019 net sales of 395-405 MEUR and EBIT to be in the range of 36-42 MEUR. Previous outlook was net sales of 380-400 MEUR with EBIT of 25-35 MEUR including 10-12 MEUR acquisition related amortization and one-off expenses. As our 2019E estimates for net sales of 398 MEUR were in the upper range of the previous guidance and our EBIT estimate of 36.4 MEUR was slightly above previous guidance, the outlook upgrade did not come as a surprise. We have slightly adjusted our 2019 and onwards estimates upwards reflecting the continued good momentum. As noted previously, with acquired businesses integrated into Vaisala’s sales channel and continued good organic momentum in both W&E and IM, we see targeted 5% sales growth clearly achievable and road to >12% margins progressing well. The driver for profitability improvement is larger volumes and continued good growth in industrial business. We estimate IM share of Vaisala’s EBIT in ’20-21E to grow to 66% (vs. 56-57% in ’17-’18), driving Vaisala’s ~10-12% EBIT growth and EBIT margins of 10.5-11% (12-13% adj. for IAC).

Valuation is stretched, but justified

Vaisala’s share har rallied +105% YTD, being now at an all-time high. On our raised estimates, Vaisala is trading at PPA amortizations adjusted EV/EBIT multiples of 23x and 21.6x for ‘19E and ‘20E, a 30-38% premium to our peer group median despite exhibiting lower profitability profile than our peer group. However, a high valuation and premium are in our view justified due to the current stable outlook for W&E, strong ESG profile and growing dividend, and especially IM’s highly profitable growth with possibility of further add-on acquisitions. On the back of our raised estimates, we raise our target price to 29.5 euros (prev. 24.5) and maintain our HOLD recommendation.

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