FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Lanxess shares quickly turned positive on Tuesday after a weak start. After an investor event, concerns eased and the specialty chemicals company was able to raise its capital. As the front-runner in the MDax, the shares rose by 4.5 percent to EUR 24.47 by the afternoon. This allowed them to break away from the 21-day line as an indicator of the short-term trend. However, the shares have still lost more than a third of their value since the beginning of the year.

The experts at French bank Societe Generale removed the shares of the specialty chemicals group from their list of recommendations for medium-sized and small second-line stocks in Europe. They justified this with the skeptical assessment of the chemical industry by the SocGen strategists. However, they maintained their "buy" rating for Lanxess shares.

Meanwhile, the experts at Oddo BHF remain very optimistic after a meeting with Lanxess management. Lanxess does not need a capital injection, but has sufficient internal opportunities. Although the experts cut their earnings forecasts slightly, they remain clearly above the market consensus. The reduced price target of 38 euros also leaves plenty of scope for recovery.

In a study published on Tuesday, analyst Andreas Heine from investment house Stifel pointed out that the next refinancing at Lanxess is not due until 2026. Therefore, there is no need for a capital increase, the management emphasized at an investor event. Even in an unfavorable economic environment, an inflow of free cash of several hundred million euros should be possible again in 2024. However, it could take until 2025 or 2026 for the operating result (EBITDA) to normalize at over one billion euros. Heine has set a price target of 29 euros for Lanxess /niw/mis/jha/.