FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - An increase in annual targets and a positive study by investment bank Exane BNP secured the Adidas share the top spot in the Dax on Tuesday. And that in two respects.

The stock of Europe's largest sporting goods manufacturer not only gained 5.6 percent to 184.60 euros as the day's favorite and is now back at its highest level since June 2022, it has also performed best so far this year among the total of 40 stocks in the leading index: The share price has now risen by almost 45 percent. Rheinmetall shares follow with a gain of 36 percent since the beginning of the year.

"Better than feared," was Baader Bank analyst Volker Bosse's initial verdict on Adidas' figures. The decline in sales in the second quarter was only half as strong as the market had forecast, he emphasized. The sporting goods group's key figures were considerably above consensus estimates due to strong sales of some of its remaining Yeezy products, also commented analyst Aneesha Sherman of Bernstein Research.

And JPMorgan analyst Olivia Townsend now sees further upside to the company's forecasts following the preliminary numbers and raised full-year targets, provided "revenue tailwinds strengthen a bit more and margin headwinds ease over the second half of the year."

Meanwhile, analyst Warwick Okines of French investment bank Exane BNP upgraded Adidas to "outperform" from "neutral." Compared to Monday's closing price, he sees around 20 percent upside potential with his new price target of 210 euros. In his study, he compared Europe's largest sporting goods manufacturer with Zara, Europe's fashion market leader.

After evaluating social media data, app usage and searches on the Internet, he said he came to the conclusion: The Adidas brand is picking up steam again. With increasing brand momentum, Okines believes the company can quickly recover profitability. "Gross margins should strengthen profitability in the process," he expects.

Fittingly, UBS expert Zuzanna Pusz said in her initial assessment of the figures released Monday evening, "A key metric in the report is gross margin, which rose 60 basis points year-on-year to 50.9 percent, significantly higher than our and consensus estimates."/ck/bek/mis