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FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Strong gains in Fresenius shares after the healthcare group's quarterly results did not last long on Wednesday. After the shares had risen by more than 5 percent in early trading, putting them at the top of the Dax, they were only moderately up recently.

Fresenius is targeting organic sales growth of three to six percent for the current year. Adjusted operating profit should increase by four to eight percent excluding exchange rate effects. Traders said that these targets did not meet expectations. They overshadowed the annual figures for 2023, which were decent according to initial reports.

However, JPMorgan analyst David Adlington believes that the medical group had a decent quarter overall. He qualified that although the forecasts for 2024 were weaker than expected, they once again appeared conservative. Jefferies expert James Vane-Tempest also emphasized in an initial reaction that the company's outlook leaves room for improvement.

Analyst Graham Doyle from UBS emphasized that a lot of caution had already been priced into the share price. The targets for 2024 imply that the consensus forecast for adjusted operating earnings (EBIT) will now fall by four percent. However, Doyle also assumes that this discount is due to Fresenius' cautious approach. He therefore does not expect the estimates to change much./bek/jsl/jha/