The Shares Researcher

Intro When is enough enough? Since Bayer closed the acquisition of Monsanto in 2018, the company hasn’t been the same. Bayer incurred huge litigation costs associated with the takeover, a lot of trust and reputation has been lost and the share price fell from more than €100 per share to below €30 currently. A debacle. Bayer generates around €50bn in revenues, of which 50% is from crop science, 38% from pharma and the remaining 12% from consumer health.   Valuation The big elephant in the room are the litigation costs and hence free cash flow is impacted by litigation pay-outs and also one-time costs for transformation to reorganize the business. Bayer currently trades below book value, showing a P/B of 0.85. Just recently, the company basically suspended its dividend (they still pay out a small minimum dividend which is marginal) for the next three years. Adjusted for the litigation effect, Bayer is still expected to generate an EPS of around €5-6, which translates ...

Intro Fuchs Petrolub develops, produces and distributes lubricants and related specialties. The product program comprises more than 10,000 products and the company has more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Founded in 1931 as a family business in Germany, the company employs almost 6,000 employees in 50 countries today and is the world's largest provider among the independent lubricant manufacturers. Fuchs has two share classes: ordinary and preference shares. The preference share enjoys higher trading liquidity and some advantages regarding the dividend. The Fuchs family still owns 55% of the business through the ordinary shares with voting rights. In the following, we focus on the less liquid ordinary shares (yes, you got it, more bang for your buck!).   Valuation In 2021, Fuchs showed an increase of revenues of 21% to €2.9bn and a net profit of approx. €250m. Compared with the current market cap of around €3.6bn, the P/E stands at around 14x. Due to geopolitical tens...

Intro Fresenius is a global healthcare group offering products and services for dialysis, hospitals and outpatient treatment. Fresenius is split into four different segments: 1) Fresenius Medical Care is the world leader in treating people with chronic kidney failure; 2) Fresenius Helios is the largest private hospital operator in Europe; 3) Fresenius Kabi is a supplier of essential drugs, clinical nutrition products and medical devices; and 4) Fresenius Vamed plans, develops and manages healthcare facilities. A lot of segments, but it is crucial for the reader to understand at least to a certain their business. Since its beginning in 1912, Fresenius has grown in each of its business units to a leader and generated revenues of more than €35 billion in more than 100 countries. The largest shareholder is the Else Kröner Foundation with 26.6% of the shares and guarantees a long-term, sustainable vision.   Valuation Fresenius was able to steadily increase its EPS from €2.64...