FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The strong run of Redcare Pharmacy shares for weeks accelerated on Friday after a positive analyst study. The shares of the online pharmacy climbed to their highest level since the end of 2021 and, as the MDax leader, were up 5.5 percent at 161.40 euros in the late morning.

Redcare was already the biggest winner in the MDax in 2023 and is one of the better stocks in the mid-cap index this year with a price gain of around 23%. In the wake of the Redcare rally, the shares of Swiss competitor DocMorris also rose by four percent to 35.34 francs on Friday.

Kepler Cheuvreux, a previously pessimistic analyst firm, abandoned this stance on Friday by upgrading the share from "Reduce" to "Hold". In their analysis published on Friday, the experts praised the stability in the non-prescription products business and the strong potential in the e-prescription segment. Despite the margin risks due to aggressive marketing, a more optimistic rating is therefore justified.

This reduces the number of pessimists. Among the institutions covered by the dpa-AFX analyst, only UBS has a negative stance. Buy recommendations predominate, with price targets ranging from 175 to 202 euros. The highest target comes from Deutsche Bank. Their analyst wrote this week that the e-prescription offers practically endless potential. The introduction of electronic prescriptions has been seen as a price driver for the online pharmacy for months./edh/tih/mis