On Friday, Dassault Aviation announced that it had delivered 13 Rafale and 26 Falcon jets last year, falling short of its targets and sending its share price down by more than 6% on Monday morning on the Paris Bourse.

In a reaction note, analysts at Oddo BHF spoke of "a disappointing 2023 vintage", recalling that the aircraft manufacturer had set targets for deliveries of 15 Rafales and 35 Falcons.

These figures are disappointing, not only because they fall short of the company's targets, but also because they are lower than the volumes delivered in 2022", the brokerage firm points out.

By way of comparison, the group had delivered 14 Rafales, 13 new ones for export, and 32 Falcon jets.

Oddo, which downgraded its recommendation in December, reiterates its 'neutral' opinion and price target of 201 euros, while pointing out that Falcon orders have also proved disappointing, with 23 aircraft ordered in 2023, compared with 64 in 2022.

The rebound we expected at the end of the year has not materialized, due to supply constraints which continue to penalize Falcon production", adds Deutsche Bank.

The research firm is particularly concerned by the 65% drop in Falcon orders, at a time when the Group's American competitors are seeing their order backlogs grow in business jets.

At December 31, 2023, the order book included 211 Rafales, compared with 164 a year earlier, as well as 84 Falcons, compared with 87 aircraft at December 31, 2022.

While Deutsche Bank considers the Rafale's performance to be 'solid', it explains that the Falcon's underperformance has led it to lower its earnings forecasts, to reduce its target price from 216 to 199 euros, and to downgrade its recommendation to 'hold' from 'buy'.

At around 9:30 am, the share price was down 6.2%, the second biggest drop on the SBF 120 index behind Atos (-11%).

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