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FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A forecast increase drove Jungheinrich shares on Tuesday. After the forklift manufacturer raised its outlook following a strong start to the year, the share price jumped eleven percent to 33.88 euros. At the highest level since the end of March, the shares made it above the 50-day line, which is an indicator of the medium-term trend among investors.

The company is now forecasting order intake of between 5.0 and 5.4 billion euros and sales of 5.1 to 5.5 billion euros for 2023. According to traders, however, the operating profit (Ebit) is particularly convincing and is now expected to reach 400 to 450 million euros in 2023. Stockbrokers were full of praise for the first quarter, in which Jungheinrich clearly exceeded expectations.

"Jungheinrich has provided evidence that the Ebit margin, which was already strong in the second half of 2022, was not a one-off success," praised one stock market participant. "The figures in the first quarter are clearly better than expected by the consensus and therefore provide a good starting point for raising the forecast," said Alexander Hauenstein of DZ Bank in an initial reaction.

His colleague Peter Rothenaicher of Baader Bank gave a similar assessment of the past months. At the end of March, Jungheinrich had still disappointed the markets with its old target of an operating margin of 7.3 to 8.1 per cent this year. This was because the upper end of this range had already been reached in 2022. Only four weeks later, this now looks different after an "excellent first quarter." Analyst Jorge Gonzalez Sadornil of Hauck Aufhäuser Investment Banking also wrote: "Jungheinrich's strong start to the year and the resulting increase in the forecast reduce the fear of increasing pressure on margins.

The jump in the share price on Tuesday put Jungheinrich shares among the ten best-performing stocks in the MDax since the beginning of the year. They have currently gained almost 27 per cent, while the index of the second German stock market league has only risen by just under ten per cent. However, after two weak months, the share price is still almost ten per cent short of its high for the year at the beginning of February./tih/ajx/jha/