FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A buy recommendation from the private bank Berenberg drove Krones shares to another record high on Tuesday. The share price rose by almost 7 percent to 131.20 euros shortly after the start of trading.

In a study, analyst Benjamin Thielmann positively emphasized the "strong order backlog" of the manufacturer of beverage bottling lines. In addition, the free cash flow should recover in 2024.

The full order books should enable the MDax group to achieve robust growth despite the threat of an overall economic downturn and a possible quarter-on-quarter decline in incoming orders.

At the same time, the long-term growth drivers of the packaging and filling industry are intact in all business areas. The sales markets in Africa, the USA and the Asia-Pacific region in particular are developing positively. In addition, Krones' strong position in filling lines for PET and glass bottles, cans and antiseptic PET containers.

According to Thielmann, all this should continue to drive Krones' business and thus also its share price. The expert raised the price target from 112 to 154 euros and therefore upgraded the shares from "hold" to "buy". After Warburg Research with a target of EUR 158, Thielmann is the most optimistic expert of the analysts surveyed by the Bloomberg news agency.

Hans-Joachim Heimbürger from investment house Kepler Cheuvreux is the most pessimistic with a target of EUR 95. The average target of the analysts listed by Bloomberg is a good 137 euros. This corresponds to a potential upside of around 5 percent.

Just last week, the share price surpassed the old record from 2018. Such an upward breakout can provide additional momentum in an intact upward trend. So far this year, the share price gains have already amounted to a good 16%, while the MDax has been treading water./mis/men