Swiss stock market-annual reporting: Grossbank names their hottest stock bets on the numbers

The cash Insider reports in the insider briefing prior to the market on the latest observations on what is happening on the Swiss market and is also active on Twitter under @cashInsider. Take a look at the tracker certificate on the Swiss stock favorites from cash Insider.

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With the publication of the sales figures, the construction chemicals manufacturer Sika will herald its annual reporting in just a few weeks - followed a few days later by the figures from the sanitary technology group Geberit and the venture capital specialist Partners Group.

Bank of America's strategists don't want to wait that long. They are already communicating their hottest number bets today. Richemont is the only company from Switzerland among the ten companies that the American investment bank believes are capable of better than expected results. Presumably, these expectations are already reflected in the price target of CHF 200 for the shares rated "Buy".

Switzerland, on the other hand, is represented three times on the list of those companies that are said to have had disappointing results. If Bank of America strategists are to be believed, Schindler shareholders are all but certain of a disappointing final quarter. The bank's own earnings estimates for this year are 10 percent below market expectations, and those for the coming year are even 15 percent below them. Needless to say, the elevator and escalator manufacturer's participation certificates are advertised for sale by the responsible analyst with a price target of CHF 195.

This year's SMI winner Richemont (red) in a 12-month comparison with this year's SMI bottom performer Credit Suisse (green) (Source: www.cash.ch)

The watch company Swatch Group and the major bank Credit Suisse also perform poorly. The latter can even be seen ending the current year with a slight loss. As a reminder: In April, the big bank wasted around five billion francs in the course of the Archegos debacle.

I'm curious if these bets actually pay off. Because it is not uncommon for the expectations on the stock exchange to be given far greater weight than the hard facts. In other words, if half the (stock market) world is expecting a disappointing number at Schindler, Credit Suisse and Co., this does not necessarily have to result in falling prices again. But let's be surprised...

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Whereas the shares of the pharmaceutical supplier Bachem cost 850 francs and more in mid-October, it was recently no more than 630 francs. Looking back, the flagship company from Bubendorf raised new equity just in time to finance future growth. It achieved 778 francs per piece in the course of an accelerated bidding process for the 750,000 newly created titles. Whoever received an allocation at the time is at a disadvantage.

At least at Mirabaud Securities, however, they are quite relaxed about this. In a comment sent to me, author Dani Jelovcan raised his price target for the shares sharply. After increasing his profit estimates by up to 16.9 percent, the well-known medical technology analyst now puts this at CHF 1,000 (previously CHF 600). As before, the investment verdict is "buy".

Jelovcan justifies his optimism on the one hand with the downright impressive day-to-day business in the first half of the year, but on the other hand also with encouraging statements from the company regarding the sales development in the business with oligonucleotides.

Price performance of Bachem shares since the beginning of the year (source: www.cash.ch)

In his opinion, the drop in prices since mid-October is exaggerated and offers good entry opportunities. The fact that Bachem is still valued at no less than 70 times next year's earnings doesn't seem to dampen his optimism.

Until a few weeks ago, such a strong price target increase would probably have sparked price fireworks. But the horses - or so it seems - no longer want to drink.