Rheinmetall CEO Spends €700,000 on Shares as Analysts Slash Targets After Guidance Cut

Armin Papperger has put his own money behind Rheinmetall for a second straight session, buying stock worth a combined €702,780 across Thursday and Friday. The chief executive picked up shares valued at €502,484.40 on XETRA on Thursday at an aggregate price of €858.9477 apiece, then followed with a €200,295.60 purchase on Tradegate on Friday at €804.40 per share. Both transactions were disclosed in mandatory filings published Friday.

The buying came after Rheinmetall published nine-month figures for 2026 on Thursday. Revenue for the period reached €8.38 billion, with operating profit of €1.34 billion — an operating margin of 16.0%. The order backlog stood at €78.0 billion as of September 30, though operating free cash flow was negative at minus €1.7 billion.

Guidance Trimmed for the Second Time in Three Months

On Wednesday the company cut its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to around €13.2 billion, down from a previous range of €13.7–14.2 billion, and trimmed the expected operating margin to roughly 18.5% from about 19%. Management pointed to the likely postponement of the Arminius Boxer order and later lot acceptances for artillery ammunition, with the associated revenue and advance payments sliding into 2027. The revised figures were confirmed alongside Thursday's results.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Rheinmetall?

The stock fell 1.4% to €818.00 on Friday, extending a sharp decline reported by Reuters on Thursday following the second guidance reduction in three months.

Brokers Reprice the Story

Bernstein Research downgraded Rheinmetall from "Outperform" to "Market-Perform" on Friday, cutting its price target to €1,000 from €1,200, according to dpa-AFX. JPMorgan had already lowered its target to €1,150 from €1,350 on Thursday while keeping a "Neutral" rating and maintaining its warning flag for potential negative share-price drivers.

Analyst David Perry at JPMorgan highlighted the fifth revenue or profit warning in eleven months and voiced doubts about the company's long-term sales ambitions, dpa-AFX reported. Rheinmetall is due to give further detail on its 2027 targets and medium-term plans at a capital markets day on November 27.

Caracal Deliveries Begin

Separately, Rheinmetall said on October 30 that the first Caracal vehicles from series production had been handed over to the German and Dutch armed forces. The ceremony took place in Ede on October 29 — a delivery already completed, in contrast to the Arminius Boxer programme, where the company now expects the order to arrive later than previously assumed.

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