Telekom's €5bn Buyback Expansion Caps a Day of Divergent DAX Earnings
Published on 08/06/2026 at 19:11 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Deutsche Telekom share price surge that dominated Thursday's DAX session was about more than just a beat on quarterly numbers. The Bonn-based telecoms group doubled down on its capital-return story, expanding its share buyback programme from €2bn to €5bn, while simultaneously lifting its free-cash-flow guidance for the full year. The market responded with the index's biggest single-day gain, sending the stock up 5.90 percent to €29.07.
The buyback expansion is the headline act. Management cited the stock's low valuation and recent volatility as justification for the move, which adds up to €3bn of additional repurchase capacity. The company had already spent €1.2bn buying back 42.1 million shares by 5 August, and the new tranches will run between 10 August and 22 December. The legal framework stems from the annual general meeting's authorisation on 9 April 2025, permitting buybacks of up to 10 percent of share capital until 8 April 2030. Most of the repurchased shares will be cancelled, with a portion earmarked for employee compensation.
The numbers behind the announcement tell a story of accelerating momentum. Second-quarter revenue rose 4.4 percent to €29.9bn, with organic growth of 3.3 percent. Adjusted EBITDA after leasing climbed 7.5 percent to €11.8bn, while free cash flow after leasing advanced 3.1 percent to €5.0bn. Adjusted net income jumped 11.1 percent to €2.8bn, though the reported net figure fell 6 percent to €2.5bn, weighed down by integration costs tied to the UScellular acquisition. The adjusted figure still cleared market expectations.
T-Mobile US remains the engine room. Service revenue at the American subsidiary grew 8.9 percent to $19.0bn, with EBITDA after leasing up 12.1 percent to $9.3bn. That transatlantic strength underpins the improved outlook: the company now targets roughly €20bn in free cash flow after leasing for 2026, up from a previous forecast of more than €19.8bn. Guidance for adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share holds steady at €47.5bn and €2.20 respectively.
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The share price reaction caps a gradual recovery that began in early July after a four-month soft patch. The stock now trades 8.05 percent above its 50-day average, though it remains roughly 15 percent below the 52-week high set in late February. Thursday's move was one of the strongest single-day gains in recent memory for the stock.
A day of contrasts across the index
Thursday's session offered a masterclass in how differently the market can treat earnings, even when the underlying numbers are strong. Eight DAX heavyweights reported, and the outcomes ranged from euphoria to disappointment — sometimes for reasons that had little to do with the core financials.
Henkel delivered the day's second surprise, advancing 3.86 percent to €79.70 after lifting its full-year sales forecast and its guidance for the Adhesive Technologies division. The upgrade caught analysts off guard, given the challenging consumer environment marked by cautious shoppers and rising raw material costs. CEO Carsten Knobel's spring confidence about offsetting higher input prices has proven well-founded, and the stock's 14.12 percent gain since the start of the year marks a notable shift in sentiment for a name that had long been overlooked. The RSI reading of 74.3 suggests the rally may be getting stretched, however.
Zalando's 2.03 percent advance to €25.19 came against a far more turbulent backdrop. Just days earlier, the online fashion retailer had suffered its worst session in the index, plunging more than 13 percent on a mixed reception to solid quarterly results and a narrowed full-year outlook. The DZ Bank subsequently upgraded the stock to "Buy", calling the sell-off exaggerated, while Deutsche Bank Research and UBS maintained their positive stances despite flagging disappointment risks. Gross merchandise volume rose 20.7 percent to €4.9bn, with revenue up 20.8 percent, but the stock remains down 12.99 percent on the week — suggesting Thursday's bounce is more technical than fundamental.
Scout24 found itself at the opposite end of the spectrum, sliding 5.82 percent to €72.05 to become the DAX's worst performer. The surprise lay in the details: while the marketplace operator accelerated growth and saw adjusted operating profit rise nearly 15 percent in the first half, the number of private users fell short of expectations. Bernstein's Annick Maas described the overall figures as in line with estimates but pointed to the user metric as the weak spot — a key leading indicator for future monetisation. The stock remains in the sideways range established in April, down 16.12 percent year-to-date and nearly 40 percent over twelve months.
Industrial heavyweights hit for different reasons
Rheinmetall and Siemens both lost ground despite reporting strong operational performance, though the drivers could hardly have been more different.
The defence group fell 4.79 percent to €1,151.80 after cutting its 2026 revenue forecast by €300m to a range of €13.7bn to €14.2bn. The trigger was the German government's cancellation of the F126 frigate programme — a contract Rheinmetall had widely been expected to win. The first half itself was impressive, with revenue up 39 percent to €5.2bn and an operating margin of 15.0 percent. CEO Armin Papperger defended the strategic push into naval business despite the setback. Notably, sector peer Renk gained strongly the same day on record order intake and a planned acquisition, underscoring that Thursday's decline was company-specific rather than a broader signal for European defence. Rheinmetall remains up slightly on the week and sits 27.62 percent above its yearly low.
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Siemens presented perhaps the starkest irony of the day: one of the strongest quarterly reports of the session, yet a 4.18 percent decline to €273.95. The culprit was timing. The stock had hit another record high the previous day, leaving it vulnerable to profit-taking. Orders reached roughly €27.9bn, the backlog hit a new peak of €132bn, and the company raised its profit guidance. Observers attributed the sell-off to inflated expectations relative to competitors in the AI data-centre business, where some rivals have posted triple-digit growth rates. Deutsche Bank's Gael de-Bray dismissed concerns about potential oversupply and weaker gas turbine orders as overblown. The stock remains up 14.60 percent year-to-date.
The lesson from Thursday's session
The pattern across Thursday's reports is clear enough. Forecast upgrades were rewarded — Telekom and Henkel both benefited directly. Strong numbers alone were not sufficient protection: Siemens and Rheinmetall suffered on specific details rather than their headline results. And the market's mood can shift quickly, as Zalando's rebound after an exaggerated sell-off demonstrates.
For investors tracking the remainder of the reporting season, the takeaway is that expectations management matters as much as the numbers themselves. Guidance adjustments and operational fine print are proving more decisive than headline metrics — a dynamic that Thursday's divergent reactions threw into sharp relief.
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